In the

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 ...

(DNS), a vanity domain is a domain name whose purpose is to express the individuality of the person on whose behalf it is registered. This contrasts with domain names which resolve to an organisation (e.g. a company) or a service that organisation offers. Vanity domains may be compared with vanity car registration plates, which similarly identify their owner as an individual and not just someone relying on another organisation's services. A subdomain of an ISP's domain that is aliased to an individual user account is a vanity domain. Other definitions include: * the

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (FOLDOC) is an online, searchable, encyclopedic dictionary of computing subjects. History FOLDOC was founded in 1985 by Denis Howe and was hosted by Imperial College London. In May 2015, the site was up ...

defines it as "A domain you register for the sole purpose of having your own domain so you can have an easily remembered URL and e-mail address", * while the Jargon File defines it as "An Internet domain, particularly in the .com or .org top-level domains, apparently created for no reason other than boosting the creator's ego." vanity domain * The Sun

iPlanet Messaging Server Oracle Communications Messaging Server is Oracle's messaging (email) server software. The software was obtained by Oracle as part of the company's acquisition of Sun in 2010. Oracle's Messaging Server could potentially be the most widely deploye ...

uses msgVanityDomain to set up a domain name for e-mail use which is not fully hosted. These uses apply primarily to regular domain names registered at the highest allowed level rather than subdomains (although, technically speaking, a second-level domain is actually a subdomain of its top-level domain). Because vanity domains are operated for or on behalf of individuals, they typically will not offer the full complement of services an organisational domain name (or rather, the host that it points to) would be expected to honour; for example, the DNS record may contain only an MX record identifying a

mail server Within the Internet email system, a message transfer agent (MTA), or mail transfer agent, or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using SMTP. The terms mail server, mail exchanger, and MX host ...

accepting

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, at a time when "mail" meant ...

for that domain (which may itself be an e-mail forwarding server) and an A record identifying a

shared web hosting service A shared web hosting service is a web hosting service where many websites A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one we ...

only offering

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide We ...

(which may itself be a

URL redirection URL redirection, also called URL forwarding, is a World Wide Web technique for making a web page available under more than one URL address. When a web browser attempts to open a URL that has been redirected, a page with a different URL is opened ...

service). As well as being easily remembered, vanity domains (especially when registered at the highest level allowed by the

registrar A registrar is an official keeper of records made in a register. The term may refer to: Education * Registrar (education), an official in an academic institution who handles student records * Registrar of the University of Oxford, one of the se ...

) offer the advantage of

personal mobility In Universal Personal Telecommunications (UPT), personal mobility is the ability of a user to access telecommunication services at any UPT terminal on the basis of a personal identifier, and the capability of the network to provide those services in ...

; they continue to be associated with a person even when that person switches service providers.

Use of top-level domains

A top-level domain does not refer to the cost of a website domain. It means how appropriate your domain is for your website or website topic. A

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 ...

can become part of a vanity URL. Taking advantage of countries that do not ask for proof of residence to register their country-specific TLDs (Top Level Domains) can allow a user to incorporate the two or three letters following the dot, using them to help spell out the desired name, word or phrase.

References

{{Reflist Domain Name System Internet terminology URL

Use of top-level domains

See also

References