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Domain Names
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Domain Names IP Address URL Domain Name Dispute Resolution ICANN policy IP Addresses and Domain Names IP ADDRESS An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Networks using the TCP/IP protocol route messages based on the IP address of the destination. The format of an IP address is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be zero to 255. For example, 1.160.10.240 could be an IP address. Within an isolated network, you can assign IP addresses at random as long as each one is unique. However, connecting a private network to the Internet requires using registered IP addresses (called Internet addresses) to avoid duplicates. The four numbers in an IP address are used in different ways to identify a particular network and a host on that network. Four regional Internet registries -- ARIN, RIPE NCC, LACNIC and APNIC -- assign Internet addresses from the following three classes. Class A - supports 16 million hosts on each of 126 networks Class B - supports 65,000 hosts on each of 16,000 networks Class C - supports 254 hosts on each of 2 million networks The number of unassigned Internet addresses is running out, so a new classless scheme called CIDR is gradually replacing the system based on classes A, B, and C and is tied to adoption of IPv6. An IP address consists of 4 sets of 8-bit numbers (octet) with a total of 32-bits, each separated by a dot (.). For each of the 4 sets of octets in an IP address, the maximum possible value is 255 (representing an octet containing all ones). Therefore, the values of IP addresses can range from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255, which translates to 3,720,314,628 different IP addresses. Example of an IP address in decimal and binary - Decimal: 123.45.67.89 Binary: 01111011.00101101.01000011.01011001 Classification of IP addresses An IP address consists of two portions - one identifies the network and the other identifies the device or the node within that network. For example, in case of the IP address 123.45.67.89, the network is identified by 123, whereas the node is identified by 45.67.89. The rules of breaking down an IP address into network and nodes is decided by the classification. Though the decimal representation of IP address is easier for human usage, computers use the binary representation and the classification of the IP address is also based on the binary numbers. Class A- IP Address Class A: This class of IP addresses start with a binary number 0 (decimal numbers from 0 to 127). The network is identified by the first octet (the first set of the IP address). For example, the IP address 123.45.67.89 belongs to class A because the first set of numbers is 123 (between 0 and 127). The network ID is 123, whereas the node ID is 45.67.89. Class B: The binary number starts with 10 (decimal numbers from 128 to 191). The network is identified by the first two octets (the first two sets of the IP address). For example, the IP address 178.95.234.23 belongs to class B, because the first set of numbers is 178 (between 128 and 191). The network ID is 178.95, whereas the node ID is 234.23. Class B can support 16,000 network addresses, each containing 65,000 nodes. Class C: The binary number starts with 110 (decimal numbers from 192 to 223). The network is identified by the first three octets (the first three sets of the IP address). For example, the IP address 210.223.99.145 belongs to class C, because the first set of numbers is 210 (between 192 and 223). The network ID is 210.223.99, whereas the node ID is 145. Class B can support more than 2 million network addresses, each containing 254 nodes. Class D: The binary digits start with 1110 (decimal numbers from 224 to 239). This class of IPs are reserved for multicast purposes. Class E: The E class of IP addresses start with binary digits 1111 (ranging from 240 to 255 in decimal format). This class of IP addresses are reserved for testing purposes and not assigned for public usage. Domain Names What is a domain name? Domain name is the unique address that identifies the location of the website. For example, the website address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of Google is http://www.google.com. Here google.com is the domain name Significance of Domain Names Why are domain names used? There are millions of unique websites and each website resides on a web server. Each web server can be identified by a unique address known as IP Address. In order to find the web server for a particular website, one has to remember the IP address of that server. IP addresses consist of digits only (e.g. 209.170.32.50) and are difficult to remember. Therefore, domain names were introduced in 1985 to create an easy-to-remember mapping of the server address and the web server location, where the actual website pages reside. SLD & TLDs Domain name extension (TLD) and second level domain The domain name consist of two parts: the top-level-domain (TLD) and the second level domain. A TLD is also known as the domain name extension (e.g. com, net, org). For example, in case of the domain websitegear.net, websitegear is the second level domain and net is the extension or TLD. The second level domain and the extension are separated by a dot (.). The most common TLDs in use are com, net and org. There are country specific domain extensions such as .us (U.S.A.), .uk (U.K.), .ca (Canada). URL and Domain names Abbreviation of Uniform Resource Locator, the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the address indicates what protocol to use, and the second part specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. For example, the two URLs below point to two different files at the domain pcwebopedia.com. The first specifies an executable file that should be fetched using the FTP protocol; the second specifies a Web page that should be fetched using the HTTP protocol: ftp://www.pcwebopedia.com/stuff.exe http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html URLs URLs in everyday use A HTTP URL combines into one simple address the four basic items of information necessary to retrieve a resource from anywhere on the Internet: the protocol to use to communicate, the host (server) to communicate with, the network port on the server to connect to, the path to the resource on the server (for example, its file name). A typical URL can look like: http://en.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/Special:Search?search=train&go=Go where http is the protocol, en.wikipedia.org is the host, 80 is the network port number on the server (as 80 is the default value for the HTTP protocol, this portion could have been omitted entirely), /wiki/Special:Search is the resource path, ?search=train&go=Go is the query string; this part is optional. Most web browsers do not require the user to enter "http://" to address a webpage, as HTTP is by far the most common protocol used in web browsers. Likewise, since 80 is the default port for http it is not usually specified. One usually just enters a partial URL such as www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Train. To go to a homepage one usually just enters the host name, such as www.wikipedia.org. How is a domain name used to find the website? Each domain name is registered with an ICANN (http://www.icann.org) approved domain registrar. The domain registrars maintain a database of the domain names registered with them along with the location of the name servers for that website. This information is stored in the DNS (Domain Name System) server. The information of the domain name and IP address mapping is stored at many places by the internet service providers so as to access the information faster. When an internet user enters the URL for the website (e.g. http://www.websitegear.com), a request is sent from the web browser (or web client) to the nearest regional DNS server to lookup the corresponding IP address for that domain name. If the DNS server can not resolve the location of the domain name, it sends the request to a parent DNS server. This process goes on until the IP address of the server, which hosts the website, is located. The DNS server then provides the browser with the correct IP address, if it exists; otherwise, it returns an error message or redirects the user elsewhere. The browser can then interact with the web server using the IP address and request specific web pages or graphics etc. These pages are then downloaded to the web browser and displayed on the user's computer. DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICE Domain names are an easy to remember alias that points to a specific (numerical) IP Address and used to identify among other things a specific website WIPO had framed the Uniform Domain name Dispute Resolution Policy which was adopted by ICANN on 26AUG’99 Administrative Dispute resolution Proceedings for disputes alleging abusive registration These proceedings are conducted by Domain name dispute resolution service providers approved by ICANN DOMAIN NAME DISPUTE RESOLUTION SERVICE PROVIDERS These give effect to UDRP policy, Rules for UDRP and in addition to it follow their own supplemental Rules APPROVED SERVICE PROVIDERS- WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Centre National Arbitration Forum E-Resolutions CPR institute for Dispute Resolution THE ICANN POLICY It is between the registrar and it’s customer It has been adopted by all accredited domain name registrars for domain names ending in.com,.net,org. It has also been adopted by certain managers of ccTLDs like .nu,.tv,.ws Registrars receiving complaints will not take any action (cancel,transfer,change DN) till they receive instructions from DN Holder, or order of Court, arbitrator,or other neutral party Three Requisites need to be proved-DN identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark, no rights, legitimate interests in DN, Bad Faith Registration THE ICANN POLICY AND ODR Procedures are handled online-takes less than 45 days, costs about a dollar thousand fees to be paid to entities providing the neutral person Complaints , replies and all documents are filed through internet and the award is also published on the net Parties to a dispute can also go to courts (before adm proceedings commence) or to contest the outcome of the procedure within 10 days from date of the decision
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