Domain name registration is the process whereby a unique domain name is selected and registered by a user, giving the user the right to use that domain name for their Web site. Most Web hosts allow you to register a domain when you sign up for Web hosting.

In the domain name system on the Internet there is a need for databases to be kept of which domain name maps to which IP address. A registry has two main tasks:

1. giving out domain names under their top level domain to those who ask for them; and

2. making the database of domain name registrations available to the world at large.