What is a ‘Domain Name’ and how does it work?

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name locates an organization or other entity on the Internet. Domain Name System or DNS, is the friendly name system to give addresses to servers and web pages, something like international phone numbers. The domain name system provides each server with a unique address that is easy to remember and spell. Simultaneously, domain names hide the technical IP address that most visitors are not interested in.

Composition of domain names

Similar to a person’s full name, domain names are arranged from right to left, with general descriptors on the right (such as family names) and specific descriptors on the left (just like a person’s proper name). person).In the web address www.eworldguru.com that we will use as an example , we observe that on the extreme right is the “com”. This part is known as Top Level Domain ( “Top Level Domain” or TLD) and serves to reflect the geographic location or purpose of the organization or entity (in this example, “commercial”) which together with the specific descriptor “eworldguru “(Middle level domain) located to their left, make up what we usually call the” domain name “or” domain “simply. Domain names must be unique and descriptors are separated by periods. On the extreme left is the prefix “www” (World Wide Web) that refers to the server.

In the case of a domain with the following composition: eworldguru.com.mx, “eworldguru” is the smallest medium level domain, “.com” is the largest medium level domain and “.mx” is the level domain. higher.

There are two types of top-level domains currently used:

Generic Top Level Domains (gTLDs) that usually consist of three letters (.com, .edu, .net, etc.) and in most cases can be used without any restrictions.

Geographic Top Level Domains (ccTLDs): referring to a country or territory (.mx for Mexico, .es for Spain, .ar for Argentina, etc.).

It is also common to find combinations such as com.mx, .co.uk, etc.

It is worth mentioning that subdomain levels can also be used. For example, you could have “ www.pages.eworldguru.com” based on “ www.eworldguru.com ” which is the authorized domain name.

A domain name is not the same as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

To be technically correct, a domain name is usually part of a larger Internet address called the URL (“Uniform Resource Locator”). A URL goes into much more detail than the domain name, providing more information and can include the address of a specific page, the name of the folder, the name of the machine and the language of the protocol: https: //en.wikipedia.org / wiki / 

A domain name is not the same as the IP address

In the end, a domain name is meant to be a friendly and memorable “nickname.” The true technical address of a web host is its Internet Protocol address or IP address.