In computer networking, localhost is a hostname that means this computer and may be used to access the computer’s own network services via its loopback network interface. Using the loopback interface bypasses local network interface hardware. The local loopback mechanism may be useful for testing software during development, independently of any networking configurations. For example, if a computer has been configured to provide a website, directing a locally running web browser to http://localhost may display its home page. On most computer systems, “localhost” resolves to the IP address 127.0.0.1, which is the most commonly used IPv4 loopback address, and to the IPv6 loopback address ::1. The “localhost” name is also a reserved top-level domain name (cf. .localhost), set aside to avoid confusion with the narrower definition as a hostname. The IETF standards restrict domain name registrars to assign the name in their normal registration procedures, such as for second-level domains, for example “localhost.com”.