Jimbo at 19:59, 21 May 2006

2006-05-21T19:59:45Z

New page

A TLD, or '''top level domain''', is a domain which consists of only one part and is referenced directly from the [[root servers]] - such as '''com''', '''net''', '''org''', or one of the country codes, like '''us''' or '''za'''. By convention, TLDs do not contain [[zone file|A records]] or [[zone file|MX records]], so you cannot resolve one directly or send email to an address at it - there are no http://com webpages, or person@com email addresses. TLDs only contain [[zone file|NS records]], to serve as a place to begin querying for the [[authoritative nameserver]] for a given URL.

There are also some "second level TLDs", such as Britain's '''co.uk''' and Australia's '''com.au'''. Although they are not, strictly speaking, "top level" domains, those countries reserve their use for NS purposes only, just like com, net, and org.

You may find authoritative and complete [[http://www.iana.org/gtld/gtld.htm listings of all generic TLDs]] and [[http://www.iana.org/cctld/cctld-whois.htm listings of all country-coded TLDs]] at the [[http://www.iana.org Internet Assigned Numbers Authority]] (IANA).

[[Category:FreeBSD Terminology]]

Top level domain - Revision history

Jimbo at 19:59, 21 May 2006