How To Register Your Domain At Icann

The diagram beneath illustrates the main functions of the parties that are usually involved in the process.

A domain name registrant is the person or system who has registered the domain name. In society to do so, the domain proper name registrant will unremarkably apply online to a domain registrar or one of their resellers. The domain proper noun registrant is bound by the terms and atmospheric condition of the registrar with which it registers its domain name, for example adhering to a certain code of conduct or indemnifying the registrar and registry against any legal or civil action taken as a result of employ of the domain name. Domain name registrants have certain responsibilities that are incorporated into these terms and conditions similar payment of registration fees and submission and timely update of accurate information.

In add-on to registering the domain proper name, domain proper noun registrants too demand to have their domain names listed on name servers in order for that domain name to be reachable on the Net. A domain proper name registrant is responsible for procuring or hosting his or her own name server if the registrar does non offer this service or he or she has opted out of the registrar's service.

In some cases, a person or organization who does not wish to take their information listed in WHOIS may contract with a proxy service provider to register domain names on their behalf. In this example, the service provider is the domain name registrant, not the finish customer.

Registrars are organizations accredited past ICANN and certified past the registries to sell domain names. They are leap by the Registrar Accreditation Agreement (RAA) with ICANN, and by their agreements with the registries. The RAA sets out responsibilities for the registrar including maintenance of WHOIS data, submission of data to registries, facilitating public WHOIS queries, ensuring domain name registrants details are escrowed, and complying with RAA conditions relating to the determination of the domain proper name registration period.

Some domain name registrants may opt to register through a reseller. These organizations are affiliated or under contract with registrars, and normally offer other services such as web hosting, email mailboxes etc. Resellers are bound by their agreements with the registrar(s) whose services they sell; they are not accredited by ICANN. Notwithstanding, the registrar for whom they are re-selling will still be the sponsor for the domain name registration and accountable for the domain names sold past the reseller.

While registrars are contracted to conduct the twenty-four hour period-to-day business of selling domain name registrations, registries are responsible for maintaining the registry for each TLD. The responsibilities of the registries include accepting registration requests (whether from registrars or directly from domain proper noun registrants), maintaining a database of the necessary domain name registration data and providing proper noun servers to publish the zone file data (i.e. information about the location of a domain name) throughout the Cyberspace.

The Cyberspace Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the not-profit arrangement that oversees the assignment of both IP addresses and domain names. It has responsibleness for managing root server and TLD proper noun system direction and has contractual agreements with both registries and registrars that provide the foundation for the WHOIS system.

Last Updated: July 2017