Chapter - 1

Top Level Domains

A top-level domain (TLD) is the last part of an Internet domain name; that is, the letters which follow the final dot of any
domain name. For example, in the domain name www.dhakatel.com, the top-level domain is com (or C!, as domain names
are not case-sensitive).
"he Internet Assi#ned $%m&ers A%thority (IA$A) c%rrently classifies top-level domains into three types'
(. Country Code Domains : (.%k, .de, .)p, .%s, &d, .pk, .in, etc.)
*. Generic Domains : (&i+, .cat, .com, .ed%, .#ov, .info, .)o&s, .mo&i, .int, .mil, .m%se%m, .name, .net, .or#, .travel)
,. Infrastructure Domain : (.arpa)
-$. %ses a hierarchy to mana#e its distri&%ted data&ase system. "he -$. hierarchy, also called the domain name space, is an
inverted tree str%ct%re, m%ch like $-.. "he -$. tree has a sin#le domain at the top of the str%ct%re called the root domain. A
period or dot (.) is the desi#nation for the root domain. /elow the root domain are the top-level domains that divide the -$.
hierarchy into se#ments.
lists the top-level -$. domains and the types of or#ani+ations that %se them. /elow the top-level domains, the domain name
space is f%rther divided into s%&domains representin# individ%al or#ani+ations.
DNS Hierarchy
Top-level domains
organize domain
name space
geographically
Generic Top Level Domain
Domain Name sed !y
"com Commercial or#ani+ations, as in novell.com
"edu 0d%cational or#ani+ations, as in %cla.ed%
"#ov 1overnmental a#encies, as in whiteho%se.#ov
"mil !ilitary or#ani+ations, as in army.mil
"or# $onprofit or#ani+ations, as in redcross.or#
"net $etworkin# entities, as in nsf.net
"int International or#ani+ations, as in nato.int
Country code and #eneric top level domain
1
or# com edu net #ov mil !d
or# net com net mil #ov
" dot
A top-level domain containin# a *-character a&&reviation as defined &y I. ,(22-( (Codes for the 3epresentation of $ames of
Co%ntries and "heir .%&divisions). As of $ovem&er (444 there were *5, co%ntry code top level domains (cc"6-s) re#istered.
.ome examples are .%s for the 7nited .tates, .ca for Canada, .)p for 8apan, .de for 1ermany, etc.
0ach co%ntry has a %ni9%e domain extension, %s%ally a two letter a&&reviation for the co%ntry. IA$A is the or#ani+ation
responsi&le for overseein# the cc"6-s. 0very co%ntry (and a few territories) in the world has a reserved, two letter co%ntry code
domain that is theirs to %se as they see fit. .ome co%ntries r%n their own cc"6- re#istry, others o%tso%rce it to a private
company, and still others sell ri#hts to their cc"6- to third parties to r%n as they see fit. 0xamples of cc"6-s are .ca
(Canada), .%s (7nited .tates).
Country Code Top Level Domain
": ; "hailand "< ; "aiwan => ; =akistan -0 ; 1ermany 1/ ; 1reat /ritain (7>)
AF ; Af#hanistan /- ; /an#ladesh CA ; Canada -> ; -enmark 10 ; 1eor#ia
A6 ; Al&ania /0 ; /el#i%m C: ; .wit+erland -? ; Al#eria 1: ; 1hana
A! ; Armenia /1 ; /%l#aria C6 ; Chile 0C ; 0c%ador 16 ; 1reenland
8= ; 8apan /: ; /ahrain C! ; Cameroon 01 ; 0#ypt 13 ; 1reece
$= ; $epal >< ; >%wait C$ ; China 37 ; 3%ssia :> ; :on# >on#
A3 ; Ar#entina 7. ; 7nited .tates C ; Colom&ia 0. ; .pain :7 ; :%n#ary
A" ; A%stria / ; /olivia @A ; @atar FI ; Finland I- ; Indonesia
A7 ; A%stralia /3 ; /ra+il C7 ; C%&a F8 ; Fi)i I$ ; India
I" ; Italy /" ; /h%tan CA ; Cypr%s F3 ; France I3 ; Iran
DNS servers
"he -omain $ame .ystem is maintained &y a distri&%ted data&ase system, which %ses the client-server model. "he nodes of this
data&ase are the name servers. 0ach domain or s%&domain has one or more a%thoritative -$. servers that p%&lish information
a&o%t that domain and the name servers of any domains s%&ordinate to it. "he top of the hierarchy is served &y the root
nameservers' the servers to 9%ery when lookin# %p (resolvin#) a top-level domain name ("6-).
DNS resolvers
"he client-side of the -$. is called a -$. resolver. It is responsi&le for initiatin# and se9%encin# the 9%eries that %ltimately
lead to a f%ll resol%tion (translation) of the reso%rce so%#ht, e.#., translation of a domain name into an I= address.
A -$. 9%ery may &e either a rec%rsive 9%ery or a non-rec%rsive 9%ery'
A non-rec%rsive 9%ery is one in which the -$. server may provide a partial answer to the 9%ery (or #ive an error).
A rec%rsive 9%ery is one where the -$. server will f%lly answer the 9%ery (or #ive an error). -$. servers are not
re9%ired to s%pport rec%rsive 9%eries.
"he resolver (or another -$. server actin# rec%rsively on &ehalf of the resolver) ne#otiates %se of rec%rsive service %sin# &its in
the 9%ery headers.
3esolvin# %s%ally entails iteratin# thro%#h several name servers to find the needed information. :owever, some resolvers
f%nction simplistically and can comm%nicate only with a sin#le name server. "hese simple resolvers rely on a rec%rsive 9%ery to
a rec%rsive name server to perform the work of findin# information for them.
$ddress resolution mechanism
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