Its been two years since John started his online business. He is very much satisfied with his current web host whose services he took in one year ago. Today John is relaxing in his chair and thinking about the initial days when he spent many hours on the Internet collecting knowledge related to web hosting. Like him there are many Johns out there who are in search of data everyday, visiting this and that web site hoping to find the most illuminating advice. The problem is that common topics of interest may be found on most of the web sites whereas other relevant issues are not dealt with everywhere. This article is going to touch on one of those areas: various concerns related with domain names.

What is multiple domain hosting?
Many times you will see that a web host offers multiple domain hosting. In simpler words it means that on buying an account you will have the ability to get multiple websites. For instance, if the plan provides you with five domain names, you may make use of one domain for your website and you will still have four domain names leftover to use. The advantage of this scenario is that you can resell these four domain names to your clients.

What is Domain Parking?
If you are planning to build up a web page and have decided on a name for it you then must purchase that domain name from a domain registrar: i.e. your domain title gets placed on a name server so that you might make use of it later on. This is known as domain parking. Even if your site content is not ready, its better to park your desired domain name. Otherwise, it might be possible that in future somebody else acquires that particular domain name.

What are sub domains?
Sub domains are third level domains in the sense that they are used solely to organize your website content. They are simply folders under your root directory, but to access them a special URL is used.
For instance, http://www.m6.net is a regular URL without a sub domain.
http://features.m6.net is an URL with the sub domain name: "features".
Here the:
.net: is the first level domain,
m6: is the second level domain,
features: is the third level domain

For how long does a domain title belong to you?
Generally when you register a domain name it is registered for a minimum of one year. However, you may register it for more years, as there is no hard and fast rule as such.

What is Domain Renewal?
After one year you positive need to renew your domain name so that your website doesnt get lost. Generally when your domain is about to expire your domain registrar will send you a reminder mail regarding the domain renewal.

What happens when your domain title expires?
When your domain name expires you may renew it within one month. If you do not renew it in this period it goes into a redemption phase. It stays in this redemption phase for 15 to 30 days before it is then available for purchase again at a normal price. Getting a domain name out of redemption phase is like buying fifty domains as it might cost around $200!

How to find out the owner of a domain title ?
To find out the owner of a domain title , make use of the WhoIs search tool on the Internet .For E.g. Go to http://centralops.net/co/ and type the domain name under Domain Dossier. It will show you the title of the registrant/domains owner/web host.

What is WhoIs record?
WhoIS record is a domain title search engine/Internet program where users can enter an Internet entity (e.g. a domain, a network, some hosts) and it will give detailed understanding on the domain registrar, the owner of the domain, and respective DNS records.