Gateway

Figure . Gateway . . Identifying computers and users over a network .

. . Basic concept of domain name • A domain name is a unique name that identifies a website. Each website has a domain name that serves as an address, which is used to access the website.

For example, "google. com" is a domain name. • Whenever you visit a website, the domain name appears in the address bar of the web browser. Some domain names are preceded by "www" (which is not part of the domain name), while others omit the "www" prefix.

• All domain names have a domain suffix, such as .com, .net, or .org. The domain suffix helps identify the type of website the domain name represents. There are only a limited number of such domains. For example: • gov - Government agencies • edu - Educational institutions • org - Organizations (nonprofit) • mil - Military • com - commercial business • net - Network organizations • ca - Canada • th - Thailand Domain names are relatively cheap to register, though they must be renewed every year or every few years.

Anyone can register a domain name, so you can purchase a unique domain name for your blog or website. When you access a website, the domain name is actually translated to an IP address, which defines the server where the website is located. This translation is performed dynamically by a service called DNS. MAC Address • MAC stands for "Media Access Control".