FQDN stands for Fully Qualified Domain Name. Which is great if you know what a Fully Qualified Domain Name is – if not, read on!
A FQDN is a unique and complete address (URL) used to direct traffic on the internet to a specific location or internet IP address. The biggest characteristic is that a FQDN can only be interpreted in one way, meaning that entering a FQDN in a browser URL field for example, will take the user to only one place. This allows website hosting companies and authentication services to pinpoint exactly where they want their content to be located.
The formatting or syntax of a FQDN is very specific – which enables the system to work around the world.
FQDN Formatting
There are 3 elements of FQDN formatting.
- TLD – Top Level Domain
The ending characters that appear in an FQDN – normally 3 or 2 characters (.com, .edu, .net etc.) - Sub Domain – Is the domain that appears under the TLD – DOMAIN.com for example
- Hostname – the hostname is the leading characters of the FQDN (www in the case of www.domain.com) A domain holder can create countless hostnames as they related to a subdomain. For example:
- mail.domain.com
- ftp.domain.com
- www.domain.com
Next time you enter a URL into a browser, take a moment to look at and break down the FQDN into it’s parts.