Domains Definitions
Domain: On the Internet, a domain is a network address. This is similar to your home’s address used by the postal system. The mail carrier can deliver mail because we have a unique address. On the Web, each website has its own unique address, called a domain, so browsers can find it. These domains are referred to as “Dotcoms”. A domain is also part of, and sometimes confused with, a URL (Universal Resource Locator).
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Domain Name System: (DNS) A system that converts domain names into numbers that computers use called Internet Protocol Addresses. A domain name is a meaningful and easy-to-remember “handle” for an Internet address.
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ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers is a non-profit, private-sector corporation and is the technical coordination body for the Internet. ICANN coordinates the assignment of the following identifiers that must be globally unique for the Internet to function:
• Internet domain names
• IP address numbers
• Internet Protocol details
In addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root server system, which functions as the main “directory” of the entire Internet.
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Name servers: Also called a host, a name server finds websites by taking a name like profitgate.net and locating the address numbers assigned to that domain name, then sending a browser the data contained on that website. This is vital and a basic function that allows the Internet to work. Also, see Domain Name System.
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URL: (Uniform Resource Locator) Is the address of a file (a “resource”) on the Internet. Using the World Wide Web’s protocol, known as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the resource can be an HTML page, an image file, a program, etc. The URL contains:
1. The name of the protocol required to access the resource, such as http://www.
2. A domain name that identifies a specific computer on the Internet, such as profitgate.net
3. A description of a file location on that computer, such as /index.html
A URL is used for any Web page or individual file.