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domain name

Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to identify particular Web pages. For example, in the URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.

Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example:

  • gov - Government agencies
  • edu - Educational institutions
  • org - Organizations (nonprofit)
  • mil - Military
  • com - commercial business
  • net - Network organizations
  • ca - Canada
  • th - Thailand
  • Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

     

    See "Registering a Domain Name" and "Understanding Internet Governance" in the Did You Know...? section of Webopedia.
    See also "Countries and Their Domain Extensions" in Webopedia's
    Quick Reference Section.



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