What is a Domain Name
18th January 2006
The domain name is probably one of the first things we always think of when we talk about a website.
Top-level Domains
The top-level domain (TLD) is the second part of the domain name. In domain names, the higher levels are located on the right, and the lower levels on the left
Dot-com domains are “generic” because they are not identified with a specific country; “.net”, “.org”, “.biz” and “.info” are other generic TLDs.
Country-specific domain names end in two letters, for example “.ca” (Canada) or “.ph” (Philippines).
Some countries even have multiple domain name types. For instance, domain names ending in “.co.uk” that were intended originally for companies found in the United Kingdom. Domain names ending in “.org.uk” for non-commercial organizations in the United Kingdom.
Web Hosting for Beginners: Subdomains
Machine Names
Subdomains are sometimes used to point to individual computers, each having a unique IP address. In some cases, “subdomain” is replaced by “machine name”.
A company could have two servers. As an example, “marketing.somefirm.com” and “accounting.somefirm.com”. Different departments would be served by the two computers containing different information.
Subdomains For Load Balancing
Multiple subdomains can be used to locate different computers containing similar information.
This can be used for extremely busy sites. Through a mechanism called load balancing visitors are sent to one of the accessible computers(say, “www2.busysite.com” or “www7.busysite.com”).
Organizing Information
Subdomains are simply used to arrange information in a website.
About.com is an excellent example of website that uses subdomains to arrange information in a website. Once you visit their site, you will recognize that they use different subdomains for all the topics covered.
Subdirectories could have been used, but using subdomains facilitates moving of a topic to a dedicated computer if it turns to be popular.
The so-called “scalability” is an important benefit for large and busy sites like About.com. For other sites, subdirectories work alright; they don’t need the “200 subdomains” included in some complex hosting packages.
Subdomains: No Registration Fee!
As compared to domains, an important point to remember, subdomains can be created freely. Creating as many subdomains as you like is allowable in any domain. Going to a registrar or payment of annual fee for each subdomain is no longer required.
Multiple Domains
In a multiple domain, a single fee is paid for more than one website.
They are useful in certain circumstances like when the domain name is quite difficult to spell or if your domain name was registered with and without hyphens.
However, it’s not advisable to register multiple domain names while intending to submit all of them to search engines for the purpose of getting more traffic.