> Not necessarily. `.internal` exists for that purpose … .internal is being considered for that purpose: > IANA has performed an evaluation to determine a sui

> Not necessarily. `.internal` exists for that purpose … .internal is being considered for that purpose: > IANA has performed an evaluation to determine a suitable string to be reserved for the purpose of a top-level domain that may be used for internal or private use applications. The string “INTERNAL” has been identified as appropriate for this purpose. > In accordance with the process described by ICANN, this assessment will be put for a public comment proceeding, followed by review and potential adoption by ICANN. * https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/root-system/identification-tld-private-use-24-01-2024-en.pdf https://itp.cdn.icann.org/en/files/root-system/identificatio... * https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/29/icann_internal_tld/ https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/29/icann_internal_tld/ There is now not (yet?), nor has there ever been, any label officially set aside for that purpose. > … and people have historically used `.lan` for similar purposes. People have also used .dev for their development environment, and we all saw how well that worked out: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.dev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.dev > There's no particular reason internal names need to have resolvable DNS names of any kind […] Sure there are: for putting into a certificate which can be linked to a public certificate authority (CA) so that users don't have to install a custom/private CA just to use internal services. I'm at a place where the dumbass team before me used an internal-only TLD (lan/local/internal), and now we (the new team) can't issue certs for things internally.