| Introduced | 1999 |
|---|---|
| TLD type | Reserved top-level domain |
| Status | Reserved to prevent conflict and confusion |
| Registry | IANA |
| Sponsor | None |
| Intended use | identifies the local computer |
| Actual use | hostname of loopback interface |
| Registration restrictions | No registrations are possible |
| Structure | used as a hostname |
| Documents | RFC 2606 |
| Dispute policies | n/a |
| Website | None |
localhost is a name reserved by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in RFC 2606 (June 1999) that is not intended to be installed as a top-level domain in the global Domain Name System (DNS) of the Internet.[1]
Other reserved names are test, invalid, and example.
The reasons for reservation of these top-level domain names is to reduce the likelihood of conflict and confusion.[1] This allows the use of these names for either documentation purposes or in local testing scenarios.
The primary source of confusion in use of this name as a top-level domain is its common definition as a hostname, localhost, which is the name of the loopback interface in most TCP/IP systems. The localhost TLD has traditionally been statically defined in host DNS implementations with address records (A and AAAA) pointing to the loopback IP addresses 127.0.0.1 (IPv4) and ::1 (IPv6). It is therefore reserved for such use. Any other use would conflict with widely deployed algorithms relying on this convention.
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