What is a fully-qualified domain name?

A FQDN (fully qualified domain name) is an entire domain name address, it includes your hostname, domain name and top-level domain, like below:

www.mydomain.com.

A relative domain name only contains a subdomain, and refers to a server within the same DNS zone, like below:

www

The two notations are functionally equivalent when referring to a server located within the same domain.

When do I use FQDN domain names?

When you're referring to a server located outside your own DNS zone, it's imperative you use FQDN notation.

For instance, in your DNS zone, by default the DNS servers will be the Kinamo nameservers:

@ NS ns1.kinamo.be.
@ NS ns2.kinamo.be.
@ NS ns3.kinamo.be.

Note that the at-sign above is a shorthand notation for referring to the whole domain, mydomain.com in this instance.

In theory, each FQDN must include a dot after the top level domain (e.g. ns1.kinamo.be. ) but our control panel does not require this, it will check this automatically.