Network Addresses

Hostname: A unique identification that specifies a particular computer on the Internet
For example
Fong.Sierr.Mora.edu
Ortichirino.develocorp.com


Network software translates a hostname into its corresponding IP address

For example
205.39.145.18



An IP address can be split into:

Network address, which specifies a specific network
host number, which specifies a particular machine in that network

A hostname consists of the computer name followed by the domain name
Fong.Sierr.Mora.edu  is the domain name
-A domain name is separated into two or more sections that specify the organization, and possibly a subset of an organization, of which the computer is a part.
-Two organizations can have a computer named the same thing because the domain name makes it clear which one is being referred to.

The very last section of the domain is called its top-level domain (TLD) name:

Organizations based in countries other than the United States use a top-level domain that corresponds to their two-letter country codes

The domain name system (DNS) is chiefly used to translate hostnames into numeric IP addresses.