In the domain industry people use certain terms and expressions that will be clarified in this section.

Account Holder: A person or company that is responsible for a domain name. If you register your domain as an individual, you will be designated as the account holder. If you register under a company, the company will be designated as the account holder.Top ↑

Account Number: When a domain name has been purchased, the registrant will be issued an account number. This number will provide you with access to change and modify your password and account.Top ↑

Administrative Contact/Agent (AdminC): The administrative contact/agent is an individual or role account authorized to interact with domaindiscounter.com on behalf of the domain name registrant. The administrative contact/agent should be able to answer non-technical questions about the domain name's registration and the domain name registrant.It is strongly recommended that this contact/agent be the registrant or someone from the registrant's organization.Top ↑

Adsense: Contextual advertising by Google. Website publishers earn a portion of the advertising revenue for placing Google sponsored links on their site.Top ↑

Appraisal: An evaluation carried out to establish the potential market value of a domain name. Since the market for domain names is still in its infancy, different companies may arrive at very different appraisal values for the same domain name. Therefore, appraisals should be used as a rough guide to the value of a domain name, but should not be taken too seriously.Top ↑

Authentication: The process of verifying the identity of an individual or organization. Authentication enables someone to verify that individuals and organizations are who they say they are. Authentication allows the recipient in an electronic transaction to be confident of both the identity of the sender and the integrity of the message.Top ↑

Authorization: A process to verify that an individual or organization that has requested an action actually has the right to make the request. Requiring a password to modify a domain name's registration information is an example of authorization.Top ↑

Billing Contact/Agent (BillingC): As used by InterNIC, the billing contact/agent contact is the person or role account designated to receive the invoice for domain name registration fees and renewal (re-registration) fees. The billing contact should be in a position to ensure prompt payment of fees.Top ↑

Broker: A company in the business of buying and selling domain names. Domain name brokers usually act as facilitators between buyers and sellers, but very rarely buy for their own account. Note that many companies call themselves "brokers" because it basically sounds good, though all they really do is list domain names for sale on their site, with contact information. Only a small minority of companies calling themselves brokers provides full brokerage service, such as escrow.Top ↑

com (.com): The top level domain originally intended for "commercial" entities. One of the worldwide top level domains, in which any person or organization may register a domain name.Top ↑

Cybersquatter: The illegal act of buying up domain names and "sitting" on them with the intent of making a large profit off the sell. Cybersquatters will often buy out large quantities of names, trademarks, or highly marketable names to try to make a buck or prevent others from lawful use of the name.Top ↑

Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD): A top-level domain containing a 2-character abbreviation as defined by ISO 3166-1 (Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries and Their Subdivisions). As of November 1999 there were 243 country code top level domains (ccTLDs) registered. Some examples are .us for the United States, .ca for Canada, .jp for Japan, .de for Germany, etc. ccTLDs are often contrasted to generic top level domains (gTLDs). ccTLDs often have more restrictive registration requirements including regional requirements whereas gTLDs tend to be open to all registrants around the world.Top ↑

Deactivation: The process of removing a domain name from the zone files for the top level domains. When a domain name is deactivated, the Domain Name System (DNS) will no longer have the information needed to resolve the domain name to its corresponding Internet Protocol (IP) number(s), effectively disabling the domain name as a tool for locating the related computers or organizations. InterNIC refers to this status as being "On Hold" . The domain name record, however, remains in InterNIC's domain name database.Top ↑

Deletion: The process of removing a domain name and its corresponding record from the Domain Name System (DNS) and InterNIC's domain name database. A deleted domain name cannot be used to locate computers on the Internet and will be made available for other parties to register on a first-come, first-served basis. A domain name may be deleted at the request of the domain name registrant, as a result of non-payment of fee, or due to circumstances particular to individual cases.Top ↑

Deleted Domain: A previously registered domain name whose registration has been cancelled by the registrar, possibly due to a dispute over ownership or a breach of contract. A dropped domain is available for registration by the public.Top ↑

Digital Signature: A piece of data that is attached to an electronic file that serves as the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature.Top ↑

Domain: A division of the entire space which holds domain names that characterizes a level of hierarchy in the domain name space and is indicated by a domain name.Top ↑

Domain Host: The business or registrar responsible for a domain name's server and keeping their web site "live" .Top ↑

Domain Monetization: It is a process of converting a domain name's traffic to money. A monetization company places ads on domain name Web Pages. Advertisers pay the monetization company a fee, which is currently based on pay-per-click (PPC), i.e., every time a visitor to the domain name clicks on a link, the domain name owner earns money.Top ↑

Domain Name: A domain-name is your own cyber-estate. This estate, just like its physical counterpart, has its value depending on its address (name) and its content. You can charge your visitors or give them a free tour, or run a side business as part of the estate. Just like a 5th Avenue address is limited and also is more valuable than the vast majority of other addresses, the value of your domain-name can vary from a few dollars to, well, some are going for a million dollars. We cannot tell you what furniture, art work, or side business to have on your cyber-estate, but your address would surely enhance the value of its content, or might actually destroy its value if the name doesn't attract clients. On a technical level,it is an addressing construct used for identifying and locating computers on the Internet. Domain names provide a system of easy-to-remember Internet addresses, which can be translated by the Domain Name System (DNS) into the numeric addresses (Internet Protocol (IP) numbers) used by the network. A domain name is hierarchical and often conveys information about the type of entity using the domain name. A domain name is simply a label that represents a domain, which is a subset of the total domain name space. Domain names at the same level of the hierarchy must be unique; for example there can be only one com at the top level of the hierarchy, and only one domaindiscounter.com at the next level of the hierarchy.Top ↑

dot or ".": The top of the hierarchy or root in the Domain Name System (DNS).Top ↑

Dropped Domain: A previously registered domain name whose registration was allowed to lapse by the original owner, who refused to pay the renewal fee. The domain name returned to the "available" pool of domain names.Top ↑

edu (.edu): The administrative contact/agent is an individual or role account authorized to interact with domaindiscounter.com on behalf of the domain name registrant. The administrative contact/agent should be able to answer non-technical questions about the domain name's registration and the domain name registrant.It is strongly recommended that this contact/agent be the registrant or someone from the registrant's organization.Top ↑

Email Forwarding: A process to redirect your incoming mail to a specific mailbox. For example, if you have a number of email addresses, forwarding all your email to a single mailbox makes keeping track of them much easier, as you only need to check one mailbox, rather than checking all of them individually. Consult your ISP for fees.Top ↑

EPP: Extensible Provisioning Protocol. EPP is a protocol that permits multiple service providers to perform object provisioning operations using a shared central object repository. EPP is specified using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) 1.0 and XML Schema notation. EPP meets an exceeds the requirements for a generic registry-registrar protocol (as described in RFC 3375). EPP content is identified by MIME media type application/epp+xml. The original motivation for this protocol was to provide a standard Internet domain name registration protocol for use between domain name registrars and domain name registries. The EPP protocol provides a means of interaction between a registrar's applications and registry applications.Top ↑

Encrypted Password: A password that has been "scrambled" so that someone who is not intended to use that specific program or system will be denied.Top ↑

Encryption: A very high security way to protect information that is sent over the Internet by scrambling the data so that only the person who is designated can read the information.Top ↑

Escrow: A third party service that will essentially hold on to the buyer's payment when selling a domain name, thereby protecting both the buyer and seller.Top ↑

Expired Domain: A domain that has not been registered by the owner in the grace period allotted eventually becomes expired, or unusable by the owner, and is placed into the pool of available names again.Top ↑

Fully Qualified Domain Name: The name of a domain without the host information, e.g. google.com (and not www.google.com).Top ↑

Fully Qualified Host Name: The name of the computer hosting your domain name.Top ↑

gov (.gov): The top level domain designated for agencies and branches of the United States Federal Government. State and local governments in the United States should use the .us top level country code domain. Prior to October 1, 1997, registration in gov was handled by InterNIC; the General Services Administration (GSA) began handling registration in the top level domain gov starting October 1, 1997.Top ↑

gTLD: TLDs can be separated into gTLD and ccTLD. "gTLD" means "generic Top-Level Domain" or sometimes it is referred to as "global Top-Level Domain". Usually, people mean TLDs like .com, .net, .org, .info, .biz, .name etc. by gTLD. That is, endings which cannot be associated with a certain country.Top ↑

Hold Status: A domain name that has not been registered by its owner, but not yet in the pool of available names may be said to be on hold status.Top ↑

ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Headquartered in Marina Del Rey, California, United States, ICANN is a non-profit corporation that was created on September 18, 1998 in order to oversee a number of Internet-related tasks previously performed directly on behalf of the U.S. government by other organizations, notably the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority IANA. The tasks of ICANN include responsibility for Internet Protocol (IP) address space allocation, protocol identifier assignment, generic (gTLD) and country code Top Level Domain name system management, and root server system management functions. More generically, ICANN is responsible for managing the assignment of domain names and IP addresses. To date, much of its work has concerned the introduction of new generic top-level domains. The technical work of ICANN is referred to as the IANA function. ICANN's other primary function involves helping preserve the operational stability of the Internet; to promote competition; to achieve broad representation of global Internet community; and to develop policies appropriate to its mission through bottom-up, consensus-based processes. On September 29, 2006, ICANN signed a new agreement with the United States Department of Commerce (DOC) that is a step forward towards the full management of the Internet's system of centrally coordinated identifiers through the multi-stakeholder model of consultation that ICANN represents.Top ↑

IDN: An internationalized domain name (IDN) is an Internet domain name that contains one or more non-ASCII characters. Such domain names could contain letters with diacritics, as required by many non-English languages, or characters from non-Latin scripts such as Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese or Hindi. However, the standard for domain names does not allow such characters, and much work has gone into finding a way to internationalize domain names into a standard ASCII format, thereby preserving the stability of the domain name system. After much debate and many competing proposals, a system called Internationalizing Domain Names in Applications (IDNA) was adopted as the chosen standard, and has been rolled out in several top level domains. As an example of how IDNA works, suppose the domain to be encoded is Bcher.ch ("Bcher" is German for "books" , and .ch is the country domain of Switzerland). This has two labels, Bcher and ch. The second label is pure ASCII, and so is left unchanged. The first label is processed by Nameprep to give bcher, and then by Punycode to give bcher-kva, and then has xn-- prepended to give xn--bcher-kva. The final domain suitable for use with the DNS is therefore xn--bcher-kva.ch.Top ↑

Internet Service Provider (ISP): Typically a small or large business that supplies access to the internet, although an individual person may be equipped to do so. It is common for ISPs to provide web hosting, domain registrations and other services that are related.Top ↑

InterNIC: The name given to a project that originated under a cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF). Under the current agreement with the U.S. Government, InterNIC provides domain name registration services in ".com", ".net", ".org", and ".edu".Top ↑

Link Exchange: Placing a link to another website on your own site in exchange for a return link back. Also known as reciprocal linking.Top ↑

Link Popularity: A measure of how "popular" a web page is on the internet as measured by the number of inbound links pointing to your web page. Link popularity is one of the main factors used to help determine search engine rankings.Top ↑

mil (.mil): The top level domain designated for United States military entities.Top ↑

Name Server: Also called a host (name server). A computer that has both the software and the data (zone file) needed to resolve domain names to Internet Protocol (IP) numbers.Top ↑

Name Service (Domain Name Service): Providing individuals or organizations with domain name-to-Internet Protocol (IP) number resolution by maintaining and making available the hardware, software, and data needed to perform this function. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) operate name servers and provide their customers with name services when they register a domain name. Most individuals are not in a position to operate a name server on their own and will need to make arrangements for name services with an ISP or some other person or organization.Top ↑

net (.net): The top level domain designated for entities and computers that represent part of the Internet's infrastructure. Originally intended for use by Network Information Centers (NICs), Network Operations Centers (NOCs), administrative computers (such as a name server) and network node computers. One of the worldwide top level domains.Top ↑

org (.org): The top level domain designated for miscellaneous entities that do not fit under any of the other top level domains. Typically used for non-profit organizations. One of the worldwide top level domains.Top ↑

Pay-Per-Click (PPC): This is a traffic generating method where a search engine or directory places your link in their searchable database and charges you a fee every time your URL comes up in a search and it gets clicked on. The amount of the fee that you pay is usually determined by bidding on keywords or key phrases.Top ↑

PGP Public Key Server: A database of information that can be queried to find someone's public key.Top ↑

Primary Server: On Domain Bank's Domain Name Service Agreement, the section where the registrant indicates the host name and Internet Protocol (IP) number of the name server that will contain authoritative information for the domain name and will be used to resolve that domain name to its corresponding IP number(s). The designation of "primary" means that this name server will be used first and will be relied upon before any of the other name servers that may be listed on the Domain Name Service Agreement. The primary server section of the Agreement is a required section and the domain name registration will not be processed unless this section of the Domain Name Service Agreement is completed properly.Top ↑

Private Key Encryption: An encryption system in which both the sender and recipient of a message share a single, common key that is used to both encrypt and decrypt the message.Top ↑

Public Key Encryption: An encryption method that uses the concept of a key-ring. The key-ring uses a public and private key. The public and private keys are intended to work together.Top ↑

Puny Code: Punycode is a computer programming encoding syntax by which a Unicode string of characters can be translated into the more-limited character set permitted in network host names. The encoding syntax is published on the Internet in RFC3492.Top ↑

Registrant: The individual or organization that registers a specific domain name with InterNIC. This individual or organization holds the right to use that specific domain name for a specified period of time, provided certain conditions are met and the registration fees are paid. This person or organization is the "legal entity" bound by the terms of the Domain Name Registration Agreement.Top ↑

Registrant Name Change Agreement (RNCA): A Registrant Name Change Agreement (RNCA) is a document by which a domain name registrant changes its name, as it appears in InterNIC' records. Specifically, the RNCA must be used if the Registrant wishes to: Correct a typographical or other minor error in the Registrant's name; Change the Registrant's legal name; or Transfer the domain name to another party.http://www.networksolutions.com/makechanges/rnca/agreement.htmlTop ↑

Registrar: A business that is given permission to register domain names on behalf of anyone wishing to obtain one. Registrars must be accredited by ICANN, and are only given permission to register certain top level domains. Registrars collect fees, maintain record information, and manage registration, re-registration, and expiration of domains.Top ↑

Registration: The process through which individuals and organizations obtain a domain name. Registration of a domain name enables the individual or organization to use that particular domain name for a specified period of time, provided certain conditions are met and payment for services is made. Registering of a new domain name with InterNIC is accomplished by completing and submitting the Domain Name Registration Agreement.Top ↑

Registration Fee: The charge for registering a domain name. InterNIC' registration fee covers the cost of processing the initial registration and maintaining the domain name record for two years. For domain names with registration dates on or after April 1, 1998, the fee is 70.00 USD. After the initial two-year period, the domain name is subject to renewal (re-registration) and the renewal (re-registration) fee will be due on an annual basis if the registrant wishes to renew the domain name's registration.Top ↑

Registration Forms: Forms that are used to submit and process registration requests. These forms are used to register new domain names, new contacts for domain names, and new hosts (name servers) as well as to update domain name, contact, and host records. There are both Web versions and plain text (ASCII) versions of the forms.Top ↑

Registry: A registry is responsible for delegating Internet addresses such as Internet Protocol (IP) numbers and domain names, and keeping a record of those addresses and the information associated with their delegation. A domain name registry, also called Network Information Centre (NIC), is part of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet which converts domain names to IP addresses. It is an organisation that manages the registration of domain names within the top-level domains for which it is responsible, controls the policies of domain name allocation, and technically operates its top-level domain. It is potentially distinct from a domain name registrar. Domain names are managed under a hierarchy headed by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), which manages the top of the DNS tree by administrating the data in the root nameservers. IANA also operates the .int registry for intergovernmental organisations, the .arpa zone for protocol administration purposes, and other critical zones such as root-servers.net. IANA delegates all other domain name authority to other domain name registries such as VeriSign. Country code top-level domains (ccTLD) are delegated by IANA to national registries such as DENIC in Germany, or Nominet in the United Kingdom. Examples of regional IP registries include Asian-Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC), American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN), and Reseaux IP Europeens (RIPE). Examples of domain name registries include InterNIC's InterNIC operation (.com, .net, and .org) and the ISO3166 country code registries (e.g., .fr, .de, .uk, and .us).Top ↑

Renewal (Re-registration): The process of reinitiating a domain name's registration for a specified period of time. Renewing an existing domain name with InterNIC is accomplished by simply paying the renewal (re-registration) fee which covers one year of continued registration and maintenance, and agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of the then existing Domain Name Registration Agreement, including the Domain Name Dispute Policy.Top ↑

Renewal (Re-registration) Fee: The charge for renewing an existing domain name registration. InterNIC's renewal (re-registration) fee covers one year of maintenance for the domain name record and is assessed each year on the anniversary of the original registration. For domain names with anniversary dates on or after April 1, 1998, the fee is 35.00 USD.Top ↑

Renewal (Re-registration) Notice: A notice sent to registrants 60 days before the anniversary of their registration date to let them know that their domain name will be due for renewal (re-registration) and that an invoice will be sent for the renewal (re-registration) fees.Top ↑

Renewal Date: The date on which the periodic maintenance fee paid for a given domain name runs out. On or before this date, the domain name owner must pay another 1-10+ years of domain name maintenance fees in order to keep the rights to the domain name. If the renewal date is allowed to pass without payment, the domain name becomes expired and will eventually drop.Top ↑

Reseller: A company/person that sells domain names through registry services provided by an ICANN approved registrar.Top ↑

RNCA (Registrant Name Change Agreement) Search Engine: A site which searches the web for sites which are relevant for a given search query.Top ↑

Root Server: A system that locates name servers that contain authoritative data for the top-level domains.Top ↑

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): The process of optimizing a web page for high search engine rankings for a particular search term or set of search terms.Top ↑

Sponsored Links: Paid advertising which displays next to the natural search results. Customers can click on the ad to visit the advertiser's website. This is how the search engines make their money. Advertisers set their ads up to display whenever someone searches for a word which is related to their product or service. These ads look similar to the natural search results, but are normally labeled "Sponsored Links" , and normally take up a smaller portion of the window. These ads work on a Pay-Per-Click (PPC) basis (i.e. the advertiser only pays when someone clicks on their ad).Top ↑

Subdomain: Typically known as a " domain within a domain" , subdomains are individual Web addresses built upon a pre-existing domain name (such as clientname.yourhostingcompany.com). As a reseller, you will have the option of assigning subdomains to clients if they do not choose to have a domain name.Top ↑

Third Level Domain: In the Domain Name System (DNS), the next highest level of the hierarchy underneath the second level domains. It is that portion of the domain name that appears two segments to the left of the top level domain. Third level domains are not the portion of an email address that appears in front of the @ symbol - for example, the help in help@domaindiscounter.com is not a third level domain.Top ↑

Second Level Domain: In the Domain Name System (DNS), the next highest level of the hierarchy underneath the top level domains. In a domain name, that portion of the domain name that appears immediately to the left of the top level domain. For example, the DomainMart in DomainMart.com.Top ↑

Technical Contact (TechC): When you register a domain name you must specify a technical contact for that domain. This individual will be responsible for any technical issues regarding the domain name. The technical contact may be the same as the billing or administrative contact.Top ↑

Top Level Domain (TLD): TLD is the last part of the domain name. For example, the .com in www.mysite.com is the top level domain. ("mysite" would be the second-level domain). In the Domain Name System (DNS), the highest level of the hierarchy above second level domains. Our domain name - domaindiscounter.com - for example is part of the Internet address for Nanjing Imperiosus Technology Co., Ltd. The DomainDiscounter part is the second level domain while the .com is the Top Level Domain. Second level domain names are what you register by or on behalf of registrants (or name holders) in a Top Level Domain registry. There are two types of Top Level Domains. The most common type is Generic or gTLDs, such as .COM, .NET, .ORG. New gTLDs such as .NOM, .INFO, or .WEB may be introduced sometime in the near future. The other type of TLD is the ccTLD (country code top level domains) which are assigned to all countries and their dependencies. 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 before registering name(s) in a particular registry.Top ↑

Trademark: A word, phrase, graphic image, or other symbol used to represent a business, commercial, or other organization. Trademarks are used to identify the organization to the public and to consumers and are intended to identify the organization's products and services as well. To be recognized as a trademark, the word, phrase, graphic image, or symbol must be registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (in the United States) or, in the case of other countries, with the appropriate authority for that country.Top ↑

Traffic: The visitors and page views on a website.Top ↑

Transfer: The process of changing the party whom is listed as the domain name registrant. The party taking over the domain name is responsible for paying a new registration fee. Domain name transfers are processed using the Registrant Name Change Agreement (RNCA).Top ↑

Transfer (Domain Name transfer): Domain names can be sold to another organization or sometimes the name of a company might change. Most registries require a process by which permission from the old owner to hand over control to the new owner is authorized. The procedure for change of ownership is known a Transfer. Policies and procedures on domain name transfer can vary from registry to registry.Top ↑

UDRP: The Uniform Dispute Resolution policy is a document which governs how domain name disputes will be resolved within the gTLD namespace. It defines the conditions under which a genuine dispute may arise, and provides guidelines for administrative proceedings to settle the issue, outside of a court where possible. All registrants registering domains through OpenSRS (or any other registrar) are bound by the UDRP.Top ↑

VeriSign Server Digital ID: These are used to give verification to users of a website's genuine identity.Top ↑

Whois: A searchable database maintained by VeriSign, which contains information about networks, networking organizations, domain names, and the contacts associated with them for the com, org, net, edu, and ISO3166 country code top level domains. Also, the protocol, or set of rules, that describes the application used to access the database. Other organizations have implemented the Whois protocol and maintain separate and distinct Whois databases for their respective domains.Top ↑

Whois Database: public database mandated by ICANN - the regulating agency over the domain registration industry. This database was intended to help people contact domain registrants for valid reasons (e.g. legal reasons).Top ↑

Whois Name Privacy Service: A domain name registration add-on service offered by NameSecure that masks the publicly available data published to the WHOIS database to reduce spam, and sidetrack scammers and other nefarious sorts who would misuse that data for their own personal gain.Top ↑

Whois Lookup: A search of a root server to determine if a domain name has been registered and, if it has, who the owner is. Example of whois for google.com:

Domain Name: GOOGLE.COM
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NS1.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS2.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS3.GOOGLE.COM
Name Server: NS4.GOOGLE.COM
Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Status: clientTransferProhibited
Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 10-apr-2006
Creation Date: 15-sep-1997
Expiration Date: 14-sep-2011

Registrant:
Dns Admin
Google Inc.
Please contact contact-admin@google.com 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US
dns-admin@google.com +1.6502530000 Fax: +1.6506188571

Domain Name: google.com

Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com

Administrative Contact:
DNS Admin
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View CA 94043
US
dns-admin@google.com +1.6506234000 Fax: +1.6506188571
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
DNS Admin
Google Inc.
2400 E. Bayshore Pkwy
Mountain View CA 94043
US
dns-admin@google.com +1.6503300100 Fax: +1.6506181499

Created on..............: 1997-09-15.
Expires on..............: 2011-09-13.
Record last updated on..: 2008-06-08.

Domain servers in listed order:

ns1.google.com
ns3.google.com
ns2.google.com
ns4.google.com

WIPO: World Intellectual Property Organization, takes care of intellectual property rights of people, companies, or organisations of its member states. Similar to UDRP, the WIPO tries to resolve domain name disputes for ccTLDs.Top ↑

Zone: A division of the entire domain name space that is characterized by the data stored on a particular name server.Top ↑

Zone File: A file that holds the data describing a division of the entire domain name space.Top ↑ ↑