<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt"><div class="articleAll"><h2 class="article_articleTitle"><font size="2"><span style="font-weight: normal;">this is for all those who dont speak the foreign language of ICANN and the acronyms</span></font></h2>read on...<br><h2 class="article_articleTitle">Domains Explained, Part 1: Registrants, Registries, Registrars and Resellers</h2><div class="article_articleInfoTop">by <a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/JoeydeVilla">Joey deVilla</a> on Fri 30 Mar 2007 03:49 PM EDT | <a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/30/2846801.html">Permanent Link</a></div><div class="article"><div class="articleBody"><p>In Monday's article -- <a href="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/registrant-reseller-registrar-registry.gif"><strong><cite>Questions to Ask Before You Pick Your Domain Name
Registrar</cite></strong></a> -- <a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/ElliotNoss">Elliot</a>
covered a lot of ground in his list of things you should know about
when picking a domain name registrar. In this series of articles, I'll
expand on what he wrote and explain some of the finer points of domain
names that you might not be aware of.</p><h3>Registrants, Registries, Registrars and Resellers</h3><p>The last question in Elliot's list was <strong>Are you a <em>registrar</em> or a <em>reseller?</em></strong> If these terms, along with <strong><em>registry</em></strong> and <strong><em>registrant</em></strong> are unfamiliar to you, read on -- I'm going to explain what each one means.</p><p>Let me begin with the diagram below. It provides a brief description of each of these terms...</p><ul><li><a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/30/2846801.html#registrant">Registrant</a></li><li><a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/30/2846801.html#registry">Registry</a></li><li><a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/30/2846801.html#registrar">Registrar</a></li><li><a href="http://blog.tucows.com/blog/_archives/2007/3/30/2846801.html#reseller">Reseller</a></li></ul><p>...and also illustrates the relationships among them. I'll explain each
of these terms in greater detail after the diagram:</p><p align="center"><img src="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/registrant-reseller-registrar-registry.gif" alt="Diagram showing registrant, reseller, registrar and registry and their relationships to each other." height="674" width="460"></p><a name="registrant"></a><h3>Registrant</h3><p><img title="" src="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/registrant.gif" alt="'Registrant' icon." height="125" width="125">The <strong>registrant</strong>
is the easiest one to explain. The registrant for a domain name is the
person or organization who registered and owns the domain name. If
you've ever registered a domain name, you're its registrant.</p><a name="registry"></a><h3>Registry</h3><img src="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/registry.gif" alt="'Registry' icon." align="right" height="125" width="125"><p>Before I can talk about registries, I need to talk about <strong>top-level domains</strong> first. A top-level domain -- often shortened to <strong>TLD</strong> -- is the last part of any domain name. You're probably familiar with the generic TLDs <strong>.com</strong>, <strong>.org</strong> and <strong>.net</strong> and country code TLDs such as <strong>.ca</strong>, <strong>.de</strong>, <strong>.eu</strong> and <strong>.jp</strong>.</p><p>Each top-level domain is managed by an organization called a <strong>registry</strong>, which is responsible for:</p><ul><li>Managing the domain names within its assigned top-level domain.</li><li>Maintaining
the WHOIS database for that domain, which stores information on each
domain name in the top-level domain, such as the domain's registrant,
registrar and expiry date.</li><li>Maintaining the root servers for
that top-level domain, which act as an "address book" for all
nameservers responsible for the top-level domain. I'll cover root
servers and other parts of the domain name system in a later article.</li></ul><a name="registrar"></a><h3>Registrar</h3><img title="" src="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/registrar.gif" alt="'Registrar' icon." align="left" height="125" width="125"><p>In order to keep the domain name system working and stable, only organizations accredited by <a href="http://www.icann.org/"><strong>ICANN</strong></a> (the <strong>Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers</strong>,
one of whose jobs is to manage the assignment of domain names and IP
addresses) can register domain names. If you're curious about what sort
of process an organization has to go through to become an accredited
registrar, ICANN has <a href="http://www.icann.org/registrars/accreditation-process.htm">a page that describes it in detail</a>.</p><p>There
are a few hundred ICANN-accredited registrars worldwide; Tucows is just
of them. One way for you to register a domain name is to select one of
these registrars, who will electronically make the appropriate
arrangements with the registry and activate your domain name.</p><p>There's another way for you to register a domain name: through a <em>reseller</em>.</p><a name="reseller"></a><h3>Reseller</h3><img src="http://blog.tucows.com/images/2007/03/registrant-etc/reseller.gif" alt="'Reseller' icon." align="right" height="125" width="125"><p>In
the previous section, I mentioned that Tucows is a registrar. However,
we're a little unusual. We don't directly register domain names on
behalf of registrants. Instead, we sell our capability to register
domain names to other companies, who then resell this capability to
registrants. Hence the name <strong>reseller</strong>.</p><p>You're probably wondering why you'd want to go through a reseller rather than a registrar. Two very important reasons are:</p><ol><li><strong>Most of the time, you don't buy just a domain name by itself.</strong>
You also buy services that the domain name points to, such as a
website, a blog, email mailboxes and so on. A good reseller will often
offer package deals or bundles comprising what they feel are the best
services, just as a good retail store will carry a selection of what
they feel are the best brands.</li><li><strong>Customer service.</strong>
By reselling our domain name registration service, a reseller can spend
less time worrying about the technical and regulatory issues that
registrars face and spend more time on what's really important: their
customers.</li></ol><p>One thing to keep in mind when registering
domain names through a reseller: they're bound by the policies of the
registrar whose services they resell. Make sure you know which
registrar your reseller uses and what their domain name policies are.</p></div></div></div><a name="comments"></a><h3 class="commentsTrackbacks"><br></h3><div> </div>Rebecca Wanjiku,<br>journalist,<br>p.o box 33515, <br>Nairobi.00600<br>Kenya.<br><br>Tel. 254 720 318 925<br><br><span>blog:<a target="_blank" href="http://beckyit.blogspot.com/">http://beckyit.blogspot.com/</a></span><div><br></div></div><br>
<hr size=1>Don't pick lemons.<br>
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