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Fact sheet 2: Whos Who in the Domain Name Industry

Staking your claim on the Web

A business guide to registering a web address

Fact Sheet 2

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) www.icann.org  The international policy authority for domain names. The policy for global top level domains, who is eligible for a name, and what names are allowed is determined by ICANN.
auDA (.au Domain Administration Ltd)

www.auda.org.au

 auDA is the government-endorsed manager of the Australian domain name space. audio is an independent, not-for-profit body. auDA grants licences to Registry operators. It accredits and licenses registrars who can sell domain names in .au to eligible individuals, companies or organisations. auDA sets policies for domain registration in Australia, for example the types of names that can be used as domain names. It also facilitates the .au Dispute Resolution Policy (auDRP).
Registry The domain name registry holds the database of domain names and operates the nameservers that make the domain names visible on the Internet. The registry does not have direct contact with registrants.
  • Registry details for global domains can be found through the ICANN website http://www.icann.org
  • The registry for com.au, net.au, org.au, asn.au, gov.au and id.au is AusRegistry. See http://www.ausregistry.com.au. AusRegistry also operates a free WHOIS online search facility that you can use to find out whether a .au name is available, and if not, details of who registered it.
  • The registry for .edu.au names is AUNIC (Australian Network Information Centre), http://www.aunic.net
Registrar A registrar issues domain name licences to registrants. Registrars decide whether or not your domain name application meets the policy rules. Registrars have direct access to the registry so that they can process new registrations and renewals, and update registrant contact details in the database. Registrars in the .au domain are accredited and licensed by auDA. Service offerings and charges may vary from registrar to registrar. For more information see the list of auDA accredited registrars at http://www.auda.org.au/registrars

All auDA registrars also provide global domain services. Some are ICANN-accredited registrars in their own right, others are resellers of ICANN registrars. Some of them also offer other country code domain services, like .uk or .nz.
Resellers Some registrars use resellers to provide customer sales and support. Resellers do not have direct access to the registry, and must process registrations and renewals through their registrar. Resellers are not accredited or licensed by auDA, they are appointed by a registrar.
Registrant The applicant or registered domain name holder.


  • Document ID: 18462 |
  • Last modified: 6 February 2008, 10:31am