A country code second-level domain is a
second-level domain
In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD or 2LD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in , is the second-level domain of the TLD.
Second-level domains commonly refer to the organ ...
to a
country code top-level domain
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all ...
. Such a domain may be reserved by a
domain name registry
A domain name registry is a database of all domain names and the associated registrant information in the top level domains of the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet that enables third party entities to request administrative control of a do ...
for the registration of third-level domains, or assigned to a third party as a
subdomain.
Many country code domain registries implement domain name classes at the second level underneath their ccTLD, such as are present in the original generic
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
s , , and , which were intended for commercial entities, network operators, and non-profit organizations, respectively.
Many countries implement additional classes. For example, 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 ...
(
.uk
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
, it is the fift ...
) uses for commercial purposes and for academic registrants. Brazil (
.br
.br is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center. A local contact is r ...
) has a high number of predefined second-level domains, 140 as of 2021; they range from for commercial activities and for veterinarians to for wikis (see
.br ยง Second-level domains).
See also
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Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned t ...
*
Private sub-domain registry
References
{{reflist
External links
The Public Suffix List
Domain Name System
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