This report discusses the issue of domains, domain registrations, web hosting and related charges as well as the various levels of domains. In order to understand the context of this discussion, it’s imperative that we begin this discussion by exploring a very important body involved in the supply and registration of domains among other related services, the ICANN.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers ICANN is a global body that coordinates domain names systems; IP addresses country codes, as well as other technical support services. This organization replaced the US government body, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, and now performs the functions of the predecessors.
The main function of ICANN as explained in the ICANN website http://www.icann.org, is to coordinate the operations of the internet. In fact, without this coordination, we would not have one global internet, and that is why we are all able to find information from the internet, regardless of our localities and geographical spread.
Some of the achievements of ICANN as outlined in the website include advancing competition that has led to the lowering of domain name costs by almost 80%.
ICANN has also established a technical framework that is useful I resolving domain names disputes, additionally, ICANN has been instrumental in ensuring that domains names can be registered in over 100 languages. Finally, together with other stakeholders, ICANN has been instrumental in the development of platforms that ensure internet security all over the world.
Domain names are unique identification names that are used on the internet websites. Its actually the root web address for a website. They enable one to retain their identity amongst millions of other names. When one buys and acquires a domain name, they are able to use it without fear of confusion with any other, as a domain name is unique and protected and there is no one else that has the same domain name in the world. It therefore gives the owner a unique identity on the internet.
Registered domain names are those domain names that have already been assigned to a unique user. These have already been acquired and are not available for sale by the vendors. For instance, icann.org is a registered domain name and cannot be made available to any other users according to the rules. It identifies the owner of the address and is unique to that owner.
Top level domain name is usually the last bit of the internet domain, normally, it’s the last letters that follow the last and final dot in a domain name. For instance, yahoo.com, com is the top level domain. To level domain names fall under a number of categories as explained below.
Generic top level domain, normally known as the gTLD, these include .com, .net, .info and .org.
The second category is the generic restricted top level domains that include .biz, .name, .pro. Sponsored Top level domains such as .edu,.gov, .int, .Asia etc are some of the other top level domains. Others are country codes and reserved codes.
A second level domain is usually a domain that is below the top level domain. It’s usually the letters before the final dot. For instance, Harvard.ac.us, ac is the second level domain. The second level domain normally explains the type of organization that is using the domain. Normally companies would use co, academic institutions would use .ac, while government institutions would use .go
Lower level domains are those domain names that come to the left of the second level domains. For instance, example.co.uk, example is the lower level domain. For purposes of identification, lower level domains normally identify the name of the company or institution that uses the given domain name.
Web hosting service
It’s an internet service that allows one to make their website accessible on the web. This is provided by companies that provide space on their servers as well as internet connection. In very simple terms, when someone hosts your website, they ensure that your website is up and visible on the web all the time. This means that you do not to have a machine and internet on all the time so as to have web up times, but allows you to go on with your other activities by providing space as well as internet on an all time up server, that will guarantee full time internet availability and we presence.
Web hosting companies
Price/Month Web space Bandwidth # of Domains
About the webhosting service providers
Blue Host
This is a company owned by Blue host Inc. It has been in business since 2002, and is rated the top web hosting service provider according to webhost.com. This company offers a number of features for clients including unlimited web space as well as band widths for a very affordable cost. The company also offers a free domain registration.
Blue host boasts of very high quality equipment that guarantees maximum uptime, to the tune of 99.99%. The company also boasts of highly functional administrative function, as well as a secure and reliable backup system. Most importantly, the business is honest one and claims a money back guarantee for any unsatisfied customers.
Host Monster
This company is rated the second according to global rankings, and has been operational since 1996, making it one of the oldest web hosting service providers globally. Besides unlimited web space and band width, the company also offers one free domain registration for one year. With a low price of $3.95 per month, Host monster guarantees up to 99% up time, and just like Blue Host, quality equipment, functional administration, reliable and secure backup system as well as clean and honest business.
Just Host
Owned by Just host.com, just host is probably one the cheapest web hosting service provider in the market. The company boasts of many goodies for the clients including; free domains for life with each hosting account, lots and lots of unlimited web space and bandwidth, non limited email accounts and ability to host an unlimited number of domains. In fact, the company offers instant account activation and there is no waiting for approval, it’s just instant!
Green Geeks
As the name suggests, Green geeks use mainly green power, from the wind! Some of the services offered by the company include high quality of servers and band width, green energy hosting, a great customer experience, video tutorials as well as website design services.
Green geeks who have registered some thirty seven thousand domain names are also reputed for ensuring that their clients experience the best customer service, coupled with 99.9% up time. Additionally, green Geeks offer unlimited data storage, band width and emails at a modest price of $ 4.95 per month.
IX webhosting
Started in 1999, IX webhosting has grown tremendously to host over 470,000 websites as of today. By offering unlimited bandwidth and space, as well as unlimited domains and a free domain registration, IX webhosting is probably one of the fastest growing web hoisters.
The company also provides free $50 worth of Miva ad, Yahoo and Google, with a 30 day money back guarantee. The company is now at the same league with famous companies such as go daddy and others.
Go daddy
Besides being the only company offering a limited web space in the list above, go daddy is the world’s largest domain registration company, managing about 35 million domains globally. It’s actually and ICANN domain accredited seller.
Founded by Bob Parsons in 1997, the company has grown tremendously to complete web hosting solutions, web creation tools among others.
In the year 2004, the company was named as the 5th fastest growing company according to a report by Delloitte technology fast 500 segments. The company has also won many other awards such as Name Intelligence Largest Net Gain Award in 2002, 2003 and 2005 as well as the best domain registrar of choice.
Webhosting service provider of choice
It is very difficult to determine which of the above webhosting companies is better that the other, since most of them seem to be offering the same service and are more or less the same in terms of additional features and support. It’s however, notable that going by the top website rankings, blue post is the best. This is because; the company offers many additional features at a very moderate price. In fact, apart from Go daddy who are mainly tops in terms of domain management, blue hosting is the second largest in terms of domain hosting, meaning that the company is preferred by many customers
Available domain name
With the assumption that a domain name does not exist for my organization, the first step would be to look up available domain names. For this exercise, we visited godaddy.com and searched for the availability of the domain name.
A search for ngo.org revealed that the domain name was taken. We however decided to search thepeoplengo.org and alas! It is available.
Being the largest domain seller in the world, go daddy.com is also the cheapest on the market, and therefore, this domain name would be registered under the godadddy.com. umbrella. The cost of registering this domain is a flat fee of $ 6.99
Conclusion
The project above has been quite helpful in creating an understanding of the operations of domains as well as webhosting. In this era of globalization and e commerce, this knowledge is quite valuable. It will go a long way in ensuring that anyone who is desirous of creating and hosting a website is well aware of the various service providers in terms of web hosting and domain registration.
References
ICANN website. Available at: www.icann.com
Webhosting services ranking available at: www.web-hosting-top.com
Godaddy.com website: http://www.godaddy.com
