At Telkom Business Integration Services (TBIS) we offer domain services as well as advice on name availability and registration of local and international domains. Once you've registered your name no one else can use it and we recommend that you try and register as many domains as possible linked to your business, as this will optimise customer contact.

• Registering a domain name provides shorter, more user-friendly Web URLs and e-mail addresses. Examples are yourname@mycompany.co.za or www.aardvark.co.za;
• A domain name is an ideal way to market your business on-line, as well as retaining your brand identity;
• It is advisable to register as many domain options as possible that are, or could be, linked to your site and business;
• You benefit by marketing your URL on all company stationery and materials;
• More flexible site management and the ability to retain corporate identity;
• TBIS offers registration of all domain services including advice on availability and registration of .co.za, .com, .org.za and other domains.

Suitable For:

• .co.za - South African Web sites/ Commercial sites;
• .com .net - Commercial sites;
• .org - Web sites of non-profit organisations.

A records
This record within the zone file indicates where the customer's website resides. If a customer hosts their site on a web server other than Telkom's, we point the A records of their domain to that server. These records are purely responsible for directing the domains web traffic to the correct server.

DNS Server
This is the acronym for Domain Name Server, and refers to both primary and secondary name servers.

Hostmaster
This is the person who is responsible for the registration of domains, updates & deletion of domains.

Hosting
This is when a customer's zone file resides on Telkom's DNS. TBIS hosts their Zone file and is responsible for the upkeep of that file on our Domain Name Servers.

MX records
This is an acronym for Mail Exchange records. These records are responsible for sending e-mail to the correct servers.

Pointing
A Domain has several levels within the Zone file. For example: it has MX & A records. Each of these records can be pointed separately.

Primary
This is the authoritive DNS server. Should a server request a domain name, this server will be queried first and if not found it will, by default, search the secondary DNS.

Secondary
This is a backup of the primary server. A domain needs a primary server as well as a secondary server to be registered and therefore a record of the zone file is on both servers. The Secondary DNS updates itself on changes made to zone files on the primary DNS.

Sub domain
A sub domain is a domain within a domain, i.e. staff.telkom.co.za is a sub domain of telkom.co.za. To create a sub domain for a customer, the customer will have to be the owner of the domain. The sub domain shares the same zone file as the original domain.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)
The standard address format of any resource on the Internet that is part of the World Wide Web, e.g. www.telkom.co.za.

Whois
This refers to an option on the registrar's web page, where you can verify if the domain is taken or not. You can also search for administrative, technical and billing contact details.

Zone files
This is a file that Telkom creates on the primary & secondary DNS servers. It defines exactly where the different records of the domain should point.