Whose Mum? Domain Names, FQDNs and why it Matters

The Internet is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mindbogglingly big it is.
I mean, you may think that encyclopaedia is big, but that’s just peanuts to the Internet.

With grovelling apologies to Douglas Adams, the above neatly describes why we need domain names.

Just as every phone has a unique phone number, every website on the internet has a unique IP address. Just like phone numbers, IP addresses are ugly long strings of numbers (and sometimes letters) which are very hard for humans to remember. To make it easy for us to identify those numbers, our phones let us assign a name such as “Mum” to their phone number. For make it easy to find a website, the nice guys at the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allow us to claim a human-readable easy-to-remember domain name and relate it to one or more relevant IP addresses.

Unlike your phone though, each domain must be unique. On the internet, there’s only space for one of each domain – one mum.com, one mum.co.uk, one mum.es and so on.

We own the domain name little-fire.com and that is our unique address on the internet. Anything which uses the little-fire.com domain means comes from or relates to us. Possibly more importantly, anyone claiming to be us but does not use the domain name little-fire.com probably isn’t (our marketing emails come from little-fire-digital.co.uk) – domain names are incredibly important for trust.

FQDN stands for Fully Qualified Domain Name. In this instance ‘fully qualified’ indicates an end point – a reference to which an IP address can be assigned.

An FQDN is a complete, unambiguous domain name that specifies its exact position in the hierarchical structure of the Domain Name System (DNS). Let’s break down the components of a Fully Qualified Domain Name:

This is the optional part of the domain that appears before the main domain name. Subdomains allow organisations to organise and structure their web addresses. For example, in “blog.little-fire.com”, “blog” is the subdomain. Subdomains are incredibly useful. For example, the subdomain “www.little-fire.com” points at our website, while “mail.little-fire.com” points to our mail server.

This is the primary part of the FQDN, representing the unique name of the website or resource. In “www.little-fire.com”, “little-fire” is the domain name. Domain names must be unique for each TLD – there may be a little-fire.ru but I wouldn’t open their emails.

This is the last part of the domain name and indicates the type or purpose of the domain. Common TLDs include .com, .org, .net, and country-code TLDs like .uk for the United Kingdom.

Putting it all together, an Fully Qualified Domain Name looks like this: subdomain.domain.tld. An example could be “www.example.co.uk,” where “www” is the subdomain, “example” is the domain name, and “co.uk” is the TLD.

FQDNs are essential for various internet-related activities, including website hosting, email services, and network administration. They help ensure the accurate and efficient routing of internet traffic. FQDNs also play a crucial role in establishing a brand identity online, as businesses often choose domain names that reflect their names or services.

Understanding the concept of FQDN is fundamental. It provides a complete and specific address for accessing websites and online resources. Whether you’re a website owner, IT professional, or an internet user, grasping the components and significance of an FQDN is essential for navigating the vast Internet.