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There are certain host name restrictions now levied on users to prevent further confusion. The recent restrictions include hostnames being contained to the ASCII letters – case sensitive ‘a’ to ‘z’. There are confines to the use of the digits 0 through 9 and the hyphen too. Registrars now also restrict the domains to valid and recognizable host names. They are otherwise considered useless. The IDN or the Internationalized Domain Name is a system that has been developed to bypass the restrictions, especially those on character allowances in hostnames. This makes it easier for non-English alphabet users to explore and use the Internet.

Now, the underscore (_) character is used very frequently to ensure that a domain name is not mixed up with a hostname. This kind of confusion has taken place with the use of SRV records. Due to confusion, the domain names with underscores in them are now regularly preferred where host names are required.

There is a general rule that applies to domain names. The IP address and the server names are designed to be functional even when interchanged. In the case of most Internet services, the server basically has no way to know whether the IP address was used to connect or the server name. The extensive use of the internet and the increasing interest in the web indicates that there are many more dedicated web sites than there are servers!

In order to accommodate this boom in web usage, the hypertext transfer protocol or the HTTP as it is commonly known specifies that the client is liable to disclose to the server the name being logged in or used. In this way, one server with one IP address can actually provide different sites for different domain names! This advanced and controlled feature is better known as virtual hosting by the internet users and is a feature regularly used by web hosts.

Host names are the most common types of domain names. They provide names that stand out as unique and can be remembered easily. The names provided stand in for the numeric IP addresses. The domain names enable any service to move to a different location within the intranet, but of course with a different IP address. The use of alphabetical addresses instead of numeric ones, enable Internet users to easily communicate with other web sites. The convenience also enhances their communication with other server-based services.

The flexibility of the domain name system enables many IP addresses to function from within one domain name, while also allowing for multiple domain names to be assigned to one IP address. A single server can have multiple roles and host multiple independent websites. A single IP address can also be assigned to several servers. Classic examples of this arrangement includes ‘anycast’. Convenient domain name usage makes the internet more desirable for use.

It is common to hear people say, “Just jump to: navigation and search – and you have a domain name”. The term domain name has multiple meanings and references and all of them are inter-related. It is basically a name that helps to identify a computer or many computers. It is an internet tool that helps navigate via names that appear as components of web site URLs. The domain name is also called a host name. The domain name is a product or service provided to the end users by domain name registrars.

Since the registrars provide the service to the customers, the names are often also referred to as registered domain names. There are names also used for other purposes within the domain name system or the DNS. There could be a special name to follow the @ sign in an e mail address or there could be domain names of the top level like.com, or even names used by the VoIP or Session Initiation Protocol. These are also sometimes colloquially and erroneously referred to as web addresses.