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Domain Names FAQ's

Answering Questions about Domain Name Registration, Hosting, and More

Domain Name Purchase | Domain Name Addon Services | Domain Name FAQ

What is a domain name?
What are the Rules for .com, .net and .org Domain Name registration?
What are the Rules for .US Domain Name registration?
What are the Rules for .INFO Domain Name registration?
What are the Rules for .BIZ Domain Name registration?
Why Should I Purchase my Domain Name from Host-U, Inc.?
What does DNS Stand for?
What are DNS Records: (A, MX, and CNAME)?
What is Parking?
What is a Private Registration?

What is a domain name?

A domain name provides you with an identity, or address, on the Internet. It helps you to find and to be found. When a server is searching for something on the World Wide Web, it looks for a string of digits known as an IP network address, (e.g. 216.221.123.111). A domain name is the text translation of this IP address, which is easier to remember than a string of digits. Registering a suitable domain name on the Internet is the equivalent of registering a company name. Once it has been registered, no one else can use that name. Because so many companies have similar names, it is important to register a suitable domain name as soon as possible.

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What are the Rules for .com, .net and .org Domain Name Registration?

.com - to be used for commercial and personal sites
.org - recommended for not-for-profit organizations
.net - recommended for companies involved in data networking especially related to the Internet

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
Must have at least 3 characters, but cannot have more than 67*, (including .com, .net and .org)
A Domain Name is not case sensitive
A Domain Name cannot include spaces

* .com, .net, .org, .us, .info and .biz domain names exceeding a total of 26 characters are supported by most web browsers. However, certain web browsers, email programs and other Internet related applications may not support domain names over 26 characters.

At This time Host-U does not recommend any Domain Name with more than 26 characters.

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What are the Rules for .US Domain Name registration?

.US - to be used by U.S. citizens and residents, U.S. corporations and other U.S. organizations and organizations with a presence within the United States

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
A Domain name cannot begin or end with a hyphen
A Domain name must be longer than 2 characters and cannot exceed 63* characters (this does not include the extension)

At This time Host-U does not recommend any Domain Name with more than 26 characters.

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What are the Rules for .INFO Domain Name registration?

.INFO - to be used for both commercial and personal sites

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63* characters, not including .INFO

At This time Host-U does not recommend any Domain Name with more than 26 characters.

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What are the Rules for .BIZ Domain Name registration?

.BIZ - sites restricted to commercial and bona fide business purposes

Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
Cannot have two hyphens in a row
Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63* characters, not including .BIZ

At This time Host-U does not recommend any Domain Name with more than 26 characters.

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Why Should I Purchase my Domain Name from Host-U, Inc.?

You Own It! Some companies will register your domain for free, but they will list themselves as all of the contacts for the domain - Registrant, Administration, and therefore be the domain's owner. Host-U will register your domain and you will be the registered owner of your domain. Our name is simply listed in the Billing and Technical Contact section of the registration. You and your company are the Administration contacts. So if you choose to leave Host-U and move the domain, you may simply put in for a transfer request to Host-U and move the domain with ease.

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What does DNS Stand for?

DNS - Domain Name System
A database system that translates an IP address into a domain name. For example, a numeric IP address like 207.219.116.4 is converted into netlingo.com. The DNS is a static, hierarchical name service that uses TCP/IP hosts and is housed on a number of servers on the Internet. Basically, it maintains this database for figuring out and finding (or resolving) host names and IP addresses. This allows users to specify remote computers by host names rather than numerical IP addresses. Also referred to as Domain Name Service and Domain Name Server.

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What are DNS Records: (A, MX, and CNAME)?

A (Address) Record
Address records assign a hostname (e.g.: support.yourdomain.com) to a specific IP address (e.g.: 123.123.123.123).

MX Record - Mail Exchange Record
Mail Server records designate the mail servers that will handle mail for your domain. If you have more than one mail server, MX records also specify the order in which the mail servers will be used as primary, backup, etc.

CNAME - Canonical Name
The Canonical Name resource record, CNAME, specifies an alias or nickname for the official, or canonical, host name. Alias records assign an alternate hostname to a specific hostname. Both hostnames point at whatever IP address the primary hostname is assigned to.

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What is Parking?

When someone registers a domain name, does not develop it into a Web site, but just sits on it (and keeps paying the annual fees), the domain is said to be "parked." Web hosting companies offer to "hold" specific domain names as a service to their customers. It is referred to as "parking" because once the hosting company registers the domain name with InterNIC, it must "park" it on a server until it is ready to be activated.

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What is a Private Registration?

Did you know that current ICANN regulations require that your Private contact information (WhoIs Info) be included in a publicly accessible Database?

This means that your private information is displayed and made available to anyone who wants to see it, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Now you can protect your private WhoIs information by switching your "public" domain registration to a "private" unlisted registration through RCOM Shield.

Shielding your private information
- Your private contact information is not exposed. It is held in confidentiality and protected by the Domain Privacy Protection Service. Their contact information is displayed to provide you with the highest level of protection against spammers and identity theft.
Dynamic eMail System
- Stops spammers dead in their tracks. Without Privacy ID, spammers can obtain your email address from harvesting and then use it for spamming purposes and redistribution to marketing firms.
- Due to our dynamic email system, your visible email address is constantly changing, so while it is being harvested and redistributed, it will change and the previous address will no longer work for the spammer.
- The Domain Privacy Protection Service secures and maintains your real email address on file so you receive important information regarding your domain.
Offering your complete control.
- You retain full legal ownership and control over your domain name.
- You can sell, renew, transfer and change settings to your domain name just the same as before.

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