Uniform Resource Locator (URL)

It is the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web. The first part of the
URL is called a protocol identifier and it indicates what protocol to use and the second part is called
a resource name and it specifies the IP address or the domain name where the resource is located. The
resource name contains one or more of the following components:
Host Name: - The name of the machine on which the resource lives.
Filename: - The pathname to the file on the machine.
Port Number: - The port number to which to connect (typically optional).
Reference: - A reference to a named anchor within a resource that usually identifies a specific
location within a file (typically optional).
The protocol identifier and the resource name are separated by a colon and two forward slashes.
For example, the two URLs below point to two different files at the
domainpcwebopedia.com. The first specifies an executable file that should be fetched using
the FTP protocol; the second specifies a Web page that should be fetched using the HTTP
protocol:
ftp://www.pcwebopedia.com/stuff.exe
http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html
A URL goes into much more detail than domain name, providing much more information,
including the specific page address, folder name, machine name, and protocol language.
A URL is one type of Uniform Resource Identifier (URI); the generic term for all types of names
and addresses that refer to objects on the World Wide Web.
Example Uniform Resource Locator pages, with their domain names bolded:
1. http://horses.about.com/od/basiccare/a/healthcheck.htm
2. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html
The term "Web address" is a synonym for a URL that uses the HTTP / HTTPS protocol.
The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) was developed by Tim Berners-Lee in 1994.
a) Dynamic URL:-
A URL that results from the search of a database-driven Web site or the URL of a Web site that
runs a script. In contrast to static URLs, in which the contents of the Web page do not change
unless the changes are coded into the HTML, dynamic URLs are generated from
specific queries to a site's database. The page is merely a template to display the results of the
query. Most of the content comes from the database that is associated with the site. Instead of
changing information in the HTML code, the data is changed in the database.
Dynamic URLs often contain the following characters:?, &, %, +, =, $, cgi-bin, .cgi.
A dynamic URL is the address of a dynamic Web page.
b) Obfuscated URL:-
Also called a hyperlink trick, an obfuscated URL is a type of attack where the real URL that a
user is directed to is obfuscated - or concealed - to encourage the user to click-through to the
spoof Web site. For example, the attacker may use a cleverly misspelled domain name
(e.g. PayPals.com instead ofPayPal.com), or hide the actual URL in friendly text, such as "click
here to verify your account now". Obfuscated URLs are commonly used in phishingattacks and
other spam e-mails.
c) Open URL:-
The Open URL standard is syntax to create Web-transportable packages of metadata and/or
identifiers about an information object. Open URL provides a mechanism for encoding a citation
for an information resource, typically a bibliographic resource, as a URL. * The Open URL is, in
effect, an actionable URL that transports metadata, or keys to access metadata, for the object for
which the Open URL is provided. The target of the Open URL is an Open URL resolver that
offers context sensitive services based on that metadata. The Open URL resolver is sometimes
referred to as the user's Institutional Service Component (ISC).

Domain name
Domain names are used to identify one or more IP addresses. For example, the domain
name microsoft.com represents about a dozen IP addresses. Domain names are used in URLs to
identify particular Web pages. For example, in the
URL http://www.pcwebopedia.com/index.html, the domain name is pcwebopedia.com.
Every domain name has a suffix that indicates which top level domain (TLD) it belongs to.
There are only a limited number of such domains.
For example:
1. gov - Government agencies
2. edu - Educational institutions
3. org - Organizations (nonprofit)
 4. mil – Military
5. com - commercial business
6. net - Network organizations
7. ca – Canada
8. th – Thailand
9. about.com
10. japantimes.co.jp
Because the Internet is based on IP addresses, not domain names, every Web server requires
a Domain Name System (DNS) server to translate domain names into IP addresses.

Domain Name System, or DNS, is the most recognized system for assigning addresses to
Internet web servers. Somewhat like international phone numbers, the domain name system
helps to give every Internet server a memorable (unforgettable) and easy-to-spell address.
Simultaneously, the domain names keep the really technical IP address invisible for most
viewers.
Domain Name System (DNS) is a distributed database system for managing host names and their
associated Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. Using DNS means that people can use simple names,
such as "www.jkltoys.com" to locate a host, rather than using the IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx).
A single server may only be responsible for knowing the host names and IP addresses for a small
subset of a zone, but DNS servers can work together to map all domain names to their IP
addresses. DNS servers working together are what allow computers to communicate across the
Internet.
How Domain Names are spell
1. Domain names are organized right to left, with general descriptors to the right, and specific
descriptors to the left. It is like family surnames to the right, specific person names to the left.
These descriptors are called "domains".
2. The "top level domains" (TLD, or parent domain) is to the far right of a domain name. Mid
level domains (children and grandchildren) are in the middle. The machine name, often "www",
is to the far left.
3. Levels of domains are separated by periods ("dots").
 Example 9 above)
 about is the mid-level domain, .com is the top level domain.
 Example 10 above)
japan times is the smaller mid-level domain. .co is the larger mid-level
domain. .jp is the top level domain.
Tech Trivia Note: Most American servers use three-letter top level domains (e.g. ".com",
".edu"). Countries other than the USA commonly use two letters, or combinations of two letters
(e.g. ".au", ".ca", ".co.jp").