Introduced | December 19, 1997 |
---|---|
TLD type | Country code top-level domain |
Status | Active |
Registry | Ascension Island Network Information Centre (run by Internet Computer Bureau) |
Sponsor | Sure |
Intended use | Entities connected with Ascension Island |
Actual use | Various uses, sometimes connected to education and academia; a few sites actually on Ascension Island |
Registration restrictions | 3rd level registrant must be resident on Ascension Island |
Structure | Registrations are taken directly at the second level or at third level beneath various 2nd-level labels |
Documents | Terms & Conditions; Rules |
Dispute policies | Dispute Resolution Policy |
DNSSEC | Yes |
Registry website | NIC.AC |
The .ac top-level domain is the Internet country code (ccTLD) for Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, used primarily for Ascension Island (Saint Helena has its own ccTLD, .sh). It is administered by NIC.AC, a subsidiary of the Internet Computer Bureau based in the United Kingdom.
Registration for the domain is open to anyone. The registry accepts registrations of internationalized domain names. [1]
The domain is marketed by some domain-brokers as a domain for the city of Aachen, Germany, after the automotive license plate designation ("AC") for the city.
Due to its similarity to the .ac ("academic") second-level domain that exists under some country code top-level domains, some educational institutions also register under the .ac 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 lower levels, it is the last part of the domain name, that is, the last non-empty label of a fully qualified domain name. For example, in the domain name www.example.com, the top-level domain is .com. Responsibility for management of most top-level domains is delegated to specific organizations by the ICANN, an Internet multi-stakeholder community, which operates the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA), and is in charge of maintaining the DNS root zone.
.uk is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom. It was first registered in July 1985, seven months after the original generic top-level domains such as .com and the first country code after .us.
.cn is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the People's Republic of China. Introduced on 28 November 1990, the domain is administered by China Internet Network Information Center, a public institution affiliated with the Ministry of Industry and Information. The domain is the largest ccTLD in the world.
A country code top-level domain (ccTLD) is an Internet top-level domain generally used or reserved for a country, sovereign state, or dependent territory identified with a country code. All ASCII ccTLD identifiers are two letters long, and all two-letter top-level domains are ccTLDs.
.su is an Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that was designated for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on 19 September 1990. Even though the Soviet Union itself was dissolved 15 months later, the .su top-level domain remains in use to the present day. It is administered by the Russian Institute for Public Networks.
The JANET NRS was a pseudo-hierarchical naming scheme used on British academic and research networks in the 1980s. Its purpose was to organise and manage domain names within the JANET network, contributing to the establishment of computer networking familiarities at universities in the United Kingdom and other academic and research institutions. It used a reverse domain name notation.
.yu was the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) that was assigned to SFR Yugoslavia in 1989 and was mainly used by Serbia and Montenegro and its two successor states. After Montenegro and Serbia acquired separate .me and .rs domains in 2007, a transition period started, and the .yu domain finally expired in 2010.
.va is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the Vatican City State. It is administered by the Vatican Internet Service.
.cr is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) of Costa Rica.
.cl is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Chile. It was created in 1987 and is administered by the University of Chile. Registration of second-level domains under this TLD is open to anyone, as established by the current regulation for the operation of the Domain Name Registration .CL since December 2013, which eliminated the requirement for foreign registrants to have a local contact with a RUN, the Chilean national identification number.
.id is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Indonesia. Since 2007, it is managed by the Indonesian Internet Domain Name Administrator, based on regulation set by Decree of Minister of Communication and Information Technology.
A sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) is one of the categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet, alongside country-code top-level domains (ccTLD) and generic top-level domains (gTLD).
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .io is nominally assigned to the British Indian Ocean Territory. The domain is managed by Internet Computer Bureau Ltd, a domain name registry, with registrar services provided by Name.com.
.la is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Laos.
.ma is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Morocco. A local registrar with a local Moroccan company as administrative contact is needed to register a .ma or .co.ma domain name. Further restrictions are imposed on the registering of other second-level domains.
.ml is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Mali.
.sh is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the British Overseas Territory of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, although it is primarily used in Saint Helena. Registrations of internationalized domain names are also accepted.
.lat is an Internet generic top-level domain (gTLD) for Latin American communities and users wherever they may reside.
.music is a community-based top-level domain name (TLD) operated for the benefit of the global music community. It was one of the most highly contested new gTLDs, with eight applicants in contention.
Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses are Internet country code top-level domain that have adopted a policy for worldwide commercial use.