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− | A '''Top-Level Domain''' ('''TLD''', also sometimes referred to as a '''string''') is the last part of a domain name, for example, [[.com]], [[.net]], [[.us]], [[.info]], etc.<ref>[http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,2542,t=TLD&i=52942,00.asp TLD]</ref> Each TLD is managed by a single [[registry]].
| + | The '''top-level domain (TLD)''' is the right-most string, or series of characters, in every [[URL|web address]]. The [[Domain Name System|domain name system]] allows users to refer to websites and other Internet resources using names rather than the all-numeric IP addresses assigned to each computer on the Internet. Every TLD is managed by a single [[:Category:Registries|registry]]. |
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| + | ==TLD Growth - Overview from 1983 to 2021== |
| + | {| class="wikitable" |
| + | ! Dates !! TLDs !! Use !! Reason !! Significance |
| + | |- |
| + | | 1983 || [[.no]] || [[ccTLD|country code TLD]] || Restricted to use by entities in Norway || The first two-letter country code based on the [[ISO 3166-1]] |
| + | |- |
| + | | October 1984 || [[.com]], [[.net]], [[.org]] || Open || Any person or entity is permitted to register a domain name using these TLDs|| The first [[gTLD]]s |
| + | |- |
| + | | October 1984 || [[.edu]], [[.gov]], [[.mil]] || Limited; [[sTLD|an entity has sponsored the operation of this TLD]] || For higher educational institutions, United States governmental entities and agencies, and divisions, services and agencies of the United States Department of Defense, respectively || The first [[gTLD]]s |
| + | |- |
| + | | 1985 || [[.us]], [[.uk]] [[.il]] || ccTLDs || USA, UK, Israel || GB is the UK's [[ISO 3166]] country code. However, [[JANET NRS]] defined UK as the top-level domain a few months before the ISO-derived list; it was registered on July 24, 1985. |
| + | |- |
| + | | 1986 || [[.au]], [[.de]], [[.fi]], [[.fr]], [[.is]], [[.kr]], [[.nl]], [[.se]] || ccTLDs || Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, South Korea, Netherlands, Sweden || The next eight ccTLDs |
| + | |- |
| + | | November 3, 1988 || [[.int]] || Limited; sponsored || For organizations, offices, and programs endorsed by a treaty between two or more nations || In response to a request by NATO |
| + | |- |
| + | |- |
| + | | March 1994 || || || || [[Jon Postel]]'s [[RFC 1591]] establishes the baseline standards for eligible TLDs. |
| + | |- |
| + | | 1996 || || || || Jon Postel drafts "New Registries and the Delegation of International Top Level Domains" |
| + | |- |
| + | | 1998 || || || || Domain deregulation; [[ICANN]] is formed to oversee Internet names and numbers |
| + | |- |
| + | | May 2000 || [[.arpa]] || Limited; sponsored || All Internet infrastructure databases || one of the original TLDs, .arpa is re-designated at this time as an Address and Routing Parameter Area, critical to maintaining the [[SSR| stability of the Internet]] |
| + | |- |
| + | | November 16, 2000 || [[.aero]], [[.biz]], [[.coop]], [[.info]], [[.museum]], [[.name]], [[.pro]] || Sponsored gTLDs || || |
| + | |- |
| + | | June 29, 2006 || || Test domains || per [[ICANN Board]] Resolution 07.47 || eleven such domains have been delegated thus far |
| + | |- |
| + | | 2007 || [[.cat]], [[.eu]], [[.asia]]|| Sponsored [[geoTLD|specifically for a cultural, ethnic, or regional group]] || Represents Catalan language and culture, the countries in the European Union, and the Asian continent, respectively || The first TLDs to denote geographical, geopolitical, ethnic, social, or cultural representation |
| + | |- |
| + | | October 30, 2009 || || || || [[IDN ccTLD]] [[IDN Fast Track|Fast Track Process]] is approved by the [[ICANN Board]] |
| + | |- |
| + | | || [[.jobs]], [[.mobi]], [[.tel]], [[.travel]] || limited to entities having something to do with the phrase comprising the TLD in question || |
| + | |- |
| + | |May 5, 2010 || [[مصر]] [[السعودية]] [[امارات]] || [[IDN ccTLD]]s || From right to left, for Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates || For the first time in the history of the Internet, non-Latin characters are being used for top-level domains |
| + | |- |
| + | | April 2011 || [[.xxx]] || Sponsored gTLD || || [[ICM Registry]] had submitted proposals for this sTLD for pornographic sites since 2000 |
| + | |- |
| + | | June 20, 2011 || [[.post]] || sTLD || last TLD before New TLD Program || [[ICANN Board]] votes to dramatically increase the number of gTLDs from the 22 already in operation |
| + | |- |
| + | | January 12, 2012 || || [[Community TLD|community]] or standard || applicant decides if the nTLD is for a defined community consisting of a restricted population; the distinction between sponsored/unsponsored TLDs is deemed irrelevant to this round of nTLDs ||The application window for [[All New gTLD Applications]] opens |
| + | |- |
| + | | June 13, 2012 || [[.scot]] || community nTLD application || for Scottish culture || Reveal Day: [[All New gTLD Applications|1,930 applications for new gTLDs submitted]]; '''751''' of which were contested |
| + | |- |
| + | | July 15, 2013 || [[.сайт]], [[.онлайн]], [[.شبكة]], [[.游戏]] || [[IDN]] nTLDs || (xn--80aswg) – Russian for "site"; (xn--80asehdb) – Russian for "online"شبكة (xn--ngbc5azd) – Arabic for "web/network"; (xn--unup4y) – Chinese for "game(s)" || First four nTLD aggreements signed |
| + | |- |
| + | | September 15, 2014 || [[.prof]] || -- || -- || 400th nTLD was delegated |
| + | |- |
| + | | 20 May 2017 || [[ccTLD]]s || -- || -- || 255 ccTLDs delegated |
| + | |- |
| + | | June 2020 || [[IDN]] ccTLDs || -- || -- || 61 IDN ccTLDs approved |
| + | |- |
| + | | October 17, 2020 || [[.spa]] || nTLD || latest delegated nTLD || [[IANA]] lists 1589 TLDs (1503 in use, 67 not assigned/revoked, 8 retired, 11 test domains) |
| + | |} |
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| ==Varieties of TLDs== | | ==Varieties of TLDs== |
| There are different types of TLDs. | | There are different types of TLDs. |
| + | ===[[gTLD]]s=== |
| + | *[[gTLD|the original generic top-level domains]] |
| + | *[[sTLD]]s - has a sponsor for a specific purpose, such as to represent a specific ethnic community, professional group, or geographical location. |
| + | *[[All New gTLD Applications|nTLD]]s - domains that were introduced beginning in October 2013 |
| + | *[[community TLD]]s relate to local events, gatherings, organizations, or communities, in essence replacing sTLDs |
| + | *[[geoTLD]]s represent geographical or regional areas that are not countries with three or more ASCII characters. |
| + | *[[brand TLD]]s - corporations use their corporate name as their website's top-level identifier instead of .com or .biz domain space |
| + | *[[hSTLD]]s |
| + | ===[[ccTLD]]s=== |
| + | [[:Category:CcTLD|Country-code TLDs]] are delegated to a designated [[:Category:CcTLD Registry|ccTLD registry]], which is operated by a [[:Category:CcTLD Manager|ccTLD Manager]], according to local policies that are adapted to meet the economic, cultural, linguistic, and legal circumstances of the country or territory involved. |
| + | *[[ccTLD|ccTLDs with ASCII characters]] |
| + | :TLDs with two ASCII characters have been established for over 250 countries and external territories, including Strings eligible under [[ICANN Board]] Resolution 00.74 (currently this category applies to only one domain, .eu) [https://features.icann.org/2000-09-25-delegation-cctlds ICANN - Board Resolution on the Delegation of ccTLDs], and "Grandfathered" TLDs from prior to 2000, based on "exceptionally reserved" codes in the ISO 3166-1 standard (this category currently applies to two TLDs - .uk and .ac); |
| + | *[[IDN ccTLD]]s |
| + | :TLDs with non-ASCII characters designated for a country or geographic region. |
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− | * [[gTLD]]s, which includes [[sTLD]]s and [[brand TLD]]s.
| + | ==Operating Mode== |
− | * [[ccTLD]]s
| + | TLDs operate in different manners but can be categorized in some simple ways: |
− | | + | * Open - Operating and offering both registration and resolution services. |
− | These TLDs operate in different manners, and can be categorized in some simple ways:
| + | * Closed - Not accepting registrations, may be resolving evergreen/legacy/infrastructure subdomains. |
− | | |
− | * Operating Mode:
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− | ** Open - Operating and offering both registration and resolution services.
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− | ** Closed - Not accepting registrations, may be resolving evergreen/legacy/infrastructure subdomains.
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− | * Level of Restriction:
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− | ** Unrestricted - If there are no requirements that must be met in order to register a name under a TLD, that TLD is Unrestricted.
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− | ** Restricted - Requiring Local Physical Address, Local Tax ID, or other specific criteria be met to qualify in order to provision a name.
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− | ** Sponsored - A variation on Restricted, the applicant for a domain in an [[STLD]] must meet the requirements within that TLD (ie. [[.jobs]] would require that Human Resources be involved, [[.travel]] would require certain Travel criteria are met, etc).
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− | ==History==
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− | The need for a hierarchical [[DNS]] arose with the popularity of the Internet in academic spheres in the early 1980s, which eventually necessitated a decentralized Internet. Communications between [[The Stanford Research Institute NIC]] and other institutions included plans to create a hierarchical [[DNS]], and can be found in [http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc805.txt RFC 805], a group document from 1982. This document outlines many of the basics of the eventual [[DNS]], including the need for [[TLD]]s to provide a fixed starting point for queries, and the need for [[SLD]]s to be unique. This, in turn, would necessitate the need for a [[registrar]] type of administration, and help the nascent IT community recognize that the distribution of responsibility for each domain to individual name servers would provide administrative advantages.<ref>[http://www.livinginternet.com/i/iw_dns_history.htm Living Internet]</ref>
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− | ===Innovations===
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− | At its Seoul conference in 2009, [[ICANN]] approved the [[IDN]] [[ccTLD]] Fast Track process, which allowed [[ccTLD]]s to be written in non-latin characters. Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates are some of the first countries to advance in the application and implementation process.<ref>[http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978296758 Gather.com]</ref>
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− | Following a six year development process, [[ICANN]] launched the [[New gTLD Program]] at its Singapore conference in June, 2011. This unlimited expansion program allowed anyone to apply to run nearly any string for the first time in the history of the Internet.<ref>[http://www.icann.org/en/news/announcements/announcement-20jun11-en.htm ICANN Approves Historic Change to Internet's Domain Name System, icann.org]</ref> On June, 13th, 2012 ("Reveal Day"), it was announced that there were 1,930 applications: 84 of these were [[Community gTLD|community applications]], 116 are for [[IDN]]s, and 230 of the applications have one or more applicant and will thus go through [[String Contention|string contention]] processes. This means the first round of the new gTLD program could create a maximum of 1,409 new TLDs.<ref>[http://www.thedomains.com/2012/06/13/nnew-gtlds-by-the-numbers-1930-apps-751-apps-in-conflict-max-number-of-new-gtlds-1409/ New gTLDs by the Numbers, TheDomains.com]</ref>
| + | ==Level of Restriction== |
| + | * Unrestricted - If there are no requirements that must be met in order to register a name under a TLD, that TLD is Unrestricted. |
| + | * Restricted - Requiring Local Physical Address, Local Tax ID, or other specific criteria to qualify. |
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− | ==References== | + | ==Reserved Names== |
− | {{reflist}}
| + | Some domain names are reserved, which means they can only be used (if at all) by the [[:Category:Entities|entities]] for whom they are reserved. |
| + | * [[ccTLDs|country code top-level domains]] |
| + | * [[ICANN|related to ICANN]] |
| + | * [[IANA|related to IANA functions]] |
| + | * [[:Category:Government|names of countries and territories]] |
| + | * [[:Category:Organizations|names of international and intergovernmental organizations]] |
| + | * [[:Category:registries|names that a registry operator uses to operate the gTLD]] |
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| __NOTOC__ | | __NOTOC__ |
| [[Category: Glossary]] | | [[Category: Glossary]] |
− | [[Category:Articles with Chinese]]
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− | [[Category: Acronym]]
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