Domeeninimi

Domeeninimi is a term used in Estonian to refer to the domain name in the Internet addressing system. It designates a human-readable label that maps to an Internet Protocol (IP) address via the Domain Name System (DNS). Domain names help users reach websites, services, and mail servers without remembering numeric IPs.

Structure: Domain names are hierarchical and written left to right, separated by dots. The highest level is the top-level domain (TLD), such as .com, .org, or country-code TLDs like .ee. The second-level domain is the next label, as in example.ee. Subdomains can be created by adding more labels, such as blog.example.ee.

Registration and management: To use a domeeninimi, it must be registered with an accredited domain registrar. Registries maintain the data for each TLD; registrars handle the sales and contact details. Ownership is recorded in WHOIS databases and includes contact information; privacy concerns exist.

DNS resolution: When a user enters a domeeninimi in a browser, a DNS resolver queries a chain of servers: root servers, TLD servers, and authoritative domain servers, eventually returning the IP address. The result may be cached to speed future lookups.

Types and infrastructure: Common categories include generic TLDs (gTLDs) such as .com, .net, or .org, and country-code TLDs (ccTLDs) such as .ee. Internationalized Domain Names (IDN) allow non-ASCII characters and are represented in ASCII using Punycode.

Security and policy: DNSSEC provides cryptographic signing to prevent spoofing. Domain owners may use TLS certificates for security. Policies governed by ICANN, IANA, and national registries affect registration rules, transfers, and renewals.