API - An application programming interface is a set of routines, data structures, object classes and/or protocols provided by libraries and/or operating system services in order to support the building of applications.
DB – Database. A domain registry is a database of records.
DNS – Domain Name System.
EPP – Extensible Provisioning Protocol, the “gold standard” for registry systems.
FQDN – Fully Qualified Domain Name. A fully qualified domain name consists of a host and domain name, including top-level domain. For example, www.mindsandmachines.com is a fully qualified domain name. www is the host, mindsandmachines is the second-level domain, and .com is the top level domain.
A FQDN always starts with a host name and continues all the way up to the top-level domain name, so www.espresso.mindsandmachines.com is also a FQDN.
GUI – Graphical User Interface, the web portal to the registry software.
Host — a computer connected to the Internet. A network host can host information as well as client and/or server software. Every Internet host has a unique IP address, including a host address part.
ISP – Internet Service Provider
NS – Name Server consists of a program or computer server that implements a name-service protocol. It will normally map (i.e. connect) a human-recognizable identifier to a system-internal, often numeric, identification or addressing component, i.e. ns1.mydomain.com = 64.94.117.193
RFC – Request for Comment, a white paper produced by the IETF outlining suggested protocol.
Registry – The registry stores the domain information in a repository (database).
Registrar – A company authorized to register domain names.
Registrant — The person or organization that registers a domain name and that holds the right to use it for a defined period of time.
TLD – Top Level Domain.
Zone - a portion of the global DNS namespace for which administrative responsibility has been delegated.
