domain is a very popular term used in computer and information technology. Users generally do not know or misinterpret the domain keyword meaning. The domain can be used in different areas of computer science. In this tutorial, we will learn Domain meaning and types with the purpose and difference with the Domain and Hosting.
Domain Types
Domain definition can be used in different areas in computer science or information technology. We can use the domain keyword in the following areas of computing.
- Internet Domain
- Network Domain
- Windows Domain
Internet Domain
The most popular and the default usage and meaning of the domain is the internet domain. Internet domain is used to set canonical names to the specific web site, service, and IP addresses. Normally internet works over Internet Protocol or IP. IP addresses consist of the 32-bit value which is presented in decimal like 192.168.1.1. Every web site has an IP address at least. For end and inter users human-friendly names are created which are called URL which consists of domains.
For example https://www.poftut.com/index.php is the URL of this site. poftut.com is the domain of this site where the URL is created from this domain name. In order to translate between domain names and IP addresses, the DNS (Domain Name System) is used.
Network Domain
Another usage or definition for the Domain is network domain. Computer networks are consist of multiple hosts or nodes which are created for some purpose. According to this purpose, some rules and management domains are created. This group of computers is named as a single domain.
Windows Domain
Microsoft Windows is a very popular operating system used in personal and enterprise computers. Especially in enterprise area management, updates, policy enforcement of these systems are very complicated one by one. Microsoft created the Windows Domain or Active Directory in order to group or subgroup these computers to manage, update, and policy enforcement. Actually, Windows Domains are related to the Internet and Network domain where internet domains are used with Windows domains with different aspects like e-mail etc.
DNS (Domain Name System)
Domain Name System or DNS is a protocol that can translate IP addressed between internet domain names. DNS servers are created to run DNS. DNS servers can be located on the internet publicly or intranet privately to serve in house users. More details about DNS can be found in the following tutorials.
What Is URL (Uniform Resource Locator)?
Domain Name Syntax
We have already examined the URL and domain name in “URL Tutorial”. But we will shortly provide domain name syntax here too. Domain names are the main entity used to name singe or multiple sets of systems. For example poftut.com is a domain name where www.poftut.com is a server named wwwin the poftut.com domain. mail.poftut.com is the mail server of the poftut.com domain. Also, we can use 3fasdf.poftut.com as the hostname of the mail server but using predictable and generic names is easier for us and others to detect and configure these systems.
Purpose Of Domain
Domain names provide a lot of ease of use and advantages. We can list some of them like below.
- Human readable
- Fast Usage
- Professional look
- Security
- Stability
Difference Between Domain and Hosting
Internet domains and hosting generally misunderstood between peoples. Internet domains are some canonical names registered for a specific person or company. Internet domains are used to name some web sites, corporates, services. Hosting is a service where our web site or applications code, images, configuration, and services are stored or run. When we create a web site hosting firms are used to store our web sites scripts, images, Html code, etc.
“Computer Domain”
Never mentioned again. So what is it?