Simple Guide: What is a domain name and how does it work?

When I was a beginner, I do get confused between a domain name, a website and website hosting. All these words sounds familiar when getting entered into the online platforms.

I am sure if you are a beginner then you too would have been confused between these terms. These words sounds too technical when heard for the 1st time.

Many people have the same query and ask in some or other way as:

• What is domain name?
• Some Domain Name Examples?
• Domain name meaning?
• What is a Domain name with example?
• What domain name system is all about?

So, in this article you will come to know about what a domain name is and how does it actually work in the online world.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is actually an address of the website you usually type on the url section of a browser to visit any website.

A domain name is made up of three parts:

1. Top Level Domain (extension or domain suffix)
2. Domain Name (IP Address of the website)
3. Sub-Domain

When we combine the domain name (IP address of a website) and the top level domain (extension of the domain), then we call it as a Root Domain.

So, a domain name meaning is nothing but a simple IP address associated with it.

The “Http://” or “Https://” is a part of the website url but it doesn’t come under the domain name. It is called as “Protocol“.

Let’s understand about these in detail.

1. Top-Level Domain

Top-Level Domain or TLD in short is a terminology used as a suffix of a domain name. Some famous TLDs are:

• .com
• .net
• .org
• .info
• .edu

Since we all know about these TLDs, but there are more than 1500 TLDs from which a user can choose.

You can find the list of all TLDs available from here.

There are some country specific TLDs like .uk (For United Kingdom), .in (For India), .us (For United States) etc. and these are called as country code Top-Level Domains or ccTLDs.

2. Domain Name

A domain name is an address to your website.

So, a domain name meaning is nothing but a simple IP address associated with it.

Internet is a big world with network of computers connected with each other via global network of cables. So, each computer can access another computers globally.

So now, to identify each computers, there is a specific IP address assigned to each computer system. IP Address is a set of series of numbers which looks something like:

122.255.26.208

Now, each website can be visited just like the IP address above but it would be practically impossible to remember each and everyone’s website through this IP Address with set of numbers.

So, this is the reason why Domain names were invented to resolve the issue.

Now, you don’t have to type or remember this long strings of numbers, rather you can now type the domain name associated with the IP address in the browser URL section. Some Domain name with example are like TechieTalker.com, Housing.com, Facebook.com etc.

3. Sub-Domain

Sub-domain is basically a part which is added before the domain name or root domain with a period “.” sign.

So, “blogs.techietalker.com” and “courses.techietalker.com” are both subdomains of “techietalker.com” root domain.

Here below are some common choices of sub-domains:-

• www.techietalker.com (“www” is a sub domain)
• blogs.techietalker.com (“blogs” is a sub domain)
• techietalker.com (has no sub domain)

Root Domains

It is the combination of a domain name and the Top-Level Domain name (TLD). This forms the complete website address.

Your website root domain is the main important aspect that everyone would remember and would type to visit your website and probably land to your homepage.

Some examples of root domains are:

• Techietalker.com
• WhiteCouple.com
• Facebook.com
• Google.com

So, each domain name represent an identity. So, no two websites can have the same root domain.

Two websites with same domain name is possible with different Top-level domain name. For example, techietalker.com and techietalker.org would be a different website and may be with different website owner.

You can register the domain name with any of the registrar. I prefer to use NameCheap.com

How does a domain name Actually Work?

This is something very interesting to know how a domain name actually work. Have a look to the below image and you will have an idea of how the system propagates.

Whenever you enter a domain name in the browser URL, it sends requests to a global set of servers that form the Domain Name Server or DNS server.

These servers find the name servers associated with the domain name and then forward the request to that specific name servers.

For example, if your website is hosted with Bluehost, your nameservers will look something like:

ns1.bluehost.com

ns2.bluehost.com

The above name servers would be your hosting provider’s name server. Your hosting company (bluehost in this case) will forward your search query to the network where your website is stored.

This network where your hosting provider will forward is called as Web Server.

This web server now collects the web pages and its contents associated with it.

It then display the data to our browser.

So, this is the complete process of how the website address and its contents are displayed in the online web system.

Who Manages Domain Name System?

Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) manages the complete domain name systems.

It is a non-profit organization that manages, creates and implement several policies for domain names and its systems.

So, ICANN is the authority agency who gives permission to the companies like godaddy, bluehost, hostgator etc called domain name registrars for selling the domain names.

Now, these registrars are responsible for changing the domain name registry or whois records on your behalf.

As a domain name owner, you can give request to the domain name registrar where to send the requests. Each domain name has to be renewed every year else it will get back to the registry and people all over the world can acquire the same domain.

Frequently Asked Questions