All About Domains

Whether you’re starting a new website or trying to expand an existing one, your domain name is crucial. It’s significant from a technical aspect because it allows users to easily access your site, but it’s also crucial to your digital brand.

 

What is a Domain?

A domain is a vanity address that directs internet traffic to the  specific IP address of a server that hosts your website. It’s much easier for visitors to remember yourstore.com versus 23.135.21.1. There are a number of common domain extensions such as .COM, .NET and .ORG. In some cases domains can only be registered if criteria is met, such as being a Canadian resident or business in order to register a .CA extension.

 

What is a Domain Registrar?

Domains must be acquired and paid for through domain registrars such as GoDaddy (the largest provider in North America). They are registered at the registrar  where they are purchased and must pay an annual fee to renew the domain.

 

What is an IP Address?

An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network. IP stands for “Internet Protocol,” which is the set of rules governing the format of data sent via the internet or local network. IP Addresses are not random. They are assigned to devices that use the internet. Servers in particular each have their own unique address where your website might be accessed from. 

 

What is a DNS Record?

A DNS record contains domain names, registration information, IP addresses, and hosting for a particular domain. Each domain has its own set of records that serve as instructions to the DNS server, letting it know which domains, subdomains, email servers, etc. are connected to each IP address.

 

What is a Nameserver?

Nameserver is a server that holds DNS records for a domain name, such as name server, name mail exchanger, and address records, and responds to searches against its database.

 

What is a DNS Admin?

The DNS Administrator is the individual that manages your DNS records within your Nameserver. Your Nameserver can change at any moment with the Domain Registrant’s permission, thus the Admin who manages your DNS records can change as well, even if the Domain Registrant is a different individual.

 

Overall, the Internet can discover your website since it utilizes a Nameserver to determine which server it has a place in, DNS records to give specialized data about the domain, an IP address to give it exact  pinpoint location of the server and a domain name that effectively permits your clients to type in an easy to remember word or phrase to discover where to go.

 

You may wonder if there is any risk of transferring your domain. The answer is, it depends how you look at it. There is no major risk in transferring domains. One thing that could happen would be that it takes some time to complete from when you initiate the change to  the DNS.

 

The “risk” of transferring would be because of trust. You want to make sure that whoever you’re transferring the domain to that they’re an honest provider. You should never register a domain with the same business you host with the reason being proprietary protection of your domain name and website. 

 

Always do your research before hiring an outside consultant to transfer your domain. There could be so many things that go wrong, such as transferring your domain to another company with poor server maintenance so your site is constantly unreachable. 

 

With RAVEN5, you won’t have to worry about that. On our end, we put the stress you have on your shoulders onto our own, so there isn’t much you have to worry about.

 

We have multiple testimonials from our clients who we take care of that say we’re flexible and reliable! Check it out.

 

Previously, Domain Transfer Process.

Next up, Domains Transfer Status.

 

Amy Chung, Oakville, ON,  July 2021

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