A domain name is the core identity of your unique online identity. It is the address used to make you accessible on the web. Once registered, a domain name is yours and yours alone. It may not be used by anyone else on the Internet. Please note the domain that you get is just like an address which you lease. It is important to note that no one can buy a domain. All you can do is to lease it.
Domain Names always have two or more parts, separated by periods. The part on the left (the secondary domain) is the name you choose such as "mydomain". The right component is what is known as a top-level domain name (such as .COM, .NET or .ORG).
Computers connected to the Internet (servers) use IP (Internet Protocol) numbers (e.g., 123.452.06.31) to identify and communicate with 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. The process of translating a domain name to its IP address is called DNS resolution and is performed by a DNS (Domain Name System) Server.
The domain name registration is regulated by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and the whole registration process is realized by a third-party company, namely by the domain registrar. As an end-user, first select a registrar and then you can register your domain name at ICANN. Besides that, if you are registering a ccTLD domain (like .us, .co.jp, .co.uk, com.sg) you have to collaborate with registrar credited by national ccTLD authority.
We recommend to use www.pentasolutions.com for your domain related enquires.
Registrar
A Registrar is the organization who administers and holds domain name information, and disseminates its current information to the worldwide domain name database. Registrars must be an ICANN-accredited entity (or an affiliate to such an entity) which acts on the behalf of a Registrant regarding domain name registrations or modifications. The earliest and formerly most popular registrar is www.pentasolutions.com. It doesn't matter (except for price and ease of accessibility for changing registration information) who is the registrar is- they all provide the same basic service to uniquely register your domain name in the world and update the internet database.
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.
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.
Top-Level Domain (TLD)
In the example MyDomain.com, the ".com" part of the domain name is called 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) that have been assigned to all countries and their dependencies (e.g., Italy is .it). 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.
WHOIS
WHOIS is a domain name search feature for the .COM, .NET, and .ORG database. 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 (hosted) website.
Domain Privacy
Currently when you register a domain, you need to provide your mailing address, phone number, email address etc. and this is publicly available through the "WHOIS" directories. Domain Privacy keeps the registrant's contact information confidential from the Whois directory online. This service prevents spammers, direct marketers, identity thieves, or other attackers from stealing your personal information.
Renewal of Domain Names
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). We feel you should not be bothered with the details and worries of registration and renewal. The consequences of not renewing or renewing late can mean a blackout for your website and email, or worse, someone could slip in and buy your name right out from under you.
Transfer: Registrant (Domain Name Owner/Lease Holder transfer for a given domain name)
The procedure for changing ownership of a domain name is known a Registrant Transfer. Domain names can be given to or sold to a different party, or the name of the company that owns the domain may 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. There may be a fee involved for the transferring of a domain name from one owner to another, that is separate from the actual price the former owner wants in order to relinquish control of the name.
Transfer: Registrar
If you have a pre-existing domain name, we can help you to transfer the name to be registered by our registrar. We take care of the transfer procedure, although you may need to assist us in giving the previous registrar permission to release the name. If you choose not to transfer a name to us, then:
- There is no discount on your hosting plan fee.
- We will not remember to renew the name each year.
If we transfer a name for you, the process can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, depending on your previous registrar and how willing they are to let go of the registration. The steps are:
- We initiate the request for transfer.
- If you know your previous registration username and password, then we can use this information to streamline the process.
- You may need to authorize release of the name from the previous registrar, most often by clicking on a link they provide in an email to you. Doing this quickly helps the process because after a short timeout period, if you don't respond; we have to begin again.
- If you do not have access to the email address, a different process may need to be used, and will take longer.
If edits need to be made immediately to an existing account hosted by another provider, as your web designer/host, we can help you through that stage until the website is transferred.
Domain Parking
Registrars require Primary and Secondary Name Servers (DNS) and IP Numbers for every domain registered. 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 intend to have Name Server information (which is generally provided by a Web Host) because they are reserving the domain name for later hosting. Domain Parking is a convenient way to hold or 'Park' domain name(s) for an extended amount of time if you are not ready to use them.
Directory (DIR) Aliasing
If you want different domain names to point to different directories of your website, then you need DIR Aliasing. For DIR Aliases, you create a folder in your root directory, as the home directory of the DIR Alias. FTP connections and emails are routed to your main domain.
Example: http://www.newdomain.com points to http://www.primary.com/newdomain.
Emails sent to anyone@newdomain.com is routed to anyone@primary.com.
Domain Aliasing (Parking)
This Parking feature allows you to have multiple domain names pointed to a your primary domain hosted account, i.e. www.newdomain.com can redirect customers to www.primary.com. This redirection is entirely performed at the DNS-level, and does not involve any kind of CGI script. It's fast, reliable and will work with any type of web browser and, because this feature is implemented at the DNS-level, all FTP and email addresses associated with your alias will also be redirected as well.
Sub-Domain
A sub-domain is very similar to Directory Aliasing (DIR Aliasing), except that instead of www.newdomain.com pointing to www.primary.com/newdomain, www.newdomain.primary.com will point to www.primary.com/newdomain. The difference is you do not need another domain name. This allows you to select a sub-domain that will act as a prefix on your existing domain. For all sub-domains we will assign another IP address and directory in your domain to be used as the home directory of your sub-domain's website.
NOTE: Sub-domains are useful in situations where you are hosting multiple businesses under one domain name, e.g., Books, Paintings, Music, etc. In this example, you would have multiple sub-domains, e.g., www.mydomainname.com, books.mydomainname.com, paintings.mydomainname.com, music.mydomainname.com, etc. You must create the subdomain in your Cpanel first, and then create the subdirectory (folder) in your website in a second step. If you already have the subdirectory created, rename it to something else and then back to the name you want to achieve this sequencing.
Domain Name System (DNS)
The DNS was developed in 1983. This system helps to convert IP addresses which are more complicated in alphabetical domain names. This conversion (from numeric IP addresses into alphabetic IP addresses) intervenes to help to remember IP addresses easier.
Propagation
Propagation is the distribution of your domain name information throughout the internet so that other servers can know where to find your site. During this time, your DNS Zone information is spread to servers that didn't know about it before.
Propagation primarily affects you because of changes to your WHOIS (domain registration) information. The WHOIS information is the master record that tells every DNS Server in the world how to find you. A change to your WHOIS information can take up to 72 hours to propagate fully.
