Internet Networks  «Prev  Next»
Lesson 5 Registering Domain Names
Objective Explain the registration process.

Registering Domain Names

Domain names and their corresponding IP addresses must be registered before they can be active on the Internet. Registering a domain requires ensuring that the domain name is not currently registered, filling out registration forms, and paying a fee. This process is ultimately performed through an on-line registrar, such as
  1. http://www.godaddy.com
  2. http://www.register.com
For a number of business and competitive reasons (particularly for marketing reasons), the choice of a domain name is important. The business team within a Web site development team may invest a lot of time and money determining the best domain name for the site. In some cases, an organization may try to buy a desired domain name from another entity or person if it is already registered. Typically, the initial registration is good for two years, renewable yearly after that. Different Registrars may have different plans. It is critical that the registration is kept up to date to avoid such problems as a site suddenly becoming inaccessible, or losing "ownership" of a name altogether because a different organization applies for that name in the meantime and reserves it for itself.
You can test this process yourself by visiting the InterNIC Web site at www.internic.net. Enter a name that you think you would like to use if you had your own business (remember, a domain name does NOT contain the WWW). Is the name you selected already registered? Who registered it?
In the next lesson, more about how protocols are used to send and receive information over networks will be discussed.

Internet Addresses Domains - Quiz

Click the Quiz link below to test your knowledge of the Internet infrastructure, internet addresses, and domain names.
Internet Addresses Domains - Quiz

Register Domain Through Namecheap

How Amazon Route 53 Routes Traffic for Your Domain

Route 53 traffic Flow
Figure 3-7: Route 53 traffic Flow

  1. A user opens a web browser, enters www.example.com in the address bar, and presses Enter.
  2. The request for www.example.com is routed to a DNS resolver, which is typically managed by the user's internet service provider (ISP), such as a cable internet provider, a DSL broadband provider, or a corporate network.
  3. The DNS resolver for the ISP forwards the request for www.example.com to a DNS root name server.
  4. The DNS resolver forwards the request for www.example.com again, this time to one of the TLD name servers for .com domains. The name server for .com domains responds to the request with the names of the four Route 53 name servers that are associated with the example.com domain.The DNS resolver caches (stores) the four Route 53 name servers. The next time someone browses to example.com, the resolver skips steps 3 and 4 because it already has the name servers for example.com. The name servers are typically cached for two days.
  5. The DNS resolver chooses a Route 53 name server and forwards the request for www.example.com to that name server.
  6. The Route 53 name server looks in the example.com hosted zone for the www.example.com record, gets the associated value, such as the IP address for a web server, 192.0.2.44, and returns the IP address to the DNS resolver.
  7. The DNS resolver finally has the IP address that the user needs. The resolver returns that value to the web browser.
  8. The web browser sends a request for www.example.com to the IP address that it got from the DNS resolver. This is where your content is, for example, a web server running on an Amazon EC2 instance or an Amazon S3 bucket that's configured as a website endpoint.
  9. The web server or other resource at 192.0.2.44 returns the web page for www.example.com to the web browser, and the web browser displays the page.