Category:Glossary

Glossary of terms commonly used by the ICANN Community:

IETF edit

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet.

Registry edit

Main article: Registry

A registry is the database of all domain names registered under a certain TLD. A registry operator, also called a NIC or network information center, is responsible for managing this database. They contract with registrars, who are accredited to sell domains under the TLD.

Registrar edit

Main article: Registrar

A registrar is a company that is authorized to sell domain names.

Registrant edit

A registrant is a person who has registered a domain name through a registrar.

DNS edit

Main article: DNS

See also: DNSSEC

The Domain Name System (DNS) translates between alphanumeric domain names and IP Addresses.

TLD edit

Main article: TLD

A Top Level Domain (TLD) is the last part of a domain name; for example, .com, .net, .org. The two most prominent types of TLDs are gTLDs and ccTLDs.

gTLD edit

Main article: gTLD

A Generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) refers to any TLD that is not a ccTLD. Previously, gTLDs were limited to being three or more characters. But with the addition of the New TLD program, two character gTLDs may now be registered. Examples of gTLDs include .com, .org, and .info. sTLDs, such as .travel, and GeoTLDs, such as .asia and .cat, are a subset of gTLDs.

New gTLD Program

Main article: new gTLD Program

See also: New gTLD Resources

The new gTLD Program is a process by which ICANN accepts applications to add new TLDs to the Root Zone.

ccTLD edit

Main article: ccTLD

A Country-Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) is a TLD with two characters, specifically designed for a particular country, sovereign state or autonomous territory. .uk, .de, and .cn are all examples of ccTLDs.

IP edit

Main article: Internet Protocol

See also: IPv4, IPv6, Internet Protocol Suite

Internet Protocol (IP) is the means by which data is sent from one computer to another via an Internet connection.

IDNs edit

Main article: IDNs

Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) are formed using characters from different scripts, such as Arabic, Chinese, Cyrillic, or Devanagari. These are encoded by the Unicode standard and used as allowed by relevant IDN protocols. You may also find this Acronym Helper from the Business Constituency's site useful...