The domain names example.com, example.net, example.org, and example.edu are
second-level domain names in the
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned t ...
of the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
. They are reserved by the
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Inte ...
(IANA) at the direction of the
Internet Engineering Task Force
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements an ...
(IETF) as
special-use domain names for documentation purposes. The domain names are used widely in books, tutorials, sample network configurations, and generally as examples for the use of domain names. The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) operates web sites for these domains with content that reflects their purpose.
Purpose
The domains ''example.com'', ''example.net'', ''example.org'', and ''example.edu'' are intended for general use in any kind of documentation, such as
technical
Technical may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle
* Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data
* Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...
and
software documentation
Software documentation is written text or illustration that accompanies computer software or is embedded in the source code. The documentation either explains how the software operates or how to use it, and may mean different things to people in ...
, manuals, and sample software configurations. Thus,
documentation writers can be sure to select a domain name without creating naming conflicts if end-users try to use the sample configurations or examples verbatim. The domains may be used in documentation without prior consultation with IANA or ICANN.
In practice, these domain names are also installed in the Domain Name System with the
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
...
(IP) addresses for
Internet Protocol version 4
Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth version of the Internet Protocol (IP). It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. IPv4 was the first version de ...
(IPv4) and
IPv6
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. I ...
of a
web server
A web server is computer software and underlying hardware that accepts requests via HTTP (the network protocol created to distribute web content) or its secure variant HTTPS. A user agent, commonly a web browser or web crawler, initia ...
managed by
ICANN
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN ) is an American multistakeholder group and nonprofit organization responsible for coordinating the maintenance and procedures of several databases related to the namespaces ...
. The domains are digitally signed using
Domain Name System Security Extensions
The Domain Name System Security Extensions (DNSSEC) are a suite of extension specifications by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for securing data exchanged in the Domain Name System (DNS) in Internet Protocol (IP) networks. The protocol ...
(DNSSEC).
The zone files of each domain also define one subdomain name. The
third-level domain
In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is a part of another (main) domain. For example, if a domain offered an online store as part of their website example.com, it might use the subdomain shop.example.com .
...
name ''www'' resolves to the IP addresses of the parent domains.
History
The second-level domain label ''example'' for the
top-level domain
A top-level domain (TLD) is one of the domains at the highest level in the hierarchical Domain Name System of the Internet after the root domain. The top-level domain names are installed in the root zone of the name space. For all domains in ...
s
com
Com or COM may refer to:
Computing
* COM (hardware interface), a serial port interface on IBM PC-compatible computers
* COM file, or .com file, short for "command", a file extension for an executable file in MS-DOS
* .com, an Internet top-level d ...
,
net, and
org have been reserved and registered since at least 1992.
The IETF established the authority of this use in publication RFC 2606 in 1999. The reservation for the educational domain
edu was sponsored by the
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 2000.
In 2013, the status and purpose of the domains was restated as belonging to a group of ''special-use domain names'' in
RFC 6761.
[, S. Cheshire, M. Krochmal, ''Special-Use Domain Names'', ]IETF
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements an ...
(February 2013)
See also
*
.example
The name example is reserved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a domain name that may not be installed as a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.
Reserved DNS names
By publication of RFC 2606 in 1999, t ...
– Top-level domain name reserved for documentation purposes
*
.local
The domain name .local is a special-use domain name reserved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) so that it may not be installed as a top-level domain in the Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet. As such it is similar to the other ...
–
Pseudo-TLD with
no meaning in the DNS for use with local
zeroconf networking only
*
Fictitious domain name
*
IPv4 § Special-use addresses – some special-use IPv4 address ranges are reserved for documentation and examples
*
Reserved top-level domains
References
{{reflist
External links
example.comexample.netexample.orgexample.edu
Domain Name System
Placeholder names
Internet properties established in 1999