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The following questions provide some background information about domain names in general and an explanation of some key technical terms.
What is a top-level domain name?
A top-level domain name is the rightmost part of a web or e-mail address, such as the "org" in someone@somewhere.org or the "fr" in www.somewhere.fr. (Often shortened to "TLD".)
What is a generic top-level domain?
The generic top-level domains are global ones, which means that they are open to registrations from organisations from all over the world. (Often shortened to "gTLD".)
What is a new top-level domain?
There are only few generic top-level domain names on the Internet. The .museum domain is one of the first new generic top-level domain names to be introduced on the Internet in the last ten years.
What is the difference between a registrar and a registry?
A registry is responsible for maintaining the master database of domain names for a particular top-level domain.
A registrar is an organisation which registers domains for its clients, usually for a fee. Usually there are multiple registrars competing on service and price.
What is "DNS"
DNS stands for "Domain Name System", which is a global system for naming computers all over the Internet. It's the mechanism by which your computer knows how to find the computer called a name such as www.somewhere.org.
Is DNS used for finding things on the Internet?
No, the DNS is for naming things; search engines are for finding things.
What is ICANN?
ICANN is a non-profit organization and that oversees the operation of Domain Name System, allocation of Internet Addresses and Internet Protocols. It is the Internet technical and administration co-ordination body, as well as consensus-based policy making one. It stands for "Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers". MuseDoma and ICANN signed the agreement for the operation of .museum registry on October 17, 2001.
What are name servers?
Name servers are computers which implement the mechanism of the DNS: they store the names and details of the computers that are on the Internet.
6 March 2002 - 12:05 UTC