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registrar-regsitry.md

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Registrar and registry

Think of it like a real estate transaction:

  • Registry (The Land Owner): The registry is the organization that owns and manages a particular Top-Level Domain (TLD), like .com or .org. They set the rules for that TLD, like pricing, eligibility requirements, and technical specifications. Verisign, for instance, is the registry for the .com TLD.

  • Registrar (The Real Estate Agent): The registrar is the company you go through to register your domain name (which includes the Second-Level Domain or SLD). They are accredited by ICANN to sell and manage domain names on behalf of the registry. Think of companies like GoDaddy or Namecheap.

  • Top-Level Domain (TLD - The Neighborhood): The TLD is the extension at the end of your domain name, like .com, .net, or .org. They are the broadest categories of domain names.

  • Second-Level Domain (SLD - Your House): The SLD is the unique part of your domain name that you choose. In www.example.com, "example" is the SLD.

Analogy in action:

Imagine you want to buy a house (your domain name) in a specific neighborhood (the TLD).

  1. You find a real estate agent (the registrar) who specializes in that neighborhood.
  2. The real estate agent helps you find a suitable house (your SLD) within that neighborhood.
  3. They work with the landowner (the registry) to complete the transaction, making you the official owner of that house within the neighborhood.

Key differences:

  • Registry:

    • Owns and manages the TLD
    • Sets the rules and policies for the TLD
    • Maintains the database of all registered domain names within that TLD

  • Registrar:

    • Accredited to sell and manage domain names
    • Provides services like domain registration, renewal, and DNS management
    • Interacts with the registry on your behalf

Example:

If you want to register mywebsite.com, you would go to a registrar like GoDaddy. They would check if mywebsite is available in the .com TLD, managed by the Verisign registry. If it's available, they would register it for you, working with Verisign to make it official.