In this article we will cover the basics of what a domain name
is, how they work and why you need to have at least one. I am
going to try and avoid complicated computer terms and stick to
explanations that should be easily understood by someone without
a computer science degree.

What is a Domain Name? Before we can go into what a domain name
is I'm going to tell you why we need them as the answers
compliment each other. The Internet is just a really big
collection of connected computers (a network). For the purpose
of explaining domain names you can think of the Internet a bit
like the phone system and just like the phone system every
computer on the Internet has it's own phone number except an
Internet phone number is called an IP addresses. This address is
made up of up to 12 digits in the form 123.123.123.123,
computers use these IP addresses to send information to each
other over the Internet.

When the Internet was first created it quickly became clear that
these IP addresses were not easy to remember and another method
was need to make these addresses more human friendly. The
solution to this was the Domain Name System (DNS). Basically the
DNS is a really really big phone book for computers. When you
type a web site address into your web browser it checks the DNS
for that website name and finds the IP address. Once it has the
IP address it can then send a message to that computer and ask
it for the web page you wanted.

Ok so you know a domain name is part of a web site address but
which part? Lets look at a website address so we can identify
and discuss what bit of it is a domain name.
http://www.itxcel.com/index.html

The above address is the home page of the itXcel web site. It
can be split into 3 main parts. The first part is http:// this
just tells your web browser what kind of information it is going
to get and how to get it. The last part is /index.html this is
name of the files on the remote computer that you want your
browser to get. The bit in the middle www.itxcel.com is a domain
name. This is the name that your computer sends to the DNS to
get back the IP address.

So you know what a domain name is and that there is a phone book
called the DNS to change your easy to remember domain name into
an IP address that you computer can understand. The Internet
phone book (DNS) is special in that everyone on the Internet
needs to be able to use it. This makes the DNS very very big
(100+ million addresses big). Due to the size of this phone book
it needed to have a carefully organised and managed structure.

Domain names themselves are split into different levels like a
hierarchy. The DNS system uses this hierarchy to search the DNS
for the IP address of the domain name it is trying to find. The
last bit of a domain, in the previous example the com part is
called the top level domain. There are a large selection of top
level domains like com, net, org and info. There are also very
similar endings called country level domains like uk and de.
Each of the top level and country level domains are managed by a
different organization, sometimes these are companies or non
profit organizations and sometimes governments. In the domain
business these organisations are referred to as the registries.
Each registry looks after it's own part of the domain name
system. If you decide you want to use a domain name in the top
level domain com, like mycompany.com you would have to have this
name assigned by the registry that manages that top level domain
(for .com a US company called VeriSign). The process of being
assigned a domain name is called domain registration.

Domain registration is more like a lease than a purchase. You
are renting the second level domain (the mycompany bit) from
Verisign for a specific amount of time normally between 1 and 10
years at a time. Most of the organizations that allow you to
register a second level domain charge a fee for each year that
you register the domain for. With almost all domain names you
are also given the option to renew your registration (lease)
when it is close to running out (expiring).

Once you have registered a second level domain you are free to
create as many third level domains (sometimes called sub
domains) as you like. In our previous example the www is a sub
domain of itxcel.com

Most of the registries that manage these top level domain names
do not allow individuals or businesses to register domains
directly with them. To register a domain you need to use a
company like itXcel. We act as a registrar and send all the
required information and the registration fee to the registry.
Registrars are useful as they hide the differences that exist in
each of the registries from the customer and provide a simple
step by step process for registering a domain. A registrar also
allows you to manage and track all your domains from one place
rather than having to deal with a different company for each top
level domain.

OK so I know what a domain name is, Why do need one? Can you
image what a nightmare it would be if you had an email address
like myname@123.246.128.255 or a web site address
http://123.246.128.255/. These addresses are possible but not
very easy to remember. Now if you register a domain name you
could create an email address like myname@mycompany.com and a
web site address like http://mycompany.com These are much easier
to remember and look 100 times more professional.

One of the important points about registering a domain is that
once done you have an exclusive right to use that domain for as
long as you keep the domain registered in your name. If you do
not renew a domain at the end of it's registration period it
will again become available for registration by someone else.
For this reason even if you don't want or need a web site at the
moment, it's still a good idea to register a domain as soon as
possible. Just imagine if your competition registered the domain
name of your company or product. Although there is a process in
place to retrieve these domain it can be long and complicated.
It is definitely simpler to spend a little money up front to
secure your chosen domain names.

To find out what domains are available and to quickly and
cheaply register them visit http://www.itxcel.com now and enter
your desired name in the domain search box.