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Domain Name Glossary

For anyone new to UK domain names, here is a glossary of terms you may encounter on this site.

Automaton - Nominet's automated access to the Register Database, available only internally and to members.

ccTLD - Country code Top Level Domain.

CoM - Nominet's Council of Management; the equivalent of a Board of Directors.

Detagged - The release of a domain name by its previous tag-holder effectively removing the name servers from the registration and therefore also removing web access.

DRS - Nominet's Dispute Resolution Service, for resolving disputes over .uk domain names.

gTLD - Generic Top Level Domain; TLDs which are not linked to any specific country. i.e. .COM .Net .Org

ICANN - Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers; the body created by the US Department of Commerce to co-ordinate the global DNS.

IP address - Internet Protocol address; the number given to each computer or server directly connected to the Internet.

Nominet Member - An organisation or individual who has paid a subscription fee to Nominet and is given voting rights in return.

Name server - A computer that has both the software and the data needed to resolve domain names to IP addresses.

PAB - Nominet's Policy Advisory Board, the body that discusses and advises Nominet's CoM on policy matters, comprising eight people elected from the Nominet membership, eight co-opted representatives of relevant organisations and two non-executive directors.

Registrant - The person to whom a domain name is registered.

Registrar - A provider of domain name registration services to registrants.

Registry - The central database manager for each TLD.

SLD - Second Level Domain; subdivisions within a TLD, such as .co.uk and .me.uk

Suspended When a detagged domain name becomes due for renewal, Nominet has a duty to contact the registrant of the detagged domain name to confirm that they do not want to renew the domain name before it can be cancelled. Once a registrant has confirmed they no longer require their domain name, or has not paid their renewal invoice, the registration will be suspended after 30 days and cancelled 60 days after expiry.

Tag - An alphanumeric string used to identify the Registrar associated with a domain name.

Tag holder - The Registrar associated with a particular domain name.

TLD - Top Level Domain; the first level of the hierarchy in the DNS (after the root).

WHOIS - Online search facility, whereby you can check whether a domain name is already registered and, if so, to whom. Do not post WHOIS details from the Nominet database on this forum, this contravines their terms and such posts will be deleted.