| It's
just about learning a few definitions that's all.
I have never become a reseller of hosting
because I feel that if a client has a relationship with
the tech support of their hosting companies their website
will become a better tool and they will be more empowered
with using and understanding this tool. I am a reseller
of domain names through DomainPeople but you get your username
and password and are the owner of your domain name. You
buy it; you renew it; you are the admin and billing contact.
I often find situations where someone has
had a web designer buy a domain name and set up site hosting
but the client does not really own the domain name or have
a relationship with the hosting company. This gets messy.
Any business person will eventually want to own their business
domain name. If you had a phone service you would not pay
a 3rd party to pay your bills and configure your mailbox.
It took a bit of fiddling but you figured it out. It's the
same for hosting and domain names. Learn a few definitions
and take the reins. The convenient part is that good hosting
companies and domain registrars have 24-hour toll-free tech
support to help you and hold your hand during this familiarization
period. Even better is that the sky will then be the limit:
autoresponders, polls, site stats, blogs and more are at
YOUR fingertips.
You will find that hosting companies and
registrars really dance around the reseller issue because
they make a lot of money through resellers. The biggest
registrars and hosting companies in fact only sell through
resellers. In the end the person with the domain name pays
more and gets less and it usually is because they can't
face learning the meanings of the following terms.
What is a domain name?
Domain names are the familiar, easy-to-remember names you
find on the Internet, such as google.ca - and they dont
have to include the doublyoudoublyoudoublyou (www) - the
domain name is just a name with the extension (.com or .net,
or .ca or .org etc)
Domain names identify a location on the Internet. It is
your identity on the Internet and provides you with an address
that other Internet users can use to find your website on
the World Wide Web. You also use your domain name for your
email address. In your admin area for your domain name you
can point it to where the website files are (on a web host
server somewhere) and you can set up email aliases or pop
email accounts.
An example of a domain name is google.ca
There are no spaces in a domain name.
It's easy peasy to search for a domain name and buy it.
What is a URL?
URL stands for Universal Resource Locator and is a unique
identifier for your web address. Your URL contains your
domain name along with the http://
An example of a URL is http://www.google.ca/
Identify pages on the web with the complete url because
the link will then be an active link. There are no spaces
in a url and when you use it in an email dont add a period
after it.
What is a Registrar?
The organization responsible for the actual registration
of the domain name is known as the Registrar. This is the
company that you bought your domain name from. When you
buy a domain name the email of the admin contact is the
owner of that domain name. You will receive a username and
password and a link for an admin area where you can manage
your domain name. DomainPeople is a registrar.
What is hosting or a web
host
The World Wide Web is a massive collection of web sites,
all hosted on computers (called web servers) all over the
world. The web server (computer) where your web site's html
files, graphics, etc. reside is known as the web host. To
have a website you must first own a domain name then you
have to host the website files somewhere. You set up a hosting
account with a hosting company to do this. Sometimes you
can buy a domain name and set up hosting from one company
but they are still two different animals - (hosting and
domain names) or (registrars and hosting companies). A hosting
company rents you space on their computers for your website.
A domain registrar sells you the domain name. EasyHost and
NetNation are hosting companies.
It's easy peasy to set up a hosting account.
Transferring a domain name
People want to transfer domain names so that they can move
to better registrars. Often they initiate a transfer because
someone else has bought their domain name for them and they
now want to become the admin contact and manage their own
domain name. The current admin contact will have to give
permission for this transfer. If you are not able to transfer
your domain name - it means that you don't own your domain
name. Find out more here.
It's not so easy to transfer a domain name if you are not
the admin contact. You will need the permission of the person
who is the admin contact. The easy part is that a good domain
registrar will help you.
Glossary Continued
Click on the link to see the definition of that word or
term:
1. Domain Name
A domain name is the core of your online identity. It is
the address web surfers use to find your web site. Your
domain name is yours entirely because once registered, no
other party may use that identity online in that Top Level
DomainDomain Names always have two or more parts, separated
by periods. The part on the left is the most specific, and
the part on the right is the most general.
Computers on the Internet use IP (Internet Protocol) numbers
(e.g., 123.452.06.31) to locate other computers. Internet
users would have a difficult time remembering these long
strings of numbers to find sites, so domain names were developed
to translate IP numbers into easy-to-remember domain names.
2. Registrant
The entity, organization, or individual who is the owner/lease
holder of a particular domain name is known as the Registrant.
When registering a domain name for a Company or Organization
be sure that the Company or Organizations name is listed
as the Registrant if you wish for the Company to have complete
control over ownership/lease hold.
3. Registrar
An ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.)
accredited entity (or an affiliate to such an entity) which
acts on the behalf of a Registrant regarding domain name
registrations or modifications, is known as a Registrar.
4. Registry
The organization responsible for the actual administration
and maintenance of the top-level domain database is known
as the Registry. The Registry is where Registrars create
new or modify existing domain names for Registrants. For
the .com, .net, and .org extensions the Registry is a US
government contracted database.
5. Administrative/Technical/Billing contacts
contact Records are individuals or groups who represent
a Registrant on matters related to the Registrant's domain
name(s). There are three types of Contacts: Administrative,
Technical, and Billing. Contacts have the ability to modify
information pertaining to a domain name. A contact may be
a single person, a company, or an organization.
6. DNS
DNS stands for Domain Name System. This System translates
a domain name such as Yahoo.com into IP address. DNS is
basically a piece of translation software which allows humans
and computers to easily communicate. The network of computers
that constitute the Internet map domain names to their corresponding
IP numbers.
The DNS record consists data similar to the following example:
Primary Nameserver: DNS1.YAHOO.COM
Primary IP address: 199.199.199.199
7. Primary and Secondary Name Servers
The Primary and Secondary Name Servers indicate the hostname
of a name server that will contain authoritative data for
the domain name being registered and will deliver/translate
that domain name to its corresponding IP number. The designation
of "secondary" indicates that the name server
will be used in addition to and as a backup for the primary
name server that is listed as Primary.
8. Primary and Secondary IP address/numbers
IP stands for Internet Protocol. A unique number consisting
of 4 parts separated by periods/dots. Every machine which
houses information that is available on the Internet has
a unique number, which correlates to its domain name.
9. Domain Parking
Registrars require Primary and Secondary Name Servers and
IP Numbers for every domain registered (DNS). Every domain
name has to be linked to this information for it to be valid
(i.e., each domain name needs to have an address attached
to it). At the time of registration some people do not yet
have Name Server and IP Number information (which is provided
by a Web Host), therefore here you will receive a free business
card web site, and either domain or url forwarding. You
can park your Domain for free and will be able to use your
new domain for an email address immediately.
10. Modification of your domain name's
contact information
"Modification" is a function where a domain name's
information is updated to reflect new contact or DNS information.
Administrative and Technical Contacts have the ability to
modify domain name information.
11. Web Host
Hosting companies offer a service where their "server"
computer stores your web site's HTML files, and graphics
for a fee. Sometimes they are free, but you will have ads.
Their server allows your web site to be viewed over the
Internet.
You do not need to have a web host to register a domain
name!
12. ISP (Internet Service Provider)
ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. An ISP provides
access to the Internet for others via some connectivity
service(s).
13. InterNIC
InterNIC was a U.S. government agency that has been effectively
replaced by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names
and Numbers). ICANN now oversees the domain names industry
concerning the TLD's .com, .net, and .org . ICANN is technically
an international organization, which holds meetings at different
international locations throughout each year.
14. WHOIS
WHOIS is a term referring to a domain name search feature
for the .com, .net, and .org database. The WHOIS can be
used to search for the owner/lease holder of any domain
name which has already been registered. This is valuable
information if you wish to contact the owner of a domain
name that may or may not be attached to a functioning web
site.
15. Renewal
Registration for domain names needs to be renewed based
on a scheduled yearly interval. This gives the Registrant
(you) and the Registry an opportunity to update contact
information and settle on the payment of the registration
fee(s).
16. Transfer - Registrant (Domain Name
Owner/Lease Holder transfer)
The procedure for change of ownership is known a Registrant
Transfer. Domain names can be given or sold to a different
party, or the name of a company might change. The Registrar
requires a process by which permission from the old owner
to hand over control to the new owner is obtained and authorized
by notary public documentation.
17. Top Level Domain (TLD)
In the example YourCompany.net the ".net" is
the Top Level Domain. There are two types of Top Level Domains.
The most common type is gTLDs (generic Top Level Domains)
, such as .Com, .Net, .Org. The other type of TLD is the
ccTLD (country code Top Level Domains) which are assigned
to all countries and their dependencies (e.g., Germany is
.de). Every TLD Registry - generic or country code - has
its own prices, policies, and procedures that Registrants
(name holders) in that Registry are subject to. It is important
to know and be prepared to accept these terms before registering
name(s) in a particular Registry. The most commonly registered
names are in the .Com, .Net, and .Org gTLD's.
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