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The Big Brain
45 Forest Street
Parry Sound, Ontario
P2A 2R2
Canada
Phone: (705) 746-7374
Toll Free: (866) 283-7578
i n f o @ t h e b i g b r a i n . c a |
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Frequently Asked Questions For Domains
General Domain Questions
What characters can domain names be composed of?
What is a domain name?
What is the Domain Name System (DNS)?
What is a top-level domain?
.CA Domain Questions
How does .ca differ from .com?
What is CIRA Membership?
Who can register .CA domains?
How many .ca Domain Names can an organization or individual register?
What about province-level domains?
What provincial-level domains are available?
What is a registrant?
.US Domain Questions
How does .us differ from .com?
What is special about .us and why do I need it?
Who can register .US domains?
How many .us Domain Names can an organization or individual register?
What about locality and state-level domains?
What is a registrant?
General Domain Questions
What characters can domain names be composed of?
Domain names have a few basic rules:
They must consist only of letters "A-Z", numbers "0-9" and hyphens "-".
They are case-insensitive ("REG" is the same as "reG")
.CA can only be from 2-50 characters long.
.COM, .NET, .ORG can only be from 2-67 characters long
.WS/.INFO/.BIZ can only be from 3-63 characters long
(You can obtain 1-3 letter .WS which cost more and must be registered manually - email thinking@thebigbrain.ca for details)
What is a domain name?
Domain names
are the familiar and easy to remember names used in lieu of the
difficult to remember Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers. IP
addresses are used to locate computers on the Internet.
What is the Domain Name System (DNS)?
The Internet Domain Name System consists of an organized, hierarchical
directory of all domain names and their corresponding computers.
What is a top-level domain?
A top-level domain is used to designate the type of organization or the
country of origin. Generic top-level designators are commonly three
letter suffixes like .com, .net, .org, .edu. Country code top-level
domains are commonly two letter suffixes like .ca, .us, .uk, etc., as
assigned by the United Nations.
.CA Domain Questions
How does .ca differ from .com?
.ca
is the country code Top Level domain (ccTLD) designating Canada. The .com
is the generic Top Level domain (gTLD) designating commercial
activities. The policies and administration of the .ca domain name will
be set by CIRA and governed by Canadian law. The gTLDs are managed in
the United States under American law.
What is CIRA Membership?
CIRA Membership costs nothing, and allows you to participate in CIRA decisions. All that is required is for you to have a .CA
domain. Simply leave the checkbox at "yes" when you register your domain.
Who can register .CA domains?
The .CA is restricted for Canadian-only use. Any canadian citizen,
organisation, or entity, or any foreign agency possessing a valid
Canadian Trademark may register a .CA.
There is no restriction on the number of domains a Canadian entity may
register.
How many .ca Domain Names can an organization or individual register?
Under the new rules, any qualifying individual or organization will be able to register an unlimited number of .ca Domain Names.
What about province-level domains?
You may also register province-level domains such as domain.bc.ca.
However, you cannot register a province-level domain if someone else has
already registered the root domain (domain.ca) without the written permission
of the domain holder. Likewise, you cannot register the root domain (domain.ca)
if anyone else has already registered a province-level domain (ie: domain.bc.ca),
without written permission from the domain holder.
If YOU own the conflicting, simply search for the domain you would like to
register, and follow the instructions.
What provincial-level domains are available?
The following province codes are in effect:
AB - Alberta, BC -British Columbia, MB - Manitoba, NB - New Brunswick, NF - Newfoundland,
NS - Nova Scotia, NT -Northwest Territories, NU - Nunavut, ON - Ontario, PE -Prince Edward Island
QC - Quebec, SK - Saskatchewan, YK - Yukon.
For instance: mydomain.bc.ca
What is a registrant?
A registrant is the person in whose name a .ca domain is registered.
With CIRA each domain registered with the same
registrant shares the same administrative and technical contact information.
Each seperate registrant must approve the CIRA agreement (If you add a domain to an
existing registrant, you do NOT have to re-approve the CIRA agreement).
For multiple domains belonging to the same organisation you probably want to use
the same registrant.
If the domains belong (or may soon belong) to separate organisations or
individuals, you probably want to use to create them using different registrants.
.US Domain Questions
How does .us differ from a .com?
It is the official country code
top-level domain for the United States. Country codes are two-letter
domain extensions designated by the International Organization for
Standardization for each country. For example, Canada is .ca, Ireland
is .ie, and the United Kingdom is .uk. What is special about .us and why do I need it?
.US is the only way to establish a distinctly American address on the
Internet. It allows U.S. residents, government entities, public service
organizations and businesses to register a short, memorable domain
name, such as www.janesmith.us, www.publicservice.us, or
www.mycompany.us.
Individuals can use .us domains for e-mail or personal web sites.
Government and public interest organizations can use .us addresses to
serve the needs of Americans. Businesses can use .us domain names to
promote themselves as American companies and encourage consumers to
"buy American."
Who can register a .us domain name?
Any U.S. citizen or resident, as well as any business or organization,
including federal, state and local government with a bona fide presence
in the U.S. can register a .us domain name. All registrants must meet
the U.S. Nexus Requirements itemized below.
U.S. Nexus Requirements
All registrants for the .us domain must be either: * A natural person
(i) who is a citizen or permanent resident of the United States of
America or any of its possessions or territories or (ii) whose primary
place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its
possessions, or * Any entity or organization that is incorporated
within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or
any of the United States possessions or territories or (ii) organized
or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States
of America, the District of Columbia, or any of its possessions or
territories, or * An entity or organization (including federal, state,
or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision
thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States. See
Section B.3.1 of the NeuStar (the .us registry) proposal to the
Department of Commerce for details concerning what constitutes a "bona
fide presence." * See complete Nexus Requirement Document as a PDF at
http://www.neustar.us/policies/docs/ustld_nexus_requirements.pdf
How many .us Domain Names can an organization or individual register?
Any qualifying individual or organization will be able to register an unlimited number of .us Domain Names.
What about locality and state-level domains?
Most existing locality-based domain names are managed by Delegated Managers.
These existing registrations will continue to operate as normal.
Name registrations for names that are not currently managed by a
Delegated Manager will be handled by NeuStar directly. If you wish to
register a name in an existing locality or make a change to an existing
registration, complete the ".US Domain Template" and email your request
directly to the contact for the manager of the locality for the name
(see the contact list of Delegated Subdomains and their Contacts), or
send the completed template to support.us@neustar.us and it will be
forwarded to the appropriate Delegated Manager.
American Domain Registry is accredited
by Neustar (http://www.neustar.us) to offer .us domain registration.
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