Questions: Domain Names

What is a domain name?

What is OpenSRS?

Registry? Registrar? Registrant? What do these words mean?

What's the difference between a RackShare registered domain name and a Network Solutions registered domain name?

Once I have a domain name, how can I make changes to it?

Who does a registered name actually belong to?

How much control do I have over my domain name?

What's the difference between .com, .net, .org domain names?

Does RackShare register in any other top level domains (.ca, .us, .co, .uk, etc.)?

I forgot my login name and password!

Answers: Domain Names

A domain name is essentially a signpost on the Internet. Every website you've ever been to, and every email you've ever composed, has used a domain name in its address. People register domain names in order to 'stake a claim' to a particular name -- whether for business or personal reasons. Once a domain name is registered to a person or company, it is that person's to use exclusively as long as they continue to pay the yearly renewal fee.

OpenSRS is a domain Registrar like Network Solutions or Register.com. OpenSRS provides wholesale domain registration services to Registration Service Providers like Rackshare who in turn sell domain names to people and companies worldwide.

Registrar: A "Registrar" (or "Domain Name Registrar") is an organization like OpenSRS or Network Solutions that has control over the granting of domains within certain TLDs (top level domains, like the generic .com/.org/.net or country-specific .ca/.us/.mx etc.).
Registry: The 'Registry' is the backend that registrar's have shared access to. Each registrar writes new names to a central registry database, from which the authoritative root (essentially, a table of all domain names on the Internet) is built.
Registrant: A registrant is the person or company who purchases a domain name. For example, Jessica Smith (registrant) registers the name jessicasmith.com through OpenSRS (registrar) who in turn writes the name to the central database (Registry).

You can make changes to your domain name by using the RackShare Domain Management interface at https://www.rackshare.com/domain/manage/. You'll need your domain's Username and Password to make the desired changes.

There's no difference between a name registered with RackShare and a name registered with Network Solutions. Network Solutions is currently better known because they ran the first domain registration business without competition for a number of years.

Domain names are not truly owned -- they're leased out on a first-come, first-served basis, and remain with the initial lessee until either a) the lessee does not renew the name, or b) a business with a trademark of the same name demonstrates a greater claim to the name than the lessee can demonstrate. The question is better phrased as 'who can control the domain name'. With RackShare, the answer is the domain's Administrative Contact.

Domain owners, in general, have full control over their RackShare registered domain names. This means that the domain owner has the power to:

1. Change admin/technical and billing contacts for the domain.
2. Change ownership of the domain.
3. Change the nameservers that are authoritative for the domain.
4. Create sub-users and enable them to change some/all of the options in a, b and c above.
5. Change the password that enables a, b, c, and d above.

Originally, the three letter extensions after the dot (or Top Level Domain/TLD) were meant to denote whether the domain name was being used for business (.com) charity/non-profit (.org) or for a technology based company (.net). However, with the explosion of the Internet (and specifically, the world wide web) as a new business medium, the lines were blurred, and companies and individuals alike started cross-registering domains (ie. Me.com, me.net, me.org) just to protect their interests. Now, .com, .net, and .org names (the generic Top Level Domains) can be used for any purpose.

Yes, RackShare now offers .CA and .UK domain name registration. We're working towards offering registrations in additional country code top level domains (ccTLDs) in the near future.

Your login name and password (used to make modifications to your domain name record) can be obtained by sending a request to domain@rackshare.com. We will only send the Username and Password to the Administrative Contact for the domain name.