Domains, Registrars, Registries:Everything You Need To Know

Michele Neylon

Who am I?

Michele Neylon- Founder / CEO Blacknight- Chair Registrar SG ICANN,

ASOP.eu, Eurid Registrar Advisory Board

- http://mneylon.tel- @mneylon- http://michele.me/blog- On most other social networks ..

Let’s Talk about domains + IPs

What’s a domain?

What’s a domain?

• http://www.blacknight.com– Blackight – the “string”• .com – the “extension”• www – an A record / sub-domain

• http – the protocol, could be https (secure), FTP etc

Why Use A Domain?

• Domain is easier to remember than an IP• 1 IP => many domains (possibly)• IPv4 192.168.0.1• IPv6 2a01:a8:201::220

72 153 221 106

Another Real World Example173.194.45.67

That’s google.com(but you knew that right?)

What about IPs?

• “Governed” by RIRs• Regions: RIPE, AfrNIC, APNIC, ARIN,LACNIC• ISPs + hosting providers => LIR• Users get IPs from ISP

Which “Actors” Are Involved?

Which “Actors” Are Involved?

• Registry eg. Verisign, AFNIC• Registrar eg., GoDaddy, OVH, Blacknight• (Reseller) – thousands of companies• Registrant – people who register domains – individuals

& businesses & organisations (eg. Interpol)• Users – anyone using the ‘net

Confused yet?

Head Hurts?

What’s a registrar?

• Company that sells / leases domain names• Contract with ICANN (http://www.icann.org)• Governed by the contract (RAA) + local law• Commercial entities – with different business

models– DNS services, Email services, Web hosting services

& way more

What’s a reseller?

What’s a reseller?

• Company that resells / leases domain names• NO Contract with ICANN (http://

www.icann.org)• Commercial entities – with different business

models– DNS services, Email services, Web hosting services

& way more

What’s ICANN?

• Co-ordinator• Security / Stability• Oversight on Registrars AND Registries for

gTLDs • NO oversight on country codes (cctlds) eg. .fr

or .ch

What’s the RAA?

• Registrar Accreditation Agreement• Contract between ICANN & registrars• Current version is 2009 RAA• Small number of companies on 2001 version• New version – 2013 RAA expected later this

year – possibly July (?)

How Do I Identify X?

• “Whois”• DNS• Ask

Whois

• Whois domain.tld• Eg. Whois mneylon.com

– Registrar– Registration data (registration / expiry)– Nameservers– Registrant OR proxy / privacy data

DNS

• Where is the domain pointing?• Where is the “record” pointing? Ie. www.domain.tld

could be with Hoster X, but the mail (MX record) might be somewhere else• Tools like “dig”

Which “Actors” Are Involved?

ICANNRegistrar

Registry

Reseller

Registrant

Too Simplistic?

Small Paws/Pause?

What about ccTLDs?

What about ccTLDs?

• Governed (usually) by national law• NOT controlled by ICANN• *some* have contracts with registrars• *some* sell direct• *some* are good, *some* are bad• LACNIC / ICANN / CENTR – places / orgs where they

meet BUT they are NOT controlled

The Future?

The Future?

Anything else?

YAWN?

Questions?

Thank You …