DOMAIN NAMES

What's in a name? On the Internet ... plenty! Thinking about doing
business? Have a unique personality... It's possible that your domain
name might be king, because it provides an easy and convenient way for
people to find you. Read on if you want to know why. All computers on
the Internet have a unique number called an IP address. While IP
addresses work well for computers, they don't work well for people
(except those with photographic memories and are mathematically
inclined).
A unique name that identifies an Internet site. Domain Names always
have 2 or more parts, separated by dots. The part on the left is the
most specific, and the part on the right is the most general. A given
machine may have more than one Domain Name but a given Domain Name
points to only one machine. For example, the domain names:

kailuatown.net
mail.kailuatown.net
workshop.kailuatown.net

can all refer to the same machine, but each domain name can refer to
no more than one machine. Usually, all of the machines on a given
Network will have the same thing as the right-hand portion of their
Domain Names (kailuatown.net in the examples above). But, it is also
possible for a Domain Name to exist even if it is not connected to an
actual machine. This is often done so that a group or business can
have an Internet e-mail address without having to establish a real
Internet site. In these cases, some real Internet machine must handle
the mail on behalf of the listed Domain Name.


How are Domain Names Assigned:
The Internet Network Information Center (InterNIC) assigns domain
names on a first-come, first-served basis. Within the United States,
domain names end with identifiers which include:

.com (commercial institution or service provider)
.edu (educational institution)
.gov (government institution or agency)
.mil (military)
.net (network service provider)
.org (nonprofit organization)

Outside the United States, Internet domain names end with a two letter
country code. For example, the domain name for Netscape in Japan is
http://home.netscape.co.jp/ The "jp" stands for Japan.
Domain Names and alias: A Domain name such as
www.hawaiianharddrive.com is actually an alias, or a way of replacing
an IP address, which consists of numbers. A domain name is generally
divided divided up into 2 or 3 sections. For example Let's look at the
following domain names to see how it works:

www.hawaiianharddrive.com

".com" is the top domain which stands for "commercial",
"hawaiianharddrive" is the sub-domain and "www" stands for world-wide-
web. Try to think of these domains as a highway system. You are
driving along the freeway and you want to get to your friend's house
which is located on a side street off of the freeway. Your friend
could give you directions like take the 16th exit, turn right, follow
the one-way street two stoplight down and look for house number
1929.... and watch out for the garbage trucks if you come early in the
Mornings on Monday or Friday. If you followed these instructions,
eventually you might find his house.

On the other hand, if each exit and street had a unique name, the
instructions would be much simpler to follow. "Take the .com freeway
then the "hawaiiharddrive" street to get to my area of town. My house
has a whale mailbox outside and is painted blue. You can't miss it."
You would soon be sitting in his kitchen eating a plate lunch talking
story, while someone else is still having a hard time getting off the
freeway.

iGoldrush.com (http://www.igoldrush.com/faq.htm) has an indepth look
at domain names, Just about any question you could dream up is covered
somewhere in this FAQ, which at the last count exceeded 100 questions
and answers.


Why Would You Want a Domain Name?
If your company has a unique product or service, a registered
trademarks/brand name, or you would like your company to be
generically associated with a concept or idea, domain names are an
excellent idea. For example, if you are in the business of selling
malasadas, you might want a site called "malasadas.com". There are
however, some legal issues involved (like anything else) .Internet
domain names, used in e-mail addresses and World Wide Web addresses,
are assigned on a first come, first served, basis. Just because you
have a good idea, or a company already called Malasadas, it is
possible that someone else may have already registered your trademark
or name. Some "entrepreneurs" are registering a variety of trademarks
and trade names as Internet domain names, for resale to the trademark
owner at a "fair" price.

Wells, St. John, Gregory, and Matkin- Attorney's at Law have an
excellent on-line article on INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES AND TM LAW & NEW
CYBERSQUATTING LAW http://www.ior.com/~malhotra/domain.html if you
want to know more.

Buying a Domain Name.

It is easy to buy domain names. You have basically two choices: 1) use
the services of an intermediary company to file you application with
InterNIC, try http://www.networksolutions.com/, or you can file
directly with InterNIC at http://www.internic.net/ There are also many
companies in the business of registering domain names and a quick
search on any search engine will yield quite a few. They vary widely
in price, ease of registration, and services offered. Look for the
following standards: use of two domain name server addresses, simple
on-line purchasing procedure, do once and forget registration.

So, What's in a name..... everything or perhaps nothing!!!

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Hawaiian Hard Drive
www.HawaiianHardDrive.com