What Is a Domain Name and Reasons Why Are They Important?

Whether you are planning to grow your already existing website or wish to launch your very first website, your domain name has a vital role to play. From a technical standpoint, we can say that, it helps users to access your site with ease. Moreover, it is highly important for your digital brand as well. 

A domain name is actually the address where your web page comes into view on the Internet. This domain name is also famous as a URL or Uniform Resource Locator. For example, the correct domain name of Google is google.com.

Hence, if you think about developing a new blog or even a site, you have to buy a domain name from a company known as a registrar. Usually, a domain name ends with options like .net, .com, or some other options. These domain name endings are nothing but extensions of the top-level domain system. 

Generally, the public will know your website’s domain name as the identity of your website’s branding. Thus, it is becoming more and more vital for us. As per Statista, in January 2019, the number of internet hosts available on the DNS was around 1.01 billion. So, whenever you wish to have a public-facing name of the website of your company, you must choose the correct domain name of your website to become successful. 

Domain Name: What Is It?

A domain name is usually a string that can map a certain numerical Internet Protocol address. This address, known as IP address is used to correctly route traffic over the internet. The DNS can translate a domain name into a proper IP address. 

When a domain name is typed in the browser, a request is sent to the server. It is known as a DNS resolver. It asks what number successfully corresponds to the domain name that you have typed. Then, the DNS resolver starts to look up the information in a certain database, and finally returns the correct IP address.

DNS can not only help us by translating domain names into numbers, but also providing many other important functions. Some of those are caching and distributing data across various networks.

For instance, if the location of a website is  www.abcd.com, then the subdomains will be:

mail.abcd.com

www.abcd.com

ftp.abcd.com

The first two examples are top-level domains or TLDs. However, the third one is a second-level domain or SLD. 

A TLD is actually a set of all those possible domain names that you can easily register with a certain company or organization. For instance, .com is the TLD for a commercial website, while .edu is for educational organizations, and so on. Moreover, an SLD is a certain domain within a TLD. For instance, the SLD is ftp.abcd.

This actually states that any site under the domain abcd.com has the same structure as www.abcd.com. So, if you need to access www.abcd.com from another device, you have to use its correct IP address. 

In addition, if you need to access any specific subdomain, on that domain when it’s not live, then you have to utilize a few variations of the right IP address to access it, instead of using the domain name.

After performing the task of switching everything live, you will be able to properly access everything on a certain domain name even without knowing its IP address.

Domain Name Extension: What Is It?

A domain name extension is nothing but a part of a domain name. It usually describes the purpose of the domain. If you wish to make it easier to describe or remember the content of a domain, then you can add extensions to a domain name. However, you need to know that only specific domain name extensions are valid. Moreover, these are only available on a list of reputable domain name registrar’s websites.

Who Are The Managers Of Domain Names?

Usually, domain names are managed by registries, which delegate the registration of domain names to registrars. These registrars have to manage domain names for clients, while the resellers of domain names buy domains from those registrars and then sell them to clients.

These registrars have to manage the DNS records correctly that are associated with each domain name. Moreover, some registrars even offer several important additional features. Some of those are email accounts, web hosting, and even SSL certificates. 

A Domain Name and A URL: The Significant Difference

A URL is a string of text that is used to identify resources online. This usually includes everything, from the domain name you type into your browser to the path to a file located on a server. In short, it is the proper way to access the internet.

For instance, if you wish to go to a specific page, on xyz.com, you have to enter its correct URL. Moreover, you must not forget that the most vital part of a URL are those parts that you see inside the forward slashes (/). These actually tell the browser what it has to do next. You will see several different kinds of URLs, each one working for a specific purpose. 

Domain Names: How Are These Configured?

As discussed earlier, there are several different parts to a domain name. Some of those are their CNAME record, the subdomain, @ records, A records, and so on. All of these records are vital as they offer proper information regarding where a domain name have to route particular services, including email, certain IP addresses, etc. 

If any error occurs in the configuration of these records, it may cause some serious issues for your website. Let’s explore some of those vital parts below:

• CNAME record

The full form of CNAME is Canonical Name. It usually tells the browser where they can find the actual address of a resource. This unique record enables you to point a certain domain name to another domain name. 

• Subdomain

A subdomain is a vital section of a website. It resides on a separate domain name. These sections or subdomains allow you to make several versions of a single website. For instance, you might have a blog version of your website that resides on a subdomain named blog.yourwebsite.com. Moreover, you can have a mobile version of this site residing in a subdomain named m.yourwebsite.com.

• A Record

An A record helps in defining an alias for a hostname. When you create a DNS entry, you have to specify both the IP address and the hostname. However, in some situations, you know only the hostname. In order to solve this issue, you may use a A record rather than specifying the IP address.

• MX Record

An MX record is a part that is utilized to define a domain’s mail servers. It usually points to the IP addresses of the mail servers. These servers are responsible for both sending and receiving emails for a domain. 

• TXT Record

These are used to store information regarding a domain. Usually, they are used to store contact details, such as mailing addresses, phone numbers, etc. 

• PTR Record

PTR stands for Pointer. This unique record is utilized to map a hostname to its IP address. 

Domain Name System: How Does It Work

DNS or Domain Name System operates by translating all those human-readable names into the right form of machine-readable data. It usually translates a certain web address into an IP address. This entire procedure is called resolving. It happens when you type a certain web address into your browser. At that time, your computer uses the DNS to translate the web address into the right IP address.

Conclusion

So, these are some interesting yet important factors and information about a domain name system that you must know. All these factors and part together can make your browsing experience quite smooth and enjoyable. However, if you need to purchase a domain name, you can buy it at any time from a reliable domain registrar. Moreover, if you feel hesitant even after knowing these factors, you can always work with a reliable company and enjoy some fantastic services. One of those reliable and reputed company is, of course, WeWP. This company takes pride in its remarkable services and attention to details. So, you will always become successful while working with WeWP.