On this page you may glean plenty terms that deal with domains.
If you cannot find a specific term you are looking for, please inform our
support department.
We are always willing to broaden the glossary.
A record, AAAA record
A records are units of information in the DNS that are used to assign
IP addresses in the IPv4 format to domain names. The corresponding
resource record type for IPv6 is AAAA.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
ADR is an alternative procedure for solving disputes
that EURid offers in case of conflicts about .eu domain names.
ADR, which is an alternative to a normal court procedure and can be compared
to UDRP, is facilitated by the Prague-based Arbitration
Court in the Czech Republic. It administers ADR Proceedings in line with the
Public Policy Rules for .eu of the European Commission (EC Regulation 874/2004).
The ADR rules, fees and all other relevant information
can be found on the website of the Czech arbitration Court
(www.adr.eu).
Afilias
Enterprise that operates the
registry for the
top level domain .info.
Afilias is also the technical operator of the
top level domain .org and other small
top level domains.
Afilias is strictly speaking an American managed company
which has a letterbox domicile in Ireland.
Authinfo, Authcode
Authinfo is some kind of password, which is required for changing the
registrar of a domain. It thus protects you against unauthorized persons
initiating such an operation.
Changing the Sponsoring Registrar(CTSR)
Identifies the transfer of a domain from one
registrar to another.
By the way, for .de domains this process is called
KK.
Contact handle
A contact handle is a short alphanumeric code specifies a certain combination
of different contact data, like “first name”, “last name”, “city”, and so on.
A contact handle might for example be “C4711-LRMS”.
Acronym for Council of Registrars.
Worldwide federation of registrars, who initiated the process of new top level
domains in 1997. Knipp is a founding member of CORE.
CORE itself is registrar on the one hand,
but also technical operator of the and thus part of
the registries for the
top level domains .aero
and .museum on the other hand.
Country Code Top Level Domain (ccTLD)
This is a
top level domain, whose ending represents a two-letter
acronym of a particular country. Examples are “de” for Germany (Deutschland),
“fr” for France or “jp” for Japan.
A complete list of acronyms is specified in the industry standard ISO-3166-1.
The registries of these top level domains are
usually operated in some kind of self-administration by the internet users of
the respective country, together with universities and, to an increasing degree,
state-controlled authorities.
The German top level domain is being operated by
DENIC e.G.. Knipp is a member of DENIC's cooperative society.
Often ccTLDs are divided into categories, and only allow the
registration of a name in the third level (i.e. in front of the second dot).
Examples: “redcross.org.uk” (org = acronym for non-commercial organizations)
or “microsoft.co.at” (co = acronym for commercial category group, at = Austria).
More and more ccTLDs are “misused” by shady tradesmen who “buy” the
administration of smaller, less solvent countries. A well known example the
archipelago Tuvalu with its top level domain “tv”. These domains are
willingly being used by telestations.
DENIC
Frankfurt-based Registry which is organized as
cooperative society for the .de top level domain .
Domain Name System (DNS)
The Domain Name System is a distributed, hierarchical system to store and
retrieve information in the Internet. It is one of the most important services
of the Internet. Its main purpose is the resolution of domain names into IP
addresses. Without the DNS, we would always have to type IP addresses into the
Browser or when sending e-mails. However, there are many more information other
than IP addresses that can be administered in the DNS that are either useful
or necessary to operate domains. The DNS entries themselves are stored
in so-called resource records.
Domain Registration System (DRS)
A system developed by Knipp for the registration and management of domains.
It is based on more than 200,000 lines of source code.
Despite its complexity the system is characterized by its easy handling and an
exemplary user interface that has even been awarded with
a design price (iF Design Award 2004).
EURid
The European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid) is the non-profit
organization chosen by the EU commission as the
designated registry for the .eu top level domain.
The Brussels-based registry consists of the three founder members
“Istituto di Informatica e Telematica” (IIT, Italy) and the country code domain
administrations of Belgium and Sweden, as well as the ccTLD administrations of
Slovenia and the Czech Republic as associate members.
First Come First Served
Describes an often used allocation principle with domains.
A similar proverb is also known in Germany (“Wer zuerst kommt, mahlt zuerst”).
Due to the fact that a domain name can only be used once, this procedure
is commonly accounted as “fair”.
General Availability (GA) | Go Live
The General Availability phase (sometimes also called Go Live phase)
is the introductory phase that follows all Sunrise
and Landrush periods. It is the open-ended phase where
a new TLD becomes available on a first-come, first-served
basis to the general public.
generic Top Level Domain (gTLD)
This is a top level domain, which can be registered by anyone
worldwide. There are no admission restrictions. Some domains of this kind are
for example “com”, “net”, “org”, “info”, and “biz”.
Grace Period
This indicates several “granted reprieves”. For some
top level domains, for example, the transferral of a domain
to another registrar is not possible until the domain exists for at least 60 days.
Another example for a Grace Period is the procedure for unpaid domains.
In this vein the domain can be reactivated within the a granted reprieve.
So far, this procedure is only provided with a few gTLDs.
The person or enterprise that holds a domain. Also called “registrant”.
The holder is the responsible contact person in case of legal disputes.
Important: If you register domains for other
persons but yourself (for one of your customers, for example, if you are an
internet service provider), the customer's address must be specified as holder!
i18n
“i18n” is an abbreviation for “internationalization”. Some lazy technicians
came up with this short form because they didn't want to type the long word
all the time. So only the first and the last character remained while the
number “18” replaces the 18 characters omitted in the middle.
ICANN
ICANN stands for
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
It is an umbrella organization which is responsible for assignment and organization
of three important parts of the internet:
The actual tasks are often being delegated to other organizations.
IDN
“IDN” means “Internationalized Domain Names”.
These domain names may include “special characters”.
We provide a list of
frequently asked questions and answers
according to this topic.
IP Claim
This term is an abbreviation for
Intellectually Property Claim
and means the claiming of rights on intellectual property and names
or trade marks.
The introduction of a new top level domains
often starts with a registration phase for owner of trade marks and other
rights to a name (as for example Coca-Cola).
After this so-called Sunrise Period
the registration is free to others.
Konnektivitäts-Koordination (KK)
This is the German term for a transfer of a .de domain from one
registrar to another.
In an international context this is called
“Changing the Sponsoring Registrar” (CTSR).
Landrush | Landrush Period
The term Landrush is originated in the early USA.
During the land distribution activities you just had to be fast enough
to gain a piece of land for very favorable conditions.
When the registration is being released to general public after the start-up
phase of the introduction of a new top level domain, there are naturally
many “nice” domain names still available.
Then usually follows a run on these domain names, since the allocation
is normally conducted according to the First Come
First Served principle.
LOC resource record
LOC records are units of information in the
Domain Name System that can
be used to assign geometrical locations to a domain name. The position
is determined by the specification of longitude, latitude and elevation
data in the coordinate system that is also used for GPS.
Naming Authority Pointer (NAPTR) resource record
Today's DNS operation often requires more information than the pure name
resolution, i.e. the translation of domain names into an IP addresses.
In contrast to traditional A records, NAPTR resource records can provide
that additional information and are also very flexible, thanks to
prioritizing mechanisms and the use of regular expressions.
Name server
A name server is a computer who knows which computers of a domain use which
internet address (IP address). There are different types of name servers.
Interesting details are available in the
DRS explanations.
NeuLevel
An Enterprise that acts as the registry for the
.biz top level domain.
Besides that, NeuLevel is a kind of sales partner for the
.cn top level domain outside of China.
It is an American affiliate company of NeuStar.
NeuStar
Enterprise that operates the registry for the
.us top level domain.
NeuStar is an American company that holds the majority of shares
of NeuLevel. NeuStar got known in USA
for coordinating telephone number plans with telephone companies.
New Top Level Domains (nTLD, new gTLD)
New Top Level Domains are all generic domains that are introduced within
the application process started by the Internet administration
ICANN in January 2012.
These include general descriptive terms, many city domains such as
“.cologne”, and geographical names such as “.nrw”. Moreover, there are numerous
internationalized (IDN-) domain endings among the nTLDs,
such as the cyrilic variants of “online” and “site”.
Pre-ack / Pre-nack
Pre-ack and pre-nack denote preset answers for transfer
requests. If a domain is to be transferred (see CTSR),
the holder of that domain has to accept or decline the request within a given
time frame. If he or she fails to respond in time, the transfer is either being
accomplished or rejected, depending on the registry.
The DRS of Knipp offers the possibility to automatically reject any
transfer request by setting a pre-nack,
thus preventing unintended transfers of domains. Likewise, with pre-ack, all
incoming transfer requests will automatically accepted.
Redemption Period | Redemption Grace Period (RGP)
This is a limited time period after the deletion of a domain. During this phase,
the domain cannot be registered by third parties but only be reactivated by the
previous holder (for a considerable fee).
This procedure is not available for all
TLDs,
but more and more Registries adopt it.
A registrar is a kind of reseller for domains. He “receives” his “goods”
from a registry and sells them to his customers,
the holders (or registrants) of the domains.
The contractual relationships between the involved parties
vary depending on the exact regulations of the different contracts.
For .de domains, for example, there also is a contract between
the holder and
the registry (DENIC).
Knipp is a member of CORE and thus
a direct business partner of the Registries.
Registry
A registry is an organization that is responsible for the operation of
a top level domain.
Afilias, for example, is the company that administers
.info domains, while .name domains are managed by GNR (Global Name Registry).
The registries' “customers” are called registrars.
The holders (sometimes called “registrants” as well)
are customers of the registrars again.
Resource Record
Resource records (RRs) are units of information in the Domain Name
System (DNS). They are used to publish data for the operation of domain
names. There are a number of different types of RRs which contain
various sorts of information. The most important types are A records and
AAAA records, which contain the host address of a domain in IPv4 and
IPv6 format, respectively. They are used for the resolution of domain
names into IP addresses. Other important types are MX records for the
indication of the appropriate mail server and NAPTR RRs, which can be
regarded as an extension of A records.
Sender Policy Framework (SPF)
The intention of the SPF technology is to make the manipulation of
e-mail sender-addresses more difficult. To this end, the list of
mail servers that are allowed to send mails for a domain are stored in
the DNS zone for that domain.
Sponsored Top Level Domain
A top level domain that can only be registered by a
specific, usually small group of users. The .aero top level domain is
restricted to members of the aircraft industry an related persons, for instance,
while .museum domains can only be registered by museums. By the way, Knipp
operates the registry's technical facilities for the
above-mentioned top level domains in
its data center.
Sunrise | Sunrise Period | Sunrise Phase
This is a preregistration phase that is often conducted at the
beginning of the introduction of a new top level domain.
In the Sunrise Period, holders of trademarks and other rights to a name
have the possibility to register domains that correspond to the
protected term. This shall help to avoid complex and time consuming
legal disputes.
This is a registry that stores all contact
data itself. DENIC and Afilias
are registries of this kind. There is a tendency to this kind of registry.
The opposite are Thin Registries.
Thin Registry
This is a registry that only stores the domain
name and the name server as well as the
registration period. The contact handle data has to
be stored by the registrar who registered the domain.
This also means that the registrar has to operate his
own Whois server.
VeriSign with its .com domains is an example for a registry of this kind.
The opposite are Thick Registries.
Time To Live (TTL)
Specifies the period of validity for an entry of the
Domain Name System (DNS). That is, the TTL indicates the
maximum time (in seconds) for which
non-authoritative name servers may cache a DNS entry.
Top Level Domain (TLD)
The part of a domain name which is located behind the last (i.e. rightmost) dot.
For the domain “knipp.de”, the top level domain is the string “de”.
You can find a more detailed explanation in our list
of frequently asked questions
and answers on domains.
Benefits of registering a trademark with the Clearinghouse include access
to Sunrise registrations
with new gTLD registries and notification from the
Clearinghouse when a domain matching your trademark has been registered.
The UDRP is a strictly defined procedure that is applied for the settlement of
domain disputes. It is cheaper, faster and easier than legal proceedings.
As opposed to decisions of a court, which are often only binding in a single
country, UDRPs are effectual worldwide.
So far it is bound to the following three pre-conditions:
There has to be an infringement of a trademark.
The defendant has no rights on the trade mark.
The infringement has to be committed deliberately.
The procedure can only be used if it had been declared valid by
the registry at the time of the domain's registration.
Today, most gTLDs
use it. It has no effect on .de domains, however.
The costs (about 2000 USD) always have to be payed by the
complainant, never by the defendant. The objective is always the deletion or
the transfer of the respective domain. A kind of punishment for the
defendant does not exist.
Whois Server
This is a computer running a query service that provides information
on a domain's holder or technical contact.
As a special service for you, we have created a page on which you can
inquire all domains that
can be registered by Knipp.
