Basic Glossary Terms
Domain Name - A domain name is a unique name used to identify you or your organization on the Internet. It is the name that your clients and potential clients will remember and use to locate you and your organization on the Internet. The domain name can be a unique combination of you and your business that makes you stand out in the crowd. Forwarding - Domain Forwarding allows you to access your website via your domain name without changing the domain name server information, however, once your website opens, your URL address defaults back to your point2agent.com URL address. Forwarding is not recommended, as it does not assist with SEO, may cause issues with logging into your account, and because domains that are forwarded are set up to forward to a specific IP address; Point2 accounts are created with Dynamic IP addresses, meaning your Point2 website's IP will change and your forwarded domain will not work.
May also be referred to as redirecting by some registrars and hosts. Masking - Domain Masking is a Forwarded domain name that allows you to access your website via your domain name without changing the domain name server information. The difference between Forwarding and Masking is that your domain name remains within the address bar of the browser even when the visitor has been transported to your website. Masking is not recommended for the same reasons Forwarding is not recommended.
May also be referred to as cloaking by some registrars and hosts. Hosting - (also known as website hosting, web hosting and webhosting) is the action of storing your website on servers so that your website is accessible to be viewed by anyone connected to the internet. Point2 websites are hosted on our servers exclusively. We host domain names with Point2 sites free of charge. Pointing - Domain Pointing refers to changing the host name servers for your domain name so that it is hosted somewhere different. Some registrars and hosts refer to this process as 'transferring' but it should not be confused with domain transfers, which are different. When we point a domain name it is associated with your website and hosted with your website at no cost to you. Transferring - Domain Transferring refers to moving your domain name from your current registrar to a new registrar. This moves the domain name registration from one company to another. Domain transfers are done for a fee which varies from registrar to registrar. Point2 offers domain transfers for just $16.95 US and includes an additional year of registration for completed domain transfers. Registrar - A Domain Registrar is the company where your domain name was registered through. This is not always but usually is the company you paid for the domain name. You can find the name of your Registrar by doing a WHOIS Lookup. Reseller - A Domain Reseller is a company who offers domain registrations to their clients but use a domain wholesaler to provide them with the domain registration services. Usually a reseller would appear just as if they were the registrar of the domain name. They are considered the Registration Provider. Wholesaler - A Domain Wholesale provider is a company which offers bulk domain registrations to various reseller companies. The wholesaler usually provides the registration tools for resellers to offer domain registrations to their customers. A domain wholesaler usually has little or no contact with the actual customer registering the domain name as this is handled by the reseller. Domain associated email - Domain Associated Email is an email address that is created using a registered domain name. The domain portion of an email address is found after the @ symbol. ie. name@domainname.com. Domain associated email is directly related to the domain name and the domain name must be registered in order for the domain associated email to be created. Advanced Glossary Terms
TLD - An acronym for Top Level Domain, which is the last part of a domain name which follows the final dot "." For example in the domain name www.point2domains.com the top level domain is com. Other examples of top level domains are country code top levels such as .com.au, .co.uk, etc. See Also: Getting A Top Level Domain Second level domain - This is the next part of the domain name to the left of the TLD extension (.com, etc.) For example in the domain name point2domains.com, the second level is point2domains. Third level domain - The next highest level in the domain name after second level domain names. Third level domains cannot be registered and are created using an existing domain name. Your default Point2 URL uses a third level domain ie: yourname.point2agent.com. The third level portion in this example is 'yourname'. Also referred to as subdomain. See Also: Creating Third Level Domains URL - An acronym for "Uniform Resource Locator," this is the address of a resource on the Internet. World Wide Web URLs begin with http://. An example of an URL would be http://www.point2domains.com DNS - An acronym for any of the following: Domain Name System, Domain Name Services, Domain Name Server. DNS is the system used to translate internet domain names into their correct IP Address on a server. Name Servers - Used to resolve a domain name to a specific server and IP address. Name Servers determine where your domain name is hosted. IP address - Stands for Internet Protocol address, which every machine connected to the internet has, including the servers hosting your domain name. Most hosts use name servers, which resolve to the IP address for your host server so you don't need to use the IP address. MX and CNAME records - MX stands for Mail eXchanger record, is a type of DNS record that specifies how your email should be routed. CNAME, or canonical name record, may also be required for additional email setup. WHOIS Lookup - WHOIS is a central registry database maintained by the InterNIC which provides information about registered domain names and the domain holder. Also, WHOIS lookups display information about where the domain is hosted, by listing the name servers. |