domain name

domain name

Address of a computer, organization, or other entity on a TCP/IP network such as the Internet. Domain names are typically in a three-level “server.organization.type” format. The top level denotes the type of organization, such as “com” (for commercial sites) or “edu” (for educational sites); the second level is the top level plus the name of the organization (e.g., “britannica.com” for Encyclopædia Britannica); and the third level identifies a specific host server at the address, such as the “www” (World Wide Web) host server for “www.britannica.com”. A domain name is ultimately mapped to an IP address, but two or more domain names can be mapped to the same IP address. A domain name must be unique on the Internet, and must be assigned by a registrar accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). See also URL.

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The term may refer to any type of domain within the computer field, since there are several types of domains (see domain). However, today, it often refers to the address of an Internet site. See Internet domain name and Internet address.

Is a Name Already Taken?
To find out if a domain name is taken, two popular domain name registrars are Network Solutions (www.netsol.com) and Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com).

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domain name - fully qualified domain name