Domain Names in detail

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Domain names are formed according to certain international rules.

Those ending in .com .net .edu and .mil are essentially American domains, though the first two are regarded as being for international use. These Top-Level domains (TLDs) have specific uses:

.com is for commercial use
.net is for those providing internet services
.edu is for US educational establishments
.gov is for US government use
.mil is for US military use

Naturally .edu .gov and .mil names are not available for use by the general public but are listed here for completeness.

These American TLDs are in one sense unique, because all other TLDs are associated with specific countries and known as ccTLDs (Country Code Top Level Domains).

For example, the UK Top Level Domain is .uk This Is then combined with Secondary level names as follows:

.co.uk

for commercial enterprises

.me.uk for personal use

.org.uk

for non-commercial organisations 

.plc.uk

for registered company names only

.ltd.uk

for registered company names only

.net.uk

for Internet Service Providers 

.sch.uk

for schools

.ac.uk

for Academic Establishments

.gov.uk

for Government Bodies 

.nhs.uk

for National Health Service Organisations

.police.uk 

for UK Police Forces 

.mod.uk

for Ministry of Defence Establishments

Of all these names, only the first three are available for unrestricted use by the general public. .plc.uk and .ltd.uk names are intended to allow a unique mapping between company names registered under the Companies Act with Companies House and a DNS name. This means that you can only register the domain name gizmo.ltd if your company is registered aa Gizmo Ltd.

.co.uk for commercial and general use £10.00
per 2 years
(order for 2 years)
.org.uk for non-commercial use
.ltd.uk for limited company use only
.plc.uk
.com for commercial and general use £15.00
per year
(order for 1-10 years)
.net for use by internet service providers
.org for non-commercial use

.info

for commercial and general use

£15.00
per year
(order for 2-10 years)

.name

for non-commercial use

.biz

for commercial use


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