Deep Dive – What are domains and how do they work?

30 Aug 2022, by Slade Baylis

When it comes to starting your business, one of the main things you’ll need to do is get a website set up.  After all, with more and more people shopping and finding businesses online these days, if you don’t have a website, they might not find you at all!

As with most things, if you’ve never done it before, it can be difficult to know where to begin.  In this case, the first step for a website setup, is to get yourself a domain.  The term “domain” is derived from the Old French word “demesne”, meaning “the ownership of land held in one’s own right”.  But what is a domain when it comes to running a website?  What are the different parts of a domain and what are they used for?  What does “transferring” a domain even mean?

In this article we aim to answer all these questions and more – our hope is that you’ll then be able to walk away with a greater level of understanding about how domains work!

What is a domain name?

First, we’ll need to explain what a domain name is.  When most people try to access a website, it’s the norm nowadays for people to simply open up their internet browser of choice (such as Chrome, Firefox, or Safari) and then just type the name of the website or business they want to find into Google search that’s shown, and click on the first result.  However, searching for websites in a search engine is just one way of accessing a website - you can actually just go to them directly using their domain name. 

Every website that exists on the internet has a domain name associated with it that can be used to access it.  Even when you go to Google to search for another website, you may have seen up the top of your browser some text that looked something like this: “https://www.google.com.au” - that’s the domain name for Google’s website!  

By typing a domain name into that same “address bar” where Google’s domain name appeared, you can be sent directly to a website rather than having to use a search engine as an unnecessary middle person.

What’s the point of domain names - why were they invented?

Before domain names were created, each device that was connected to a network was just identified by a series of numbers called their “IP address”.  We’ve covered this in our Deep Dive: What is DNS article, but in short, these IP addresses appear as four sets of three number combinations, separated by periods like so 123.123.123.123. 

Without a domain name, if you wanted to access a particular website, you would need to remember the IP address of that website and type it in each type you wanted to visit it.  That’s easy for a computer, but for us humans it’s much easier to remember words than it is to remember numbers - so that’s why domain names were introduced!

When domain names were introduced, people were then able to “register” text-based addresses and then use those instead of their servers' IPs.  After typing in the address, the visitor’s device would then do a lookup of the domain and automatically translate that into the IP address needed to access the required servers and display the website.

What are the different parts of a domain name?

When it comes to domain names, they can be thought of as containing two or three parts, with each part being separated by a dot.  To help demonstrate and explain this, take a look at the image below.

As you can see, when using the “micron21.com.au” domain as an example, there are several different components that help both identify a website, as well as help your computer locate it when you search for it.  These are referred to as top-level domains (TLDs), Country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), second-level domains (2LDs), and third-level domains (3LDs).

The components that make up the micron21.com.au domain are:

• .au – This is the ccTLD and lets your computer know that this is an Australian website.
• .com – This is the 2LD and in Australia it’s used to differentiate commercial website from others, such as charities or Government departments.
• micron21 – This is the 3LD and this is the name of the website, which will be unique (when combined with the ccTLD and 2LD) and only be able to be registered by a single entity.

The parts, when considered in right to left order, go from more general location to more specific location.  Having the domain name formed this way allows devices to communicate with the domain name registries that manage these domains, so that they can find the IP of the relevant web-server.

Whilst in the example above the 2LD is the “.com” in the domain name “micron21.com.au”, for our other domain“micron21.com”, the “micron21” component would be the 2LD.  This is because it’s the “second-level” of the domain when considered from right to left.

What are the different TLDs and who manages them?

Overall there are over 1500 different types of domain TLDs that are available around the world.  Some of those are known as generic top-level domains (gTLDs) and include domains ending in: “.com”; “.net”; “.org”.  Others are limited to use by specific countries, called country-code top-level domains (ccTLDs), such as: “.com.au” for Australia; “.co.uk” for the United Kingdom; or “.co.nz” for New Zealand.

For generic TLDs, these are managed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, or ICANN for short. For country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) - these are usually managed by associations within the countries themselves.

Within Australia, auDA (https://www.auda.org.au/) is the administrator of Australia’s ccTLD.  The 2LDs for the Australian ccTLDs are commonly called “namespaces” and they are divided into two different categories -  the first being “Open” and the second being “Closed”.

Open .au namespaces

“Open” namespaces are defined as those that the public can register to use, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria of each type of namespace.  Each of the different namespaces is designed to serve a specific type of purpose as outlined below:

• .au direct – new Australian TLD for use by all Australians 
• .com.au – for commercial entities
• .net.au – for commercial entities
• .org.au – for charities and not-for-profit organisations
• .asn.au – for incorporated associations, political parties, trade unions, sporting and special interest clubs
• .id.au – for individuals who are Australian citizens or residents

Closed .au namespaces

Unlike the open namespaces above, “closed” namespaces aren’t available to the general public and are only available to entities within a specifically defined sector as outlined below:

• .edu.au – for educational institutions registered at the federal or state level
• .gov.au – for commonwealth, state, territory and local government bodies
• .csiro.au – for the sole use of the Commonwealth Science and Industry Research Organisation (CSIRO)

There are also a bunch of closed State and Territory specific namespaces for Australia.  These are open only to community groups and only Australian geographic (place) names can be registered:

• .act.au 
• .nsw.au
• .nt.au
• .qld.au
• .sa.au
• .tas.au
• .vic.au
• .wa.au

Registry, Registrar, Reseller, and Registrant – What’s the difference?

When it comes to domain names, there are four different “R” terms you may come across that all sound very similar, but are actually quite different.  These terms are “Registry”, “Registrar”, “Reseller” and “Registrant”.  Each of these terms represents different levels in the domain name management hierarchy, so it’s important to know the differences between them.

Registry

At the very top of the domain management hierarchy is what’s known as the Domain Registry.  This is an organisation that is in charge of administering a TLD.

The Registry sets standards about who is eligible to register different types of domains; the processes for registering, renewing, and transferring them; as well as resolve disputes between different parties with regards to domain name registrations.

Managing all 1500+ domain types would likely be too monolithic a task for a single organisation, so there are many different registries that exist that manage different TLDs.  For example, auDA, the organisation mentioned earlier, is the Registry for any Australian domain names (i.e. any domains that end with “.au”).

Registrar

In the domain name hierarchy just below Registry then comes Domain Registrars.  These organisations need to be accredited by a Registry in order to work with them, and once accredited, they can manage domains with the Registry on behalf of individuals and other organisations.

The services offered by registrars can differ based on the price of the domains they offer, the support that comes included, other services that can be provided alongside those domains, and more. 

Micron21 is an Accredited Australian Registrar, which means that we manage domain names for our clients directly with the Australian Registry auDA.

Reseller

The next level in the domain management hierarchy is that of Domain Resellers - unlike the other two levels above, this level is entirely optional. 

The purpose of a Reseller of domain names is usually to manage domain names on behalf of their clients, where those clients prefer not to manage their domain names themselves.   A common example of this is IT firms that manage the IT infrastructure and services for customers.  In those cases, the hosting of their customer’s website as well as the management of the domain names is often something that is left for the IT provider to manage on their behalf.

Registrars will often offer discounted domain registration fees to Resellers, as Resellers will often support their own clients directly, lessening the amount of support they require from their Registrars.

Registrant

At the end of this chain lies the Domain Registrant.  Ultimately, the Domain Registrant is the individual or organisation that registers a domain name. 

Whilst gTLDs (generic top-level domains) are fairly loose in terms of their eligibility, meaning that in most cases any person around the world can apply, ccTLDs are nearly always more stringent.  For example, commercial Australian domains such as “.com.au” or “.net.au” require ABNs or ACNs to be provided to tie the registration of a domain to a legal commercial entity who will become the Registrant of that domain.

However, the new .au direct domain name is the exception to that norm, as it’s open to any person or organisation with a verified connection to Australia.  If you’re interested in registering a .au direct domain, you can use the domain search tool here to see if it’s available!

Transferring Domains – The process for moving domains between registrars

With there being multiple different Registrars available to choose from (and prices for domain names varying between them), comes the question of how to go about moving domains between one Registrar and another.  The way that domains are moved between them is through a process called “Transferring” the domain.

Transferring a domain between two different Registrars is quite a simple task, but one that has a few steps in order to ensure that a domain is only transferred when the existing Registrant has authorised the move. 

At a high level they all follow the following process/steps:

• A request is sent to a Registrar for a domain to be transferred across
• Along with that request, the “domain password” for the domain in question is provided, initiating the domain transfer process
• The Registrar does a look-up of the Registrant’s contact email address listed on the domain
• An email is sent to the Registrant’s contact email address, letting them know that a transfer has been requested and asking for their authorisation to proceed
• If authorisation is given, then the transfer of the domain to the new Registrar begins
• The transfer then takes place over 2 – 5 or so days, with the length of time being determined by the type of the domain and the rules put in place by the Registry

The “domain password” mentioned above is the password that is used to verify that the person who is initiating the transfer has administrative rights over the domain.  IT providers who manage domains on behalf of their clients can therefore retrieve those details and use them to initiate the transfer of a domain, however only the Registrant can authorise the transfer through the email that will be sent directly to them. 

That password also goes by several other common names, such as “AuthInfo”, “Domain Key”, or “EPP Key” - all of which refer to the same domain password used to initiate domain transfers.

Have any other questions about domains or just want to register a domain?

If you have any questions about how domains work, or just want to register a new domain, feel free to reach out to us! You can call us on 1300 769 972 (Option #1) or email us at sales@micron21.com.

If you would prefer to register the domain online instead, you can also search for your new domain name here.

For more information on Australian domains specifically, auDA has many resources available to answer any questions you may have which you can find here: https://www.auda.org.au/au-domain-names/help-tools-resources