Domain names are used worldwide, particularly in the world of networks and data communication. The following points explain how they work and how they are used:

• Domain names have two parts that are separated by a dot, such as example.com.
• A domain name can be used to identify a single IP address or group of IP addresses.
• A host or organization may use a domain name as an alternate IP address because domain names are alphanumeric (as opposed to all numbers), making them easier to memorize.
• A domain name is used as part of a URL to identify a website.
• The part that follows the dot is the top level domain (TLD), or group to which the domain name belongs. For example, .gov is the TLD for U.S. government domains.
• The IP address in the domain name’s background is converted to a recognizable, alphanumeric domain name by a system known as the domain name system (DNS).