How are domain names hierarchically organized? @internet-class

Uploaded September 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago

Just like IP addresses, domain names are also hierarchically allocated and organized. In a somewhat-confusing twist, unlike an IP address where the prefix is on the left and identifies the organization, for a domain name the part that identifies an organization is on the right—it’s the postfix. Nevertheless, once you learn how to parse domain names they make a lot of sense.

Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo).

Part of the internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.

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$Overview of a single internet search. Let’s review everything that has to happen for you to perform a single internet search. First, all of the billions of web pages have to be found and processed. That processing has to prepare the search engine to reply to any possible search. Second, the relative importance of various pages has to be established. Search engines use many different factors to determine how to rank results, but at the most basic level some pages are better than others—more reputable or more useful. Finally, the search engine has to receive your search, locate all relevant pages, rank them, and return the results. Amazingly, this entire process happens in a fraction of a second. Credits: Talking: Geoffrey Challen (Assistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Producing: Greg Bunyea (Undergraduate, Computer Science and Engineering, University at Buffalo). Part of the https://www.internet-class.org online internet course. A blue Systems Research Group (https://blue.cse.buffalo.edu) production.$