fully qualified domain name


fully qualified domain name

(networking)(FQDN) The full name of a system, consisting ofits local hostname and its domain name, including atop-level domain (tld). For example, "venera" is a hostnameand "venera.isi.edu" is an FQDN. An FQDN should be sufficientto determine a unique Internet address for any host on theInternet. This process, called "name resolution", uses theDomain Name System (DNS).

With the explosion of interest in the Internet following theadvent of the World-Wide Web, domain names (especially themost significant two components, e.g. "sun.com", andespecially in the ".com" tld) have become a valuable part ofmany companies' "brand". The allocation of these, overseen byICANN, has therefore become highly political and isperformed by a number of different registrars. There aredifferent registries for the different tlds.

A final dot on the end of a FQDN can be used to tell the DNSthat the name is fully qualified and so needs no extrasuffixes added, but it is not required.

See also network, the, network address.