HOST NAMES, ZONES, AND E-MAIL PROGRAMMES

HOST NAMES, ZONES, AND E-MAIL PROGRAMMES

Host Names: In e-mail, a host is a computer that is directly linked to the Internet. A host name is therefore, the name of the computer directly attached to the Internet. Host names usually have several parts. 

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These parts are linked together by dots. For example, Amex.westafrica.com and Edd.tolad.net are names of computers in Nigeria directly attached to the Internet. Similarly, mrs.com.gh is a host name in Ghana, while snrc.gn.ap.org is a host name in Guinea. All these names are written in the form of codes. To decode the names, specific steps have to be followed. 

To decode host names, start from the most extreme right and then work towards the most extreme left. 

In the above examples:

·         .com in Amex.westafrica.com

.net    in Edd.tolad.net

.gh     in mrs.com.gh

.org    in snrc.gn.ap.org

Are the most extreme right parts of the respective host names, Amex.westafrica.com, Edd.tolad.net, mrs.com.gh, and snrc.gn.ap.org. Each of these extreme right parts is called zone.

To the immediate left of each of the zones, we have respectively:

·         .westafrica   in Amex.westafrica.com

.tolad           in Edd.tolad.net

.com            in  mrs.com.gh

.ap               in snrc.gn.ap.org

Each of the above elements represents the name of the company or organization. To the left of each of the organization’s name, we have respectively:

·        Amex           in Amex.westafrica.com

Edd              in Edd.tolad.net

mrs              in  mrs.com.gh

snrc.gn        in snrc.gn.ap.org

Each of the elements in above identifies the particular computer in the organization.

Where an organization is a large one, the host name may be further sub-divided by site or department. Such sub division is called domain. Thus, snrc. Gn is a domain name in the host name snrc.gn.ap.org in Guinea.

Read more about World Wide Web (WWW)

E-mail Zones

Zones names, in general, are either organizational or geographical.

    a.   Organizational Zone Names

Organizational Zone names are identified by three-letter codes. In other words, if the last part of the zone name is three letters long, the zone is an organization. The part immediately to the left of the zone indicates the specific organization in the zone. For example habibatu@amazon.com is the host name in Amazon, a commercial organization (.com).

The following tables shows some organizational zones names and types of organization in current use for e-mail.

Type of Organization Running Host Computer	Zone Name for E-mail
Educational organization	.edu
Commercial organization	.com
Government department	.gov
Network organization	.net
International organization	.int
Others	.org

         b.   Geographical Zone Names

If a zone name has only two letters, it is a geographical zone name, usually a country, Examples are Nigeria (.ng), United Kingdom (.uk), The Netherlands (.nl), Ghana (.gh). The name before the geographical zone name will specify the type of organization: (.edu) or (.ac) for educational and academic institutions respectively.

E-mail Programmes

These are stored in the memory of the computer that is linked to the Internet, either directly or through a server. The programmes enable you to:

               a.    Read incoming mail

               b.    Send outgoing mail.

               c.    Reply to  messages you received.

               d.    Forward messages received to other people by e-mail, if necessary.

               e.    Save messages received for future reference, if necessary.

               f.     Read saved messages.

               g.    Delete those messages you do  not want to save.

               h.   Print messages, if you so desire, for permanent records.