For most of us, getting online is a cinch. We just turn on the computer, launch the browser and type in a string of letters to bring us to the website of our choice. But what exactly is that string of letters you key in? What do they mean and how do they work?
Singapore, 12 November 2004
For most of us, getting online is a cinch. We just turn on the computer, launch the browser and type in a string of letters to bring us to the website of our choice. But what exactly is that string of letters you key in? What do they mean and how do they work?
Introducing the Domain Name
That string of letters you key into your browser is known as the domain name of a website. The easiest way to think of how domain names work is to think of them as addresses. What you are trying to do when you request for a certain website is to "visit" the address of the website.
Domain names perform the simple, straightforward function of mapping names to Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and back. Every server on the Internet has an IP address, represented as a series of four numbers separated by dots e.g. 123.45.67.254. Unlike telephone numbers, these long series of numbers can be difficult to remember. Domain names therefore, allow people to use names, instead of numbers, to reach websites and send email messages.
Dissecting Domain Names
The rightmost label in a domain name such as .com or .net is known as the top-level domain (TLD). There are many TLDs available for the Internet such as those below. Individual countries can also have top-level domain names such as 'sg' for Singapore, 'au' for Australia and 'uk' for the United Kingdom.
- com: for commercial purposes
- org: for non-profit organisations
- net: for network providers
- gov: for government organisations
- edu: for educational organisations
Domain names are hierarchical. For instance, each TLD may have second-level domains e.g. "abc" in www.abc.com . Each second-level domain can then have third-level domains e.g. "corporate" in corporate.abc.com and so forth. Nowadays, domain names can even use characters from many different scripts, such as Kanji and Arabic and not just the familiar Latin alphabet used by English speakers.
How Domain Names Work
When you hit enter after keying in the domain name, your request will be sent to a web server for processing. Your request goes through the following steps before delivering the requested webpage to your screen:
1. Setting the Language
The browser first decides which protocol to use. The protocol is the language your computers use to communicate with servers. Examples of protocols include FTP (File Transfer Protocol) and HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol).
2. Knocking the Door
After the protocol has been decided, the browser then sends a command to the corresponding web server and waits for a response. When the server responds to the browser's requests, it verifies that the given address exists, finds the necessary files and returns the results back to the browser. If it cannot locate the file, the server sends an error message to you.
3. Opening the Door
If the request goes through, your browser translates the data it has been given into HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and properly displays the results to you. HTML is a computer language that describes how a page should be formatted and presented to the users.
The Singapore Scene
By the end of October this year, there was a total of 40,389 'sg' domain names registered, attesting to the high interest in 'sg' domain names.
To cater to this increasing interest in domain names, the Singapore Network Information Centre (SGNIC) launched second-level domain names, e.g. xyz.sg, on 15 September 2004 to create more domain name choices for Internet users. Since this was announced, a total of 5,923 second-level domain names have been registered, attesting to the high interest in second-level domain names.
With such a vibrant Internet scene, Singapore is poised to realise its goal of becoming a dynamic global infocomm hub.
Useful Links
" INFOCOMM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE, 16 August 2004. Online. Media Release: Snap Up That Snazzy '.sg' Domain Name!. Available at: http://www.ida.gov.sg/News%20and%20Events/20050712183621.aspx?getPagetype=20.
" SINGAPORE NETWORK INFORMATION CENTRE. 2004. Online. Available at: www.sgnic.sg.
" HOW STUFF WORKS. 1998 2004. How Domain Name Servers Work. Online. Marshall Brain, 2004. Available at: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dns.htm.
" VERISIGN INC, 1995 2004. Domain Name Industry Briefs, Volume 1, Issue 1, February 2004. Online. The VeriSign Domain Name Primer. Available at: http://www.verisign.com/Resources/Naming_Services_Resources/Domain_Name_Industry_Brief/page_002688.html.
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