Top Level Domain Extensions
com, .net and .org
Country-level top domains
Most countries now have a matching top-level
domain name, under which domains are sold (either directly, or with an
intervening sub-domain such as .co. or .org.)
Examples include .fr (France), .jp (Japan - where .co.jp is also in
widespread use) and .co.uk. See below for more country domain name
suffixes or extensions
Country-level top domains
Control over some
country-level top domains has been ceded, either permanently or under
contract, to various commercial organizations around the world. Many of
these organizations don't exactly go out of their way to advertise the local
origin of their domain names.
A prime example of this practice is the .tv top domain. While a perfectly
legitimate top domain, it was in fact originally the top level domain
reserved for the small Pacific island nation of Tuvalu. These top-level
domain names are perfectly fine, but they are only international by
"agreement" - the underlying system has them matched to a specific country.
If the agreement with the country in question expires or is renegotiated -
as happened, for instance, with the .tm domain of Turkmenistan, then users
may be locked out of their domains or the top level domain put out of reach
of new applicants.
Sub-domains
As you may have seen elsewhere on this site, it is possible
with the right configuration to set up an essentially infinite number of sub domains for any given domain name. Thus, for example, you can make the
sub domains:-
myfolks.mydomain.com