.gb is a reserved
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science ...
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the ...
(
ccTLD
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It ...
) for the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
The domain was introduced with RFC 920 in October 1984 that set out the creation of ccTLD generally using country codes derived from the corresponding two-letter code in the
ISO 3166-1
ISO 3166-1 (''Codes for the representation of names of countries and their subdivisions – Part 1: Country codes'') is a standard defining codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. It ...
list. However, the
.uk domain had been created separately a few months before the compilation of this list. Consequently, .gb was never widely used. It is no longer possible to register under this domain.
.gb was used for a number of years, mainly by British government organisations and commercial
e-mail
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail
The mail or post is a s ...
services using
X.400-based e-mail infrastructure. This simplified translating between DNS domains and X.400 addresses, which used "GB" as a country code.
With the demise of
X.400 e-mail and IANA's general aim of one TLD per country, use of .gb declined; the domain remains in existence, but it is not currently open to new domain registrations.
,
dra.hmg.gb
still exists, with at least three subdomains resolving through
DNS (although none serve a website):
hermes.dra.hmg.gb
,
delos.dra.hmg.gb
, and
dfhnet.dra.hmg.gb
. The domain was originally owned by the
Defence Research Agency, which became the
Defence Evaluation and Research Agency
The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1995 and 2 July 2001. At the time it was the United Kingdom's largest science and technology organisation. It was regarded by its official h ...
in 1995 and was split into
QinetiQ and the
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in 2001; the website became defunct some time thereafter.
, Central Digital and Data Office's (see
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive b ...
) intention is to inform
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespac ...
early in 2023 that the UK wishes to retire .gb.
References
External links
IANA .gb whois informationJANET(UK) website
*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20120308201033/http://lists.gllug.org.uk/pipermail/gllug/2002-April/021662.html Official country code for Britain = GB or UK?Email discussion on GB domain (2002) with historical zonefiles.
Country code top-level domains
Domain names of the United Kingdom
Computer-related introductions in 1985
Internet properties established in 1985
1985 establishments in the United Kingdom
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