OpenSRS Reseller s Guide to Domain Name Registration and Management. Version 2.10 August 25, 2007

Transcription

1 OpenSRS Reseller s Guide to Domain Name Registration and Management Version 2.10 August 25, 2007

2 Last modified August 20, 2007 COPYRIGHT Copyright Tucows Inc. All rights reserved.

3 Table of Contents The OpenSRS Platform...1 Tucows Products Available for Resale...1 Accessing the OpenSRS System...2 Definition of Terms...3 Reseller Requirements...5 Reseller Entrance and Qualification...6 The Administrative Component...6 The Technical Component...6 Quick Start vs. Full Access...7 Quick Start Implementation...8 PERL Client-Based Full Access Implementation...9 Other Language Implementation...10 Our Two Environments: Live and Test...10 Using Non-ASCII Characters for Messaging...11 Domain Registration and Management...12 The Reseller Web Interface (RWI)...12 The RWI Login Journal...12 Data Archiving...12 RWI Options...13 Domain Registration Administration...14 Domain Name Lookup...16 View Orders...23 Transfer Views...24 Cancel Orders...25 Requests Queuing...25 Refunds...26 Messaging...26 Domain Management...27 View Domain...27 Search Domains Page...30 i

4 Table of Contents Domain Name...30 Search Criteria...31 Registration Statistics...32 Profile Management...33 Reseller Password Recovery Options...36 The Manage Web Interface (MWI)...36 The Domain Year...39 Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Registries...39 Common Domain-Oriented Issues...40 Reseller Contact Information for End Users...43 Registration Service Provider Information in WHOIS...44 Custom Message for Registrants Contacting OpenSRS Support...46 Reseller Affiliates...47 Payments...48 Pricing...48 Wire Transfers...48 Checks and International Money Orders...49 Online Credit Card Payments...49 Automated Check Handling (direct withdrawal)...52 Signing up for ACH...52 Specifying ACH Payment Options...53 Making a Manual ACH Payment...54 Conditions for Automatic Top-Up and Manual Deposit...54 Payment Information...55 Financial Statements...57 Financial Statement HTML Results...58 Refunds...59 Checking your Balance...59 General TLD (gtld) Registrations...60 DNS Requirements...61 gtld Qualification...61 Quickstart Considerations...61 ii

5 Table of Contents gtld Renewals...61 gtld Renewal Flow...61 gtld Renewals Features Overview...62 The Reseller Web Interface and gtld Renewals...63 Renewal Functionality from 90, 60, 30, 0 days and Passed Due Views..65 Individual gtld Renewals...65 Bulk gtld Renewals...66 Setting gtlds to Auto-Renew...66 Auto-Renew all New/Transferred Domains...67 Setting gtlds for Non-Renewal...67 gtld Renewals without Sufficient Funds...68 gtld Script/Client Considerations for Renewals...69 gtld Renewal Messaging...69 Reseller Renewal Reminders...69 Configuring Registrant Renewal Reminders...72 Manually Sending a Renewal Notice to End-Users...73 Reseller Renewal Confirmation...73 Registrant Renewal Confirmation...75 Bounced Renewal Messages...75 The Manage Domain Interface and gtld Renewals...75 DNS for Expired Domains...76 Archived s from OpenSRS...76 Pricing...77 auth_code for.info,.org,.biz,.name,.net,.com and.mobi Domains...77 Managing gtlds...78 WHOIS Info...78 Deletion of New Registrations...80 Domain Locking...80 Locking all New/Transferred Domains...81 WDRP - Whois Data Reminder Policy...81 Customizing the WDRP Message Sent to your Customers...83 iii

6 Table of Contents Viewing your Customers WDRP Message Status...84 Changing the WDRP Message Contact Type...84.NAME gtld...85.name Reseller Qualification...85.NAME Domain Formats and Availability...85 Reserved and Restricted Names...86.NAME Registration Eligibility Forwarding...88 Registering Second- and Third-Level.NAME Domains without Forwarding...88 Registering a Third-Level.NAME Domain with Forwarding...89.NAME Renewals...90.NAME Transfers and Out-of-Zone Hosts...90.NAME Manage Considerations...90.MOBI...91 Nameserver Requirements...91.MOBI Compliance...91 Viewing Pending Orders...92 Viewing Submitted Orders...92 Country Code TLDs...93.AT...94.AT Reseller Qualification...94.AT Residency Requirements...94.AT DNS Requirements...94.AT Renewals...95.AT Transfers...95.BE...96.BE Contact Information...96.BE Reseller Qualification...96.BE Residency Requirements...96.BE DNS Requirements...96.BE Renewals and Registration Term...97 iv

7 Table of Contents.BE Transfers and Changes of Ownership...97.CA...99.CA Reseller Qualifications...99.CA Registration Considerations The CIRA Username/Password CA Registration Flow Resending the CIRA Username and Password to the Registrant CA Registrar Transfers (RWI) CA Registrar Transfers through the Reseller Client Code CA Registrar Transfer Process Registrar Transfer Status Codes Forcing the Completion of Registrar Transfers CA Transfers Messaging CA Transfers away from your Reseller Profile CA Reseller to Reseller Transfers CA Reseller Transfer Status Codes CA Reseller Transfers Messaging CA Registrant Transfers Managing.CA Registrations Renewals Ability to Set.CA Names for Non-Renewal Allow.CA Domain Changes without Registrant Approval Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants Which Registrant Name Rules Apply to the Various Legal Types? Descriptions of Registrant Types CC CC Reseller Qualification CC Residency Requirements CC DNS Requirements CC Transfers CH CH Reseller Qualification v

8 Table of Contents.CH Residency Requirements CH DNS Requirements CH Renewals CH Transfers CN CN Reseller Qualification CN Residency Requirements CN Registration Process CN DNS Requirements CN Deletions CN Renewals CN Transfers CN Manage Considerations DE DE Reseller Qualification DE Residency Requirements DE Registration Process DE DNS Requirements Registering IDN.DE Domains DE Expiries/Deletions DE Renewals DE Transfers DE Transfers to Tucows DE Transfers away from Tucows DE Reseller to Reseller Transfers DE Manage Considerations DK DK Reseller Qualification DK Residency Requirements DK DNS Requirements DK Renewals DK Transfers vi

9 Table of Contents.ES ES Reseller Qualification ES Residency Requirements ES DNS Requirements ES Renewals ES Transfers EU EU Contact Information EU Reseller Qualification EU Residency Requirements EU DNS Requirements EU Renewals and Registration Term EU Transfers and Changes of Ownership FR FR Reseller Qualification FR Residency Requirements FR DNS Requirements FR Renewals FR Transfers IT IT Reseller Qualification IT Residency Requirements IT DNS Requirements IT Renewals IT Transfers MX MX Reseller Qualification MX Residency Requirements MX DNS Requirements MX Renewals MX Transfers NL vii

10 Table of Contents.NL Reseller Qualification NL Residency Requirements NL DNS Requirements NL Renewals NL Transfers TV TV Reseller Qualification TV Residency Requirements TV DNS Requirements TV Transfers UK UK Top-Level Registration Restrictions About Nominet Reseller.UK Qualification UK DNS Requirements Quick Start Considerations Pricing *.UK Registration Considerations Asynchronous Processing Managing.*.UK Registrations *.UK Renewals *.UK Domain Expiration and Grace Period *.UK Transfers Changing Retry and Failure Reporting Settings *.UK Deletion Requests WHOIS Info Modification of Contact Info - WHOIS Considerations WHOIS Opt-Out US US Reseller Qualification US Registration Considerations US DNS Requirements viii

11 Table of Contents Modifications to the Reseller Web Interface for.us The.US Auth_code US Registration Flow US Registrant/Registrar/Reseller Transfers US Deletion Requests Reseller Pricing for.us US Manage Considerations IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations IDN Registration Agreement Reseller Web Interface for IDN Registrations IDN Renewals and Registration Periods IDN Transfers IDN WHOIS Info Viewing IDN Orders using the RWI Converting to Punycode and Verifying Punycode Compliance Changing your Browser Settings to View IDNs IDN Bulk Registrations Process Overview Entering data in Punycode for Bulk Registrations Creating an IDN Flat File Creating a Flat File Useful Steps for Resellers not Running Office Submitting Bulk IDN Registrations IDN UDRP Considerations IDN Pricing IDN Supported TLDs and Languages COM,.NET,.CC,.TV ORG INFO BIZ and.de Bulk Changes Restrictions by TLD for Type of Bulk Change The Bulk Domain Change Management Page ix

12 Table of Contents Identifying the Domains to which to Apply a Bulk Change Making Bulk DNS Changes Making Bulk Contact Changes Locking and Unlocking Multiple Domains Assigning Parked Pages to Multiple Domains Renewing Multiple Domains Viewing Queued Bulk Change Requests Suspending or Resuming a Bulk Change Request Canceling a Bulk Change Request Terminating a Bulk Change Request WHOIS Privacy Reseller Qualification Product Overview Enabling WHOIS Privacy for a New Domain Enabling WHOIS Privacy for an Existing Domain Enabling WHOIS Privacy for Multiple Domains Enabling WHOIS Privacy when Transferring a Domain Validating WHOIS Privacy Requests Contact Privacy Registrant Verification Page WHOIS Privacy Request Not Confirmed Canceling a Pending WHOIS Privacy Request Disabling WHOIS Privacy Viewing Domains with WHOIS Privacy Searching for Domains with WHOIS Privacy Changes to the Manage Web Interface WHOIS Rate Limiting Access Limits for Port 43 WHOIS WHOIS Rate Limit Error Messages Order Queuing Viewing Queued Requests Parked Pages Setting up your Business with Parked Pages x

13 Table of Contents Extending your Branding to Parked Pages Checking your Parked Pages Revenue Report Searching for Parked Pages within Domains you Manage Adding Parked Page Service to an Existing, Non-Expired Domain Adding Parked Page Service when Registering a New Domain Adding Parked Page Service when Transferring a Domain Adding Parked Page Service when Renewing a Domain Adding Parked Page Service to Multiple Existing Domains Tucows Insight Technical Support Peer Based Support Other Documentation Communication Methods The OpenSRS Web Site Data Constraints Registry Errors xi

14 The OpenSRS Platform With the OpenSRS platform, Tucows has introduced an open source, wholesale product-provisioning model aimed at Resellers in the Internet industry. Tucows provides Resellers with the software and support required to incorporate domain name registration and additional Internet services into their business model. This document addresses the provisioning and management of domain names, by Resellers, through the OpenSRS platform. Please send any comments on this document to Throughout this document you ll see reference to Resellers; Resellers are the people and companies who provision products and services through Tucows. The OpenSRS system is the platform through which Tucows provides services to our Resellers. Tucows Products Available for Resale Tucows currently offers the following products with their associated administrative and management services.! Domain Name Registration! Digital Certificates! Service! Defense ( spam and virus protection)! Managed DNS! Website Builder! Blogware For more information on each of these services, and to add them to your Reseller profile, please visit Tucows' Reseller website at This document discusses the provisioning and management of domain names through the OpenSRS system. For documentation on the provisioning of Tucows' other services (Blogware, Digital Certificates, , Defense, Managed DNS, and Website Builder) please consult the User Guides available from the Documentation page in Reseller Resource Center. You will need your Reseller username and password in order to access this page. 1

15 Introduction Accessing the OpenSRS System There are two ways that you can access to the OpenSRS System: Quick Start and Full Access. While both methods fully utilize the OpenSRS system, they access it through different means. The best access option for your firm depends on a number of factors, including registration volumes, approach to customer support and your desired level of process automation. Quick Start Quick Start Access is a web-based solution hosted by Tucows for Resellers. Quick Start Access allows you to quickly and easily enter orders manually through the Reseller Web Interface or RWI. Because this is a manual process, you are wholly responsible for both collecting and distributing order information to your customers, a function that is fully automated with a Full Access implementation. With Quick Start implementations, however, there is no need for code development. Full Access Using Scripts Full Access is a customizable solution for Resellers who are willing to host their own provisioning solution connected to Tucows OpenSRS. Full Access allows you to automate order processing and incorporate it directly into your own web site through an Application Programming Interface or API. Using PERL or XML Scripts Tucows provides a complete library of PERL and XML scripts that can be customized and integrated into Reseller websites to allow access to Tucows OpenSRS through the API. Using Custom Scripts Tucows also provides complete protocol descriptions for the API so that you can create custom interfaces in a language of your choice. Many Resellers have already created and shared scripts in many common languages. All options provide you with access to the products and services that Tucows offers, as long as you have signed the contract for that particular product or service, (see specific TLDs and services for instructions on contract locations). Public Manage Function OpenSRS also provides a public interface that Registrants can use to manage their domain names, allowing them to make changes to domain ownership, contact details and nameserver information. Full Access Resellers can either refer clients to our public Manage Domain interface, or build a custom Manage interface that matches the look and feel of their website. 2

16 Introduction Note: The public management interface does not provide some features, such as renewals. These are functions that are accessible and modifiable only through the client code, as oftentimes Resellers must tie specific functions to other functions in their Full Access implementations. For example, renewals cannot be performed through the public manage function as you must secure payment before a renewal transaction can be processed. The Tucows OpenSRS model allows you to be a one stop shop as far as your clients are concerned; Tucows is, in most marketing respects, transparent to the End User in the purchase and management of Internet services. You must maintain an account balance with Tucows in order to register domain names. Prices vary by product; for pricing information, please refer to the specific sections of this document. For each registration (or renewal/transfer), the appropriate amount of money is withdrawn from your account balance. You must remit a payment (prepay) before you can offer registrations to your clients. Insufficient funds means a transaction is not processed (and an appropriate error is generated). Note: You can make payments into your account before your account is actually made active; this allows Resellers who have completed their system testing to start registering domain names as soon as they go live. Definition of Terms The following terms are used throughout this document: Term Definition Generic Top Level Domain (gtld) Country Code Top Level Domain (cctld) gtlds are generic top-level domains that are not associated with any country. Currently, Tucows OpenSRS supports the following gtlds:.com, net,.org,.info,.biz and.name. cctlds are country code top-level domains. Every country, and some territories in the world have a reserved, two letter country code domain that is theirs to use as they see fit. Some countries run their own cctld registry, others outsource it to a private company, and still others sell rights to their cctld to third parties to run as they see fit. Examples of cctlds are.ca (Canada),.US (United States), and.uk (United Kingdom). In general, these domains are registered by businesses or individuals with a link to the particular cctld. For example,.to is used more by Torontonians than Tongans and.tv has more American television content than by members of the native Tuvalu culture. Domain Registrar A "Registrar" (or "Domain Name Registrar") is an organization like Tucows or Verisign Registrar Services that has control over the granting of domains within certain TLDs (top level domains, like the generic.com/.org/.net or country-specific.ca/.us/.mx etc.). 3

17 Introduction Term Domain Registry Domain Registrant Tucows OpenSRS (Open Shared Registration System) Resellers Reseller Web Interface (RWI) Management Web Interface (MWI) Definition The 'Registry' is the system backend that is maintained by the operators of the TLD. Registrars write new names to a central registry database, from which the authoritative root (essentially, a table of all domain names) is built. Verisign Global runs the registry for.com,.net and.org, Neustar runs the.biz registry, and Afilias runs the.info registry to which qualified registrars have shared access. In the case of many cctlds, the registry and registrar functions are combined within one entity. A Registrant is the person or company who registers a domain name. For example, Jessica Smith (Registrant) registers the name jessicasmith.com through OpenSRS (Registrar) who in turn writes the name to the central database (Registry). OpenSRS is a wholesale provisioning service that uses Open Source principles to ensure equal access for as many companies and individuals as possible. Tucows has been accredited as a domain registrar by ICANN, Neustar, Afilias, Global Name Registry, Neulevel, CIRA, and Nominet. Resellers acquire products or services through Tucows and then resell them to individuals or businesses. Under the Tucows OpenSRS business model, Resellers own the entire business relationship with their customers. Tucows Resellers are generally Internet based service providers, either running a domain registration business as a 'value add' to their core business, or in some cases, as their core business. Resellers are also responsible for providing all technical support to domain registrants. The RWI is the web interface for OpenSRS Quick Start Resellers. All purchases, including registrations, transfers, renewals and domain administrative settings available to Quick Start Resellers are offered through the RWI. The MWI is the interface through which Registrants actually manage contacts and nameservers that are associated with their domains. A customizable version of our manage.cgi is included in our client software; we also maintain a public manage interface at 4

18 Introduction Reseller Requirements Before you can offer name registrations through Tucows, you must meet the following basic requirements as well as the Quick Start or Full Access requirements: Basic Requirements! Ability to process payments from end-users; essentially collect money from your customers, unless you are not planning on charging them, or are registering names for internal use only.! Ability to support your customers; telephone and/or support options to handle inquiries from your end users; documentation for your end users. Quick Start Requirements! Internet access.! Name servers, or access to name servers; required if you want the names you register to resolve (work) on the Internet. Full Access Requirements! A dedicated connection to the Internet with a static IP address.! A web server that allows CGI execution (for example, Apache, Perl5 (Practical Extraction and Report Language) if you are choosing to use our Perl-based client.! Cryptography PERL modules, downloaded separately from CPAN see the OpenSRS PERL Client Manual for details.! Enough PERL knowledge to customize our PERL client. or enough expertise in your preferred development language to access the shared libraries and build your own client interface using our API. 5

19 Reseller Entrance and Qualification The process for becoming a Tucows Reseller is relatively simple. We ve split the process into two components: an administrative component and a technical component. The Administrative Component In order to become a Reseller, you must first fill out our online form at: Once the form has been completed, you are given a reference number, and you must read, complete, and fax the Tucows Registration Service Provider Agreement (available on our website at for each registry in which you want to register domains. Once we receive your Registration Service Provider Agreement, it is reviewed for completeness and correctness, and to ensure that all required signatures appear on the appropriate pages. If all appears in order, Tucows staff activates your profile and sends you an with further instructions and to confirm your chosen username and password. The Technical Component Once your profile is active, you must choose whether you want to use the Quick Start system, the PERL-based Full Access system, or whether you want to write your own Full Access client in your preferred programming language. A Quick Start implementation is the faster, easier option, and can be used to get your business up and running until you have completed your client installation and configuration. It is a solution that is particularly well-suited for Resellers who:! Offer personal, high touch management of customers.! Purchase in volumes of less than 150 per month.! Manage products on behalf of customers.! Order each domain or digital certificate individually.! Are willing to allow management through Tucows supplied online interface. For a full list of the differences between Quick Start and Full Access, please see the section "Quick Start vs. Full Access". Once you have decided which implementation you want to use, please see the relevant section for more information: Quick Start Implementation PERL Client-Based Full Access Implementation Other Language Implementation 6

20 Getting Started Quick Start vs. Full Access There are two ways for you to access the OpenSRS system. The best access method for your firm depends on a number of factors, including registration volumes, approach to customer support and desired level of process automation. Quick Start Access A Quick Start implementation is the faster, easier option, and can be used to get your business up and running until you have completed your client installation and configuration. It is particularly well-suited for Resellers who:! Offer personal, high touch management of customers.! Purchase in volumes of less than 150 per month.! Manage products on behalf of customers.! Order each domain or digital certificate individually.! Are willing to allow management through Tucows supplied online interface. Key Features of Quick Start! Complete administrative control of OpenSRS functionality.! Easy technical implementation.! Asynchronous transaction processing.! Manual product provisioning interface.! Public registration management interface.! Products provisioned individually. Full Access Full Access offers a technically advanced implementation that automates and streamlines processing of product orders for you. It is particularly well-suited to Resellers who:! Offer Internet Services as either core business or gateway products.! Purchase in volumes greater than 150 per month.! Require automation of ordering and management of products.! Prefer management is done directly by end-users.! Have customers requiring a larger number of bulk orders, that is, individual customers may order 25 domain names at a time.! Prefer to offer management through a custom interface hosted on their own website. 7

21 Getting Started Key Features of Full Access! Streamlined administrative control of OpenSRS functionality.! Technically advanced implementation.! Real-Time transaction processing.! Automated product provisioning interface.! Customizable registration management Interface.! Bulk product provisioning available. Quick Start Implementation Very little preparation is needed to run a domain registration business using the Quick Start system. Since you will be doing all your provisioning manually through the RWI (Reseller Web Interface), you do not need to incorporate the Tucows scripts into your site and you can start registering domain names very quickly. This section assumes that you have already: 1. Completed the online application at Once you have submitted the application form, you will receive an access number via ; quote this number when submitting your contract. 2. Completed and submitted at least one of the Tucows OpenSRS Reseller Contracts for the service or TLD(s) that you want to resell. You can use your access information to connect to the Tucows Test Environment (Horizon) at (the RWI for the test system). The test system allows you to become familiar with the features before you begin registering domains in the Live system. In the test system, you have access to all of the TLDs that Tucows offers; however, in the Live system you can only register domains in TLDs for which you have signed a contract with Tucows. You must also become familiar with the Reseller Web Interface (RWI); see the section "Our Two Environments: Live and Test" for an overview. Note: For.CA registrations only, as of July 2004, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) no longer runs a test system. As a result, you can no longer test.ca registrations/lookups at In addition to the test environment, you also have access to the Live system and, if you have already established an account, you can begin registering domains right away. You cannot begin registering domains until you have established an account balance with Tucows. For information on payments, please see "Payments". 8

22 Getting Started Once you have access to the live/production environment, there are a few last steps to complete: 1. Decide whether to process orders immediately or have orders sit in a queue for review before processing. 2. Optionally, customize the message that registrants receive once their domain registration is processed. 3. Customize the message that you receive (if enabled) when a domain registration is processed. 4. Update the default name server information under Modify Technical Contact Information in the RWI. 5. Ensure that your contact information is appropriately configured under Emergency Contact Information in the RWI. PERL Client-Based Full Access Implementation Implementing the Full Access client interface is a more lengthy process, requiring installation and customization of client-side PERL scripts that interface with the OpenSRS server, which in turn communicates with the root registries. However, the advantages of a customized look and feel and an automated ordering and management process make this well worth the effort. An experienced PERL programmer works to integrate these scripts into your web site. The scripts take information entered via the web interface, encrypt it, and pass it along to the OpenSRS server. The scripts require PERL, and can run in either a UNIX or Windows NT environment, and can be downloaded from the Tucows OpenSRS web site. The definitive guide to implementing the scripts is distributed with the client package, "Reseller Client Library (RCL) V 2.9.5" which is available on our web site. Once the scripts have been put in place, you can use the test system to become familiar with the features and interface before you begin registering domains in the Live system. In addition to the test environment, you also have access to the live system, and if you have already established an account, you can begin registering domains right away. Please note that you will not be able to begin registering domains until you have established an account balance with Tucows. For information on payments, please see "Payments". Note: For testing purposes, you will have access to all TLDs that Tucows offers; however, once in the Live system, you will only be able to register domains in the TLDs for which contracts have been submitted and accepted. Once you have access to the live/production environment, there are a few last steps to complete: 9

23 Getting Started 1. Optionally, customize the message that registrants receive once their domain registration is processed. 2. Customize the message that you receive (if enabled) when a domain registration is processed. 3. Update the default name server information under Modify Technical Contact Information in the RWI. 4. Ensure your contact information is appropriately configured under Emergency Contact Information in the RWI. 5. Modify the configuration so that scripts are communicating with the Live environment by changing a setting in the opensrs.conf file, then generate a new private key for encrypted communication between the Reseller client and Tucows server. You must also contact [email protected] with the IP address from which your clients will be contacting the Tucows server, so that Tucows allows the traffic through. Other Language Implementation If you prefer to write your own tools in the language of your choice, you should refer to the OpenSRS API Specification guide, which covers this approach completely. This document is available from the Documentation page of the Reseller Resource Center. Once you have built your client, entrance and qualification is identical to the PERL client-based implementation described in "Perl Client-Based Full Access Implementation". Our Two Environments: Live and Test To facilitate risk free learning and testing of the OpenSRS system, Tucows maintains two environments, commonly known as Live and Test. The Test environment mirrors the Live environment in nearly every way, and is the proving grounds where you can gain proficiency before entering the Live environment to register actual domain names. Note: All gtlds and cctlds are available in the Test environment; however, once you go live, you can only register domains in the TLDs for which you have qualified. The Test environment can be accessed via shared web interface (Quick Start) or customized scripts (Full Access). Similarly, there is an end user Manage Domain interface for the Test environment that can be accessed via shared web interface, or customized scripts. Note: Registrations submitted in the Test environment are not actually registered. 10

24 Getting Started The following table shows the URLs of our interfaces in the Live and Test environments: System Test Live Reseller Web Interface Manage Domain Interface resellers/ tor.opensrs.net/resellers/ Using Non-ASCII Characters for Messaging You must choose the proper encoding set in your browser for messaging that uses non-ascii characters such as accents. Otherwise, messages that are generated by the RWI may be scrambled. 11

25 Domain Registration and Management This section covers important concepts and processes that are important to understand as an authorized Tucows Reseller. The Reseller Web Interface (RWI) The Reseller Web Interface or RWI is a Tucows hosted interface that allows you to manage and review sales, and set some defaults that are important to the way domain registrations are offered. All Resellers, whether Quick Start or Full Access users, must use the RWI to manage some elements of their domain registration service. The RWI Login Journal When you log on to the RWI interface, you can use the Journal link to view the login information for the past 10 days. The Journal link is located beside your login name at the top right corner of the RWI page. Data Archiving To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. You can be assured that data is not archived for at least 6 months. The archiving schedule varies depending on the type of data, with more frequently accessed information retained in the Live environment for a longer period. For example, declined orders may be archived after 6 months, but Domain notes are not archived for at least 2 years. Where data is archived, you will see a checkbox that says Search archived data. If your search does not produce the results you want, you can select this checkbox to expand your search by viewing archived data. 12

26 Domain Registration and Management RWI Options The RWI looks like this (there are many more options than shown): The following sections describe the features available to Resellers via the RWI. 13

27 Domain Registration and Management Domain Registration Administration What's New This section notifies you of any new products or service offerings. You can click Learn More to display the Reseller Resource Center in a new browser and view information about the new product or service. View Domain The View Domain textbox allows you to enter a domain name and view details for that domain. When you click Query, a page opens that displays details about the specified domain. It allows you to renew the domain, change the renewal settings, change the domain lock settings, and change the parked pages settings. In the Change Parked Page Settings section, you can choose whether to enable or disable parked pages for that domain. If parked pages is enabled, you can choose whether or not the displayed page shows ads. The default is to show ads. New Domain Lookup This textbox allows you to check the availability of a domain name and request suggestions for similar, available names. You can specify the type of name suggestions that you want to see by clicking one or more of the following:! Display Suggested Names! Display Premium Domains! Display Generic TLDs! Display cctlds For more information, see "Domain Name Lookup". Place Order Manually This textbox allows you to enter the domain name (including TLD) that you want to register. All TLDS except.ca are supported; to register a new.ca domain, use the Place Order Manually for.ca link. Enter the domain name in the Place Order Manually field, and then click New Order. The system checks the availability of the domain name and opens the New Domain Registration Form page. A message is displayed at the top of the page that tells you whether the name you entered is available. If the name is available, complete the form and click Submit to submit the order. If the name is not available, you can enter another name in the Search Domain field at the top of the page and click Check Availability. For all new orders, the system checks the DNS settings that are on the Tech Contact Information page and auto-populates the DNS Information fields in the New Domain Registration Form. If necessary, you can override the autopopulated entries in the DNS Information fields and enter the 14

28 Domain Registration and Management nameservers that apply to this new domain. The nameservers entered on the New Domain Registration Form always take precedence over the entries in the Tech Contact Information page. Transfer a Domain This is where you can initiate a domain transfer. When you type the domain in the text box and click Transfer, the Transfer Form for [domain name] page opens. The Transfer Form for page allows you to enter and submit the transfer request. You can provide nameservers during a transfer order. Once the transfer is completed, you can change the nameservers again. Place Bulk Order Manually This interface allows for the registration of multiple domain names by using a file (upload)..ca Orders Place Order Manually for.ca This is where you register new.ca names. Place Transfer Manually for.ca This allows you to place a transfer for a.ca domain name View.CA Blocked Orders When a.ca domain name registration is requested that conflicts with an existing.ca domain name (for example, an order for chuck.on.ca conflicts with chuck.ca), a special process is invoked. This interface allows you to see the status of these orders..mobi Orders View Completed Orders Shows orders that have been processed. View Pending Orders Shows orders that are pending. 15

29 Domain Registration and Management.EU Orders View Processed Orders Shows orders that have been processed. View Waiting Orders Shows orders that are waiting to be processed. View Pending Orders Shows orders that have been processed and are pending. View Declined Orders Shows orders that have been declined..de Orders View.de Domains Waiting for Activation This is where a special process is invoked to provide an interface that allows you to see the status of these orders..us Orders Place Order Manually for.us This is where you can register.us names..name Orders Place Order Manually for.name This is where you can register.name domains. Place Transfer Manually for.name This allows you to place a transfer for.name. Domain Name Lookup The New Domain Lookup section allows you to check the availability of specific domain names and to obtain suggestions for other similar domain names. You can also choose whether you want to see results for generic TLDs (.COM,.NET,.ORG,.INFO,.BIZ), country code TLDs, or both. Note: The New Domain Lookup section is displayed only if you are enabled for the service. 16

30 Domain Registration and Management In order to provide you with the largest selection of names from which to choose, Tucows allows you to widen your search to include, not only domain names that are supplied by Tucows, but also domain names that may be purchased from external (non-tucows) suppliers; these are referred to as Premium domains. Many desirable domain names may already be taken, but the owners are willing to sell them for a price. When you perform a domain name lookup that includes Premium domains, the search results show whether the name you entered (or similar names if you also selected Display Suggested Names) is available from a non-tucows supplier, and also indicates the purchase price of the available Premium domain names. You can then purchase these Premium domain names through the Tucows RWI. Note: Premium domains that are purchased cannot be transferred away for 60 days. To search for domain names 1. In the Order Management section, select the type of results that you want to see by selecting one or more of the following:! Display Suggested Names! Display Premium Domains! Display Generic TLDs! Display cctlds 2. In the New Domain Lookup field, enter a name, word, or phrase, and click Check Availability. The system checks the availability of the name you entered for all of the domains for which you are a Reseller. If you selected Display Suggested Names, it also returns a list of similar names that are available. If you selected Display Premium Domains, the results include domain names that may be purchased from non-tucows suppliers, as well as the associated cost. 17

31 Domain Registration and Management 3. Do one of the following:! If the list includes an available name that you want, click Register. The New Domain Registration Form opens and autopopulates the Domain Name field with the selected domain name.! If there is a Premium name that you want, click Purchase. The Premium Domain Form opens and autopopulates the Domain Name field with the Premium domain name. Once you submit the completed order form, it is processed like any other domain name registration, except that the new expiry date for the domain will be one year from the old expiry date for that domain. Note: Due to the additional checks that are required to confirm availability and obtain Premium domains, the purchase process may take slightly longer than a new domain registration. To perform another search, enter a new name in the Domain Name Suggestion for field, and click Search. For example, if you select Display Suggested Names and Display Generic TLDs, and then you enter toy store in the New Domain Lookup field, the system returns a list of domain names that match or are similar to what you entered, and tells you whether the names are Available or Taken. If you also select Display Premium Domains, the search results include toy store (or similar) domain names that are for sale from non-tucows suppliers, and shows how much it would cost to purchase each name. Note: If a domain name has the status Undetermined, it means that the system could not connect to the applicable Registry to find out whether the name is available or not. 18

32 Domain Registration and Management 19

33 Domain Registration and Management In the Available Related Domains section, you can choose the TLDs you want to see by selecting the appropriate checkboxes. The available domain types are those for which you are a registered Reseller. When you check the availability of a name, the service returns name suggestions for only the TLDs that you select. You can also specify the number of suggested domain names that you want to see on the page by selecting a number from the drop-down list; you set the default on the Name Suggestion Management page. Note: If a domain name has been registered within the last 24 hours, the Name Suggestion feature might indicate that it is Available, even though it is not. This is because the information that is used to determine availability could be up to 24 hours old. If you try to register a domain that was registered by someone else within the last 24 hours, a message informs you that the domain is not available. Name Suggestion Management The Name Suggestion Management page indicates whether the feature is currently enabled and displays the number of lookups that were performed during the previous month. It also allows you to configure the Name Suggestion feature and to view the number of lookups that were performed each month for the past six months. 1. In the Domain Management section of the RWI, click Name Suggestion Management. The Name Suggestion Management page opens. 2. Select Yes or No to determine whether alternate domain names are suggested when you check the availability of a domain name. 3. In the Default Results Display Value drop-down list, select the default number of related domain names that are displayed. 4. Click View to access the Name Suggestion Statistics page, which displays the number of lookups that are performed each month. Note: Statistics for the current month are not displayed, and only six months of data can be viewed. Click on a month to display the number of lookups performed each day. 20

34 Domain Registration and Management Check Availability Management The Check Availability Management page displays the number of domain name lookups that were performed during the previous month and indicates whether the lookup feature is currently enabled. It also allows you to specify the TLDs that are displayed in the domain name search results and to view the number of lookups that were performed each month for the past six months. To view and configure the Check Availability feature 1. In the Domain Management section of the RWI, click Check Availability Management. Click the radio buttons to determine the default domain name search options. If you set a display option to No on this page, you can still manually select the corresponding checkbox in the New Domain Lookup section of the main RWI page to see the related results; however, you will have to reselect it each time you do another search. 2. Select Yes or No to select whether to display generic or cctlds when you check the availability of a domain name or search for suggested names. 3. Click View to access the Check Availability Statistics page, which displays the number of lookups that were performed each month. Note: Statistics for the current month are not displayed, and only six months of data can be viewed. 21

35 Domain Registration and Management 4. Click on a month to display the number of lookups performed each day. Premium Domains Management The Premium Domains Management page indicates whether the feature is currently enabled and displays the number of lookups that were performed during the previous month. It also allows you to configure the Premium Domains feature and to view the number of lookups that were performed each month for the past six months. 1. In the Domain Management section of the RWI, click Premium Domains Management. The Premium Domains Management page opens. 2. Select Yes or No to determine whether Premium domain names that are available from non-tucows suppliers are displayed when you check the availability of a domain name. 3. Click View to access the Premium Domains Statistics page, which displays the number of lookups performed each month. Note: Statistics for the current month are not displayed, and only six months of data can be viewed. 4. Click on a month to display the number of lookups performed each day. 22

36 Domain Registration and Management View Orders View Pending Orders This feature allows you to view orders you have entered into the system as pending, using several criteria. These orders are not acted on until you enter this area and approve them. Also, if an order fails for any reason, (for example, incorrect registration term or bad phone number format), it is put into this section for you to review. This function was primarily designed to work with the Full Access implementation of OpenSRS, where end users submit orders, you mark them as pending, and then approve them (perhaps after getting payment). You also have the option to select all pending orders for processing or cancellation by clicking the [+] button at the top of either the process or cancel column. Note: Orders that have been in a pending state for more than 30 days, with 30 days of inactivity, are automatically canceled. Under certain circumstances, the Tucows system sends a notification to the Reseller Technical Contact when an order enters Pending Orders status. The criteria are as follows:! Process Orders Immediately is set to Yes.! handle flag via the API is set to process.! Reseller has sufficient funds in their account. This feature is disabled by default, and you can enable this notification via Tech Contact Information. Following is a sample of the that is sent to the reseller: To : Reseller Technical Contact From: OpenSRS Support [email protected] Subject: {{reg_type}} order for {{domain}} failed Order {{order_id}} was not processed successfully. Following is the order information: Domain: Reg-type: Order ID: {{domain}} {{reg_type}} {{order_id}} More information may be found in the order notes for this request under "Pending Orders". OpenSRS Support 23

37 Domain Registration and Management View Orders in Progress This feature allows you to view domain orders/transfers/renewals that have been initiated by either yourself or an end user through your online interface. Orders that are in process can include domain transfers, and registrations into any asynchronous registries. Synchronous new name registrations (.com.net and.org) never appear here, as they are processed in real time. View Declined Orders Use this view to review and resubmit orders that were declined (for various reasons) by the registry or canceled during the transfer process View Completed Orders This feature allows you to view domain orders/transfers/renewals that have been completed. Note: Each order-status category in the View Orders section includes the total number of your orders for that category. In the following example, 17 orders are pending, 7 are in progress, and 8 are declined: Transfer Views Waiting Owner Approval This view shows transfer orders awaiting the Administrative contact approval/declination. Waiting Registrar Review Transfers in this step are awaiting review by the Tucows administrative department. Waiting Registry Approval Transfers in this view show orders sent to the registry for approval. Transfers Away Domains in this view show domains that have a request to be transferred to another registrar or reseller. 24

38 Domain Registration and Management Cancel Orders Use this setting to cancel pending and/or declined orders that were created more than X number of days ago. To cancel both pending and declined orders, select both. The default setting is 100 days. Note: If more than 500 orders exist, only 500 will be canceled at a time. Requests Queuing Settings Use these settings to have the OpenSRS system automatically queue transactions if a supplier (registry) is offline or having communications problems. Once the supplier is available, the queued orders will automatically be processed. You can choose which supplier(s) you would like to have orders queued for. View Queued Requests Use this option to view any orders that may be queued as a result of a registry being unavailable. You can also cancel any order from this view. Requests Submitted to Registry This feature allows you to search for requests that have been submitted to a Registry based on their current status. Search Reg System Orders Once you have registered some domain names, you can use this form to search for a specific registration. You can also search for any of your domains (whether new or transferred) at any point in the process once it has entered the OpenSRS system. If your account has so many domains that your searches take inordinately long to carry out, try limiting the amount of searches returned by using the Limit to Last option. If your search does not produce the results you want, you can try expanding your search to view archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. 25

39 Domain Registration and Management To search for domain name registration data that is older than 16 months, on the Search Reg System Orders page, select the Search archived data checkbox and resubmit your search. You can narrow your search by completing the fields in the Advanced Search section, for example, to search for archived transfer orders, select Transfer from the Registration Type drop-down list. Search Declined Orders Use this feature to search for any order that has been declined by the system. If your search does not produce the results you want, you can try expanding your search to view archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To search for declined orders older than 6 months, on the Search Declined Orders page, select the Search archived data checkbox. Search Batch Transfers This function allows Resellers to search through any transfers (either in progress or completed) that they have processed using the batch transfer command (Full Access only). If your search does not produce the results you want, you can try expanding your search to view archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To search for transfers older than 16 months, on the Search for Batch Transfer by Order_ID page, select the Search archived data checkbox. Refunds Domain Refunds This link opens the Domain Refund page, where you can enter and submit the domains that will be revoked and refunded. Messaging View Templates Message List This link opens a list of message templates that you can use to send messages registrants. 26

40 Domain Registration and Management You can change the editable portions of message templates, or preview messages. For details about the messages, such as sample content, see the applicable section in this user guide. Domain Management View Domain Use this feature to drill down to an individual domain record, review expiry information and domain names, and apply changes to a domain s renewal setting. If you do not see all the notes and charges that you expect to see, you can view the archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To view notes older than 28 months, on the Domain Notes page, click View archived notes. To view charges older than 16 months, on the Domain charges page, select the View archived charges checkbox and click Search. 27

41 Domain Registration and Management In this section, you can also choose to enable Parked Pages, and specify whether or not to display ads on the Parked Pages. For more information on parked pages, see "Parked Pages Service" and "Extending Your Branding to Parked Pages". View Deleted Domain Use this feature to find a deleted domain, and review the details of that deleted domain. If your search does not produce the results you want, you can try expanding your search to view archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To view information for deleted domains older than 16 months, select the archived checkbox. Search Domains This feature allows you to specify search criteria and view a list of all domains successfully registered with or transferred to OpenSRS, and their renewal dates. Note the output option that allows Resellers to output the results table for any Search Domain queries to a comma delimited file. For more information, see "Search Domains Page". Domain Redemption This feature allows you to submit an OpenSRS Redemption Request Form to redeem expired domain names before the 30-day redemption grace period ends. Submit.EU or.be Ownership Change This section allows you to change the ownership for one or more.eu or.be domains. For more information, see ".EU Transfers and Changes of Ownership" or ".BE Transfers and Changes of Ownership". WDRP Management Select this option to open the WDRP Views page. This page provides a number of options that allow you to view the status of WDRP messages sent to your registrants. WDRP stands for Whois Data Reminder Policy, and is an ICANN requirement with which all accredited registrars must be compliant. Renewal Management (LIVE system only) Use this section to manage your gtld renewals. For more information, refer to "gtld Renewals". 28

42 Domain Registration and Management Transfer Management (LIVE system only) This section allows you to search and view information about domain transfers and to manage messages related to a variety of Transfer activities. When you use the Search Transfers Away section, if your search does not produce the results you want, you can try expanding your search to view archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To search for transfers that occurred more than 16 months ago, select the View archived transfers checkbox and resubmit your search. Add Nameserver to All Foreign Registries This interface allows you to add Registered Nameservers to all of the Registries to which the OpenSRS system is connected (i.e.:.info, COM/NET/ORG,.US). If you want to use a COM/NET/ORG nameserver (i.e.: default.opensrs.net) on a.biz domain, you have to first add it to the foreign.biz Registry using this option. The reason for this is because each Registry keeps a database of registered nameservers, and new nameservers at foreign registries need to be explicitly added before they can be used to resolve domains in that TLD. Use this interface when you get the error Unable to add nameservers: Command failed: unable to verify existence of nameserver when trying to add a foreign nameserver to a domain. 29

43 Domain Registration and Management Search Domains Page You use one or a combination of search criteria to find domains. The Search Domains search can query any domain within your profile regardless of state, including domains which have been deleted, transferred away or expired. Domain Name In this area, type a domain name and select the status of the domain for which you are looking. Wildcards can be used to represent part of the domain name if necessary. Status Definitions All Active All live domains that are currently sponsored by Tucows that reside in your Reseller profile. These include domains that are set to let-expire status. 30

44 Domain Registration and Management All Deleted All domains that were once active in your profile, but have since become inactive, due to transfer, expiry, or explicit deletion request.! Deleted Historical The status Deleted Historical is used to flag all domains that were rendered inactive due to expiry, transfer, or deletion request prior to version 2.4 of the OpenSRS server software.! Deleted Expired The status given to names that are inactive in your profile because they expired.! Deleted Transferred The status given to names transferred from your OpenSRS profile either to another OpenSRS reseller, or to another Registrar.! Deleted-By Request The status given to names deleted by explicit request from the Reseller.! Deleted Auction The status given to names that have been removed from your profile and sold by auction. All Deleted Archived All domains that were once active in your profile, but have since become inactive, due to transfer, expiry, or explicit deletion request. This status includes all of the domains that were deleted at least 16 months prior to the current date. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. Search Criteria You can narrow your search by completing any of the following sections: Whois Privacy Status Select whether the WHOIS Privacy status is Enabled, Disabled, Pending, or Suspended. Parked Pages Status Select whether the Parked Pages service is Enabled or Disabled. Search by Registration Date and Renewal and Expiry Date These areas allow you to search for domains by choosing a range of dates. Search by Contact/Organization You can use , first name, last name, and organization name as search criteria. Searches based on contact information support wild card searches and are case sensitive. Search Results The Search Results page lists all domains that meet your search criteria. Note: Domains set to let expire will not be returned in the renewal list. 31

45 Domain Registration and Management Search Results Domain List Each domain is listed with current information about its registry and expiry dates, its name, lock state, and the initial and total cost of the domain. Click View in the Charges column to see details about the domain charges. If you do not see all the charges that you expect to see, you can view the archived data. To optimize system performance, Tucows archives older data on a regular basis. Your data is always preserved and the archived data is easily accessed. To view charges older than 16 months, on the Domain charges page, select the View archived charges checkbox and click Search. Note: Only expired charges are archived; active charges are always retained in the Live, non-archived view. Sort Search Results You can sort search results by clicking the Date Registered, Expiry Date, or Domain Name column header. The View link opens a screen that shows the total charges for the domain. Registration Statistics Tucows Insight Tucows Insight offers reporting and monitoring tools that assist you in managing your business. This includes Business Reporter, which is a package of business reports related to your Tucows transactions. Future releases will include other packages. See section 18 of this guide for more detail. 32

46 Domain Registration and Management View Reg System Statistics Use this section to view a daily breakdown (by month) of lookups, orders, and complete registrations done under your Reseller profile. View Registration Stats Use this section to review domains registered and domain years registered in a specified date range. Profile Management Reseller Contact Information Use this section to provide contact information for someone in your organization who can be contacted for important updates, such as new version releases or downtime announcements. You also use this area to specify the addresses that should receive OpenSRS system announcements, low account balance notifications, and new payment notifications (you can specify multiple addresses such as Admin Contact and Tech Contact, etc.). This area is also where you specify the address to which all paper correspondence is sent. Tech Contact Information This is where you edit your default technical information (sent for all new registrations). You can use this section to configure the message that is sent to the registrant upon successful registration of a domain name. You can include the {{username}} and {{password}} variables in the message so that the registrant can manage the domain. You can also determine the circumstances under which the messages are sent. In the NameServer Information section you can specify the default nameservers that will be used for new domain registrations. If you select Enable Default Parked Page, the default for all new domains will be to use the Tucows nameservers and displays a Parked page. You can modify the header of the Parked page on the Parked pages Service page. If you select Use custom DNS, you can override the default DNS and specify other nameservers. The default for existing customers is Use custom DNS; the default for new customers is Enable Default Parked Page. The nameservers you specify on the Reseller Modification Form will autopopulate the DNS fields on the New Domain Registration Form when you place an order for a new domain; however, the form allows you to override the default nameservers. For more information on parked pages, see "Parked Pages Service". 33

47 Domain Registration and Management Support and Whois Information for your Customers This interface allows you to modify settings and variables shown via the Whois for domains under your sponsorship. Payment Information Use this section to specify the threshold for your low account balance warning. You set your limit in dollars, and when your account is drawn to that limit, an is sent to the address that you specify. Online Credit Card Payment By working with you can enter funds into your account with a credit card rather than faxing in payment information. There are certain requirements for this option; more information is available here: Financial Statements Here you can view up to 4 months of financial statements in HTML format or download the financial statements as CSV files. Modify Reseller Password Here you can change their password to access the Tucows registration systems and administration interfaces. Tucows Authorized Reseller Seal The Tucows Authorized Reseller Seal allows you to demonstrate to your customers that you use the OpenSRS platform. You can choose to display a copy of the seal on any website that is used with your Tucows Reseller account. The seal is more than a static image; a visitor can click it to open a new browser displaying an up-to-date verification that you are an Authorized Tucows Reseller. Only Resellers with active Tucows Reseller accounts can use the seal. To activate the Tucows Reseller Seal 1. Click the Tucows Authorized Reseller Seal link on the RWI main page. 2. Using the form on the seal activation page, provide a list of websites where you will display the seal. Note: You may use the seal on more than one website. The primary domain is the domain name you submitted when initiating your Tucows Reseller account. Additional entries refer to domain names of any other websites that also use the same Tucows Reseller Account. 34

48 Domain Registration and Management 3. Click the Add Entry button after each additional entry. To reset your list of domains to the previous version saved, click the Restore Values button. 4. Click the Save & Retrieve Code button. A new page opens that includes the Authorized Tucows Reseller Seal code and instructions for implementing the code on your web pages. 5. Implement the code on your websites, following the instructions provided. You may add domains to your list at any time via the link in the RWI - Tucows Authorized Reseller Seal. Add IPs for Script/API Access Use this option to view and modify your IP addresses. There are two limits to using this functionality:! You are only allowed a maximum of five (5) rules. If you already have five and want to add an additional rule, you must remove one of the existing ones.! You can only add IP addresses with ranges from 25 to 32. Request Bulk Registrant Access Info Choose this option if you want to receive information about bulk registrations. This option can be disabled using the Request Bulk Registrant Access Info flag in the AWI (Admin Web Interface). When disabled, the Request Bulk Registrant Access Info link is not available in the RWI (Reseller Web Interface). Reseller Notification Log Choose this option to view all system notifications that OpenSRS has sent to you. You will be able to view the time, a description of the notification and the address to which the notification was sent. Generate New Private Key This is the mechanism used to generate the back-end private key that s used with the client code (scripts). The key is used for authentication and for building a secure socket for client/server communications. View Announcements This area keeps archives of all Live Reseller Updates (LRUs) sent to the address listed in the Tech Contact Information section. If you are experiencing unusual system behavior, sometimes an explanation can be found in an LRU contained in this section. Logout Click this link to end your session. 35

49 Domain Registration and Management Reseller Password Recovery Options By default, a password recovery feature (for your RWI login password) is available from the RWI login page. You can, however, disable this feature so that even if you attempt to retrieve your password from the RWI login page, your password is not sent. To disable the password recovery feature 1. From the RWI main page, click Tech Contact Information. 2. In the Reseller Modification Form, scroll down to the Send Reseller s Password field and select No to disable password recovery 3. Click Save Changes. The Manage Web Interface (MWI) Registrants make changes to their domain name records using the Manage Web Interface. They can use the interface to:! Modify domain ownership (certain TLDs only).! Modify administrative, technical and billing contact information.! Modify nameserver information.! Modify other domain attributes (auth code for EPP domains, lock status, forwarding for.name, etc). Registrants log into the MWI using the username and password that they selected when they registered the domain. 36

50 Domain Registration and Management You may choose to implement your own customized version of the manage interface and build specific functionality into it (templates are included in the Full Access scripts). OpenSRS also maintains a shared manage interface (at for Resellers who do not run their own manage interface. The shared OpenSRS manage domain interface looks (something) like: 37

51 Domain Registration and Management Manage Profile This allows you to:! Change the username and password that controls a domain name, typically to transfer control of the domain to someone else.! Move this name to another OpenSRS profile, to either transfer control of the name to someone else, or to organize name control.! Assign a sub-user access to manage either parts of, or all information related to this name. Organization Contact This is where you can view and edit information about the company or entity associated with the domain you are managing. Note: The organization that.co.uk,.org.uk, or.ca names are registered to cannot be changed using this interface. For details on changing the Organization contact for these TLDs, please refer to the section covering the TLD you are interested in. Admin Contact This is the person or entity who has the authority to make changes to domain records. Billing Contact This is the contact who is responsible for billing issues with regard to this domain's registration. In order to avoid interruption in service, the registration fee must be up to date at all times. This record should be accurate in order to maintain renewal fees properly. Technical Contact This is the contact who is considered authoritative for this domain name as related to Web hosting, mail, and other DNS records. This is typically an ISP or Web Hosting Provider but it can be anyone the Registrant chooses. By default, this information is initially populated from the Reseller s Technical Contact profile, set in the RWI. Manage Name Servers Controls which nameservers are designated as authoritative for the domain. Registrants can also create nameservers based on their domain names here. 38

52 Domain Registration and Management Domain Extras Shows information that does not apply to other sections, such as AUTHCODE (for.info/.biz/.us/.name domains). forwarding options (for.name domains) and.us Nexus information. Reseller Contact This section shows the Registrant who their Reseller is and allows them to opt-out of showing this information via WHOIS. Domain Locking This section shows registrants whether their domains are currently locked or unlocked. If a domain is locked, transfers and DNS modification cannot be made until the domain is unlocked. By default, the lock/unlock feature is enabled so that domain owners can lock or unlock their domains in the Public Manage Interface. You can disable this setting in the RWI, so that domain locking is not visible in the Public Manage Interface. The Domain Year Because domains can be either registered within the OpenSRS system or transferred to it, and because registrants have the option to pay for more than one year, domain years often are the best, most meaningful way to describe what OpenSRS provides to its Resellers. A domain year is one year paid on a domain name. Whether a domain is registered with Tucows, transferred to Tucows, or renewed for an additional term, domain years can be used to describe the service being sold. Synchronous vs. Asynchronous Registries Tucows offers domain registrations into two different types of top-level domain registries: synchronous and asynchronous. A synchronous registry allows you to register and make changes to domain names in real time. The server responds to client requests immediately, with either confirmation of the expected change or an error message explaining why it didn t work. Asynchronous registries accept requests from the client, but the requests are reviewed before any change is made. This requires that a wait state exist, wherein resellers and end users are aware that they have made a request, but are waiting for the registry to actually make the change. In these cases, the system will be updated and notification is sent to the Reseller to confirm that the change has been made. 39

53 Domain Registration and Management Currently, the Tucows domain name offering breaks down into synchronous and asynchronous as follows: Synchronous.com,.net,.org,.ca*,.biz,.info,.name,.tv,.vc,.us Asynchronous.co.uk,.org.uk,.ca*,.de Processing time for asynchronous registries varies by registry; for example,.uk registrations, can be completed in less than five minutes; however, it can take longer based on circumstances beyond the control of Tucows. As a result, it is important to set realistic expectations with users when they place orders with you. You can check the status of a submitted order anytime through the Reseller Web Interface (RWI). *There are both synchronous and asynchronous elements to.ca names. Most elements are synchronous, but certain contact changes are considered critical and require confirmation from the registrant. Common Domain-Oriented Issues You will find the same questions being asked time and time again by your customers, and this section briefly highlights the top issues. Some issues are treated differently by each TLD, and so pertinent information can be found within that TLD s section. Renewing a Domain Name The renewal procedure is flushed out in the gtld section of this document, which should be read and understood before renewing a domain since renewals are non-refundable and specific situations may have unanticipated business implications. Transferring Domain Names The process of transferring domains to and from your Reseller account is addressed in detail in the OpenSRS Domain Transfers guide, which is available from the Documentation page in the RRC. The particulars of transfers for specific cctlds are described in that cctld's section in this document. Note: Domain status is checked at the Registry to ensure that a domain transfer is not pending. This restriction prevents a transfer of domain between Resellers when a transfer between Registrars is in progress. 40

54 Domain Registration and Management Sending Domain Logins and Passwords You can send the OpenSRS login/password for a domain to either the Owner/Registrant or the Admin Contact of a domain name. To protect Registrants, these are the only contacts to whom this sensitive information can be sent. If a sub-user has been created for a domain in order to give restricted privileges to an individual (for example, a sub-user who can change DNS, but not contact info), the sub-user s login information can also be sent to the Owner or Admin contact. To send a login/password for a domain name, use the View Domain tool to look up the domain in your Reseller Web Interface. Once you have queried the domain name, the page displays the options below. If a sub-user has not been made for the domain name, the sub-user options do not appear. Domain Management Send WDRP reminder message Sub-User Password to the Admin Contact ([email protected]) Sub-User Password to the Owner Contact ([email protected]) Click any of the links to send the login and password to that contact. Note that some software and mail servers may not deliver the mail properly for a number of reasons, though the most common cause is anti-spam software. Redemption Period The Redemption Period is a 30-day, Registry-imposed hold period for domains that occurs after OpenSRS has instructed the Registry that the domain should be dropped. Domains will have reached the REDEMPTION PERIOD state if they have been EXPIRED for at least 40 days, were NOT renewed by the owner or Reseller, and the drop domain process has run. Normally domains are deleted at this point, but the REDEMPTION PERIOD provides the owner with one last chance to recover the domain before it s dropped and potentially re-registered by a new owner. The Redemption process is costly, both in fees and in effort. Registrants should be discouraged from using the Redemption Period and encouraged to renew domains before expiry or during the grace period when a renewal can be conducted with the registry in real time and for no additional cost. If you have any questions about the current cost of the Redemption, you can contact your Account Representative or [email protected]. 41

55 Domain Registration and Management To bring a domain out of Redemption Period status 1. Verify that the domain is really in the Redemption Period using the Registry s WHOIS, for example: for.com and.net for.org Domains in redemption will have a status of "Redemption Period" or "Pending Delete Restorable". 2. Ensure that your Reseller account has sufficient funds to cover the cost of the redemption. 3. Go the Reseller Web Interface, and under Domain Management, click the Domain Redemption link to open the OpenSRS Redemption Request Form. 4. Once you complete and submit the request form to redeem the domain and accept the incurred cost, the domain is brought out of Redemption, a Renewal Year is added, and the domain is inserted into its own domain profile. If it was previously part of a grouped profile, it will now be separate. 5. You will receive an letting you know that the Redemption is completed. You should communicate this directly to the Registrant. 42

56 Domain Registration and Management Reseller Contact Information for End Users The Reseller Web Interface has a Support and Whois Information for your Customers section where you can enter the end-user contact info for your customers. Resellers can enter multiple end-user addresses such as Administrative Contact, Billing Contact, etc. Although Registrants are usually aware of the Reseller from whom they are getting their domain (they are, after all, purchasing on your site), this information can be easily lost or forgotten. The primary way for domain owners to track down who they should be contacting for their domain is via a WHOIS lookup. Resellers can have their contact information displayed in the WHOIS record for any domain in their Reseller profile to let their Registrants know who to contact to renew their domain, to ask questions or to upgrade services. Currently this functionality only works for.com/.net/.org domains. Resellers can also supply OpenSRS Support with specific information to pass on to Registrants if they contact Support or have a logon failure using the public Manage Domain Interface. Since the Registrar of Record is always displayed on domains if the lookup is done outside of OpenSRS, OpenSRS Support is often contacted with questions that relate to the Reseller rather than the Registrar. In cases where the WHOIS server doesn t follow recursive lookups back to the Registrar for the domain, the Registrar of Record is all the end-user has to go on. 43

57 Domain Registration and Management Registration Service Provider Information in WHOIS The first part of the Support and Whois Information for your Customers section looks like this: The purpose of most of the fields is generally self-evident, and since saved changes are immediate, you can WHOIS a domain and see how the output changes. The information above would create the following output when performing a WHOIS lookup on TUCOWS.COM: Registrant: Tucows Inc. 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto, Ontario M6K3M1 CA Domain Name: TUCOWS.COM Administrative Contact: Contact, Administration [email protected] 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto, Ontario M6K3M1 44

58 Domain Registration and Management CA Technical Contact: Contact, Technical 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto, Ontario M6K3M1 CA Registration Service Provider: The Example Reseller, (fax) This company may be contacted for domain login/passwords, DNS/Nameserver changes, and general domain support questions. Registrar of Record: TUCOWS, INC. Record last updated on 09-Jul Record expires on 06-Sep Record Created on 07-Sep Domain servers in listed order: DNS1.TUCOWS.COM DNS2.TUCOWS.COM DNS3.TUCOWS.COM Note: Registrants can disable this feature for their particular domain, even if you have the feature turned on globally, through Manage Domain interface. This is not available via the Public Manage Interface, and must be enabled via your own client scripts. Note: Disabling this feature only disables Reseller Contact output in the WHOIS; registrants can still see this information in the Reseller Contact section of the Manage domain interface. 45

59 Domain Registration and Management Custom Message for Registrants Contacting OpenSRS Support When one of your customers contacts OpenSRS Support, or they have a logon failure using the public Manage Domain Interface, they are sent the text seen below as a part of the response. If you have a customized interface or special instructions for your customers, this is a great place to include them. Keep in mind that text inside the entry box will stretch the browser window if you put in a long line of text. For the example above, hard returns were put at the end of each line to keep the formatting consistent. 46

60 Domain Registration and Management Reseller Affiliates Resellers who have their own Reseller or affiliate base can use an optional Affiliate ID field to track this business. If you don't have a Reseller or affiliate business model or you don't want to track this information, this field can be ignored. At the time an order is placed (i.e. new domain purchase, or transfer) your Reseller/affiliate can enter their Affiliate ID in the order template. You may use this information to track which Reseller/affiliate placed the order. For renewals, the affiliate id that you entered at the time of the original purchase will default on to the renewal order once the domain has been renewed. For end-user transfer messages, you will have an affiliate ID variable if you want to include it. Order confirmations can be turned on or off for a particular Affiliate. In the RWI, Resellers can modify this setting via "Tech Contact Information" under " message to customer: Configure Message". Simply create your affiliate's name and choose whether or not to send the . Renewal or transfer confirmations cannot be controlled by Affiliate ID.! Allowed characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9! Maximum characters: 100! Optional if no affiliate, leave this field blank 47

61 Payments OpenSRS accepts pre-payment by wire transfer, check, international money order, credit card, and Automated Check Handling (direct withdrawal). We do not accept payments remitted in currencies other than U.S. Dollars (USD). Your first payment to Tucows for use within the OpenSRS system can be made any time after you ve set up an account. Once you've established a balance in your account, you are ready to register domains in the Live environment. All Canadian Registration Service Providers must pay 7% Goods and Services Tax. For information on tax rebates, please refer to the Canadian Customs and Revenue Agency web site at Note: Tucows recommends that you purchase at least one month's worth of credits at a time. Depending on the payment method that you choose, it can take up to two business days after payment is received to apply your payment to your account. Pricing For information on pricing for Tucows' services, see the pricing page in the Reseller Resource Centre: Wire Transfers When remitting a payment via wire transfer, please send a confirmation to [email protected] with the your company name, OpenSRS user name (if you have one), date, originating bank, amount of the transfer, and the account name in which the transfer was conducted. Wire transfer remittances will be applied to your account within one business day of receipt. Please ensure that your company name or OpenSRS user name appears in the sender section of the wire transfer. Note: That there is a $15 processing charge for remittances by wire transfer for amounts under $ Add this amount to any remittances submitted via this method. Wire transfers should be submitted to: MT100 HSBC Bank USA, New York, N.Y. SWIFT: MRMDUS33 Pay to HSBC Canada- A/C For account: Beneficiary: Tucows.com Co. 48

62 Payments Checks and International Money Orders Check payments and money orders should be made payable to Tucows.com Co. and delivered to: Tucows.com Co. 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto, Ontario Canada M6K 3M1 Be sure to include your OpenSRS username with your check or money order. Please note that non-certified check remittances will not be processed until the transaction has cleared our bank, which can take up to 15 business days. Certified checks and International Money Orders will be applied to your account within one business day. Online Credit Card Payments If you are making a credit card remittance, please fax a signed copy of the form found at: Credit card remittances will be processed within 24 hours. Online Credit Card Account Updates The following section details the requirements and instructions for enabling and using the online credit card account update system in the RWI. Qualifying for Online Account Updates Please [email protected] and ask to be enabled for online credit card account updates. Be sure to include your Reseller username in the . Cards we Accept We currently accept Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Minimum/Maximum The online credit card account update system accepts a minimum payment of $1.00, and a maximum payment of $2000. If you require a higher maximum payment amount, please contact [email protected] to request a higher limit; please include a brief explanation of why you need a higher limit. 49

63 Payments Security Checks OpenSRS has adopted two widely used credit card security measures to protect against credit card fraud:! AVS Address Verification System. We check the address included with your payment against the address that your credit card company has on record. Be sure that the address you provide is the address to which your Credit Card is registered.! CVV Card Verification Value. CVV or CVV2 is a newer standard in credit card security. All credit cards are now issued with three extra digits appended to the card number on the back of the card, that do not show up anywhere else, except in the credit card company's database. These three numbers are used to ensure that the person making the purchase has (or has had) actual possession of the credit card. The following image shows an example of a CVV number. Note: American Express cards have a 4 digit CVV number, on the front of the card, but the process works the same way. If you have problems processing an online credit card transaction using the CVV number, (or your card does not have a CVV number), please contact [email protected]. Manual Review Occasionally our credit card clearinghouse manually audits a transaction; we have NO control over when this happens. When it does, our system rejects the transaction and you may try again using another card, or using some other means of payment. 50

64 Payments Using the Online Account Update System The following screenshot shows the basic payment submission page: To make a payment, simply fill in all the fields with the appropriate information, and click the Continue button. The Online Credit Card Payment page opens. 51

65 Payments Once you enter valid Credit Card information (including the CVV2 number) and click Charge, the payment confirmation page opens. Note: Only Canadian Resellers are charged GST. Reviewing Payments You may review your online credit card account updates via the normal Payment Information Screen in the RWI. Online credit card payments will show as "RWI Online Credit Card Payment". Also, on your credit card statement, your OpenSRS payments is displayed as "Tucows *OpenSRSrspusername". For example, if your username was acme, this would be "Tucows *OpenSRSacme". Automated Check Handling (direct withdrawal) The ACH (Automated Check Handling) payment option reduces the effort and time required to ensure that you have sufficient funds in your Reseller account to pay for new orders and transactions. In order to use this option, you must provide OpenSRS with your banking information and specify how you would like OpenSRS to withdraw funds from your account. Note: You must use a U.S. bank account; however, the account can be held at a non-us bank. Signing up for ACH To sign up for ACH, you must submit a completed contract along with a voided check to OpenSRS, either by fax or regular mail. Once your form and voided check have been received, OpenSRS enables your Reseller account for ACH and notifies you when you can access this feature. Contracts are available from either the Reseller Resource Center (RRC) or the Resellers page on tucows.com: 52

66 Payments Specifying ACH Payment Options The ACH feature enables you to deposit funds to your Reseller account by automatic top-up when your Reseller account balance reaches a minimum balance, or by manually withdrawing funds from your bank account and depositing those funds to your Reseller account. Once OpenSRS has enabled your Reseller account for ACH, you can adjust your ACH payment options using the Payment Information page in the RWI. To specify ACH payment options 1. From the RWI main page, scroll down to the Profile Management section, and click Payment Information. The Payment Manager page opens. 2. Scroll down the page to the Automated Check Handling Information section. Note: If you have not signed up for ACH or haven't yet been enabled for ACH by Tucows, this section is not shown. 3. Complete the following fields in the Automated Check Handling Information section to specify your ACH preferences: Enable Automated Payment Once you've submitted your banking information and Tucows has enabled you for Automated Check Handling (ACH), you need to activate ACH using this option. ACH Low Account Balance Threshold If you're enabled for ACH, and your account balance drops below the amount specified in this field, an is sent reminding you to use ACH to add funds to your account. Or, if you've activated the ACH Pre-Authorized Amount option (see below), funds are automatically withdrawn from your bank account when your Reseller balance drops below this amount. ACH Pre-Authorized Amount This field enables you to use the automated top-up option with ACH. When your Reseller account balance drop below the amount set in the ACH Low Account Balance Threshold field, funds are automatically withdrawn from your bank account and deposited to your Reseller account. The amount you enter in this field is the amount you authorize Tucows to withdraw from your bank account when your Reseller account balance drops below the threshold. ACH Notification Include the address to which you want your ACH low balance notification sent. Notifications of automatic top-ups are also sent to this address. ACH Banking Information Click View to see your banking information. This information is used to withdraw funds from your bank account to add funds to your Reseller account. 4. When done specifying your ACH settings, click Submit. 53

67 Payments Making a Manual ACH Payment If you have not opted to use the automatic top-up feature, you can manually deposit funds to your Reseller account. OpenSRS will send you a notice when your balance drops below your minimum balance threshold, to remind you to add funds to your account. To make a manual ACH payment 1. From the RWI main page, scroll down to the Profile Management section and click Online ACH Payment. The Online ACH Payment page opens. 2. In the Amount field, enter the amount that you want withdrawn from your bank account and added to your Reseller account 3. Click Submit. The Online ACH Payment [Confirmation] page opens. 4. Review the payment information, and if it is correct, click Confirm. The Online ACH Payment page opens, indicating that your payment has been posted. Conditions for Automatic Top-Up and Manual Deposit If you have chosen to use ACH to ensure that you always have sufficient funds in your Reseller account, funds will be deducted from your bank account when the following conditions apply:! You've enabled automatic top-up.! Your available balance is less-than or equal-to the ACH Low Account Balance Threshold.! Your current balance is equal-to or greater-than your minimum account balance.! Your ACH pre-authorized amount is equal-to or less-than the threeday maximum amount that Tucows assigned to your account. The three-day maximum amount is shown in the banking information page. 54

68 Payments Payment Information The Payment Information page in the RWI allows you to see important information about your account balance, and update payment and notification options. Field Payment Information Current Account Balance Amount Allocated for Pending Transfers Description This is the total amount of money contained within your account, including all amounts allocated for domain transfers and asynchronous registrations. This figure represents the money required to process any transfers that are currently in progress. If the transfer completes successfully, the appropriate amount is fully removed from your account. If the transfer fails, the money is returned to your account. 55

69 Payments Field Description Amount Allocated for New Registrations in Progress Amount Allocated For Other Items Available Account Balance Low Account Balance Threshold Low Balance Notification Financial Statements Information Receive Monthly Statement by Last Received Statement This figure represents the money required to process any asynchronous registrations that are currently in progress. If the registration completes successfully, the appropriate amount is removed from your account. If the registration fails, the money is returned to your account. This figure represents funds allocated to process transactions other than new registrations and transfers. This is the amount available in your account for new registrations and transfers, not including any amounts already allocated for orders in process. When your account balance drops below this threshold, an is sent to the addresses specified, reminding you to add more money to your account. You can enter a maximum of two addresses, separated by a comma. Include the address to which you want your low balance notification sent. Low balance applies to all payment methods. This section allows you to choose to receive a monthly statement by . If you choose to receive a monthly statement by , the statement is sent to the address specified in this field. If a previous statement was sent, the date of that statement is shown. Automated Check Handling Information Note: The following fields are available only if you have been enabled for Automated Check Handling. Enable Automated Payment ACH Low Account Balance Threshold Once you've submitted your banking information and Tucows has enabled you for Automated Check Handling (ACH), you need to select Yes to activate the auto top-up feature. If you're enabled for ACH, and your account balance drops below the amount specified in this field, an is sent to remind you to use ACH to add funds to your account. If you've activated the ACH Pre-Authorized Amount option (see below), funds are automatically withdrawn from your bank account when your Reseller account balance drops below this amount. 56

70 Payments Field ACH Pre-Authorized Amount ACH Notification ACH Banking Information Description This field enables you to use the automated topup option with ACH. When your Reseller account balance drop below the amount set in the ACH Low Account Balance Threshold field, funds are automatically withdrawn from your bank account and deposited to your Reseller account. The amount you specify in this field is the amount you authorize Tucows to withdraw from your bank account when your Reseller account balance drops below the threshold. Include the address to which you want your ACH low balance notification sent. Notifications of automatic top-ups are also sent to this address. Click View to see your banking information. This information is used to withdraw funds from your bank account to add funds to your Reseller account. Financial Statements We can provide financial statements that show a detailed transaction listing for your account on a monthly basis. Note: This feature is only available for contact transactions dated July 2002 or later. There is a link under Profile Management labeled Financial Statements. The Help link provides a description of the options in the interface, and an explanation of the results. You can select any month that s currently available in the system. If you want to view a web page, you can opt for 10, 20, or 30 transactions per page (more results are available on subsequent pages). Optionally, you can download all transactions for a specific month into CVS format. 57

71 Payments Financial Statement HTML Results This page gives you a summary statement and detailed transactions. Note: The information shown here is an example only and may not necessarily reflect the range of transactions you will see. OpenSRS Monthly Statement The following statement summarizes your account activity during the Statement Period. Statement Date: 27-JUN-2005 Statement Period: 01-MAY JUN-2005 Company Name: Username: Tucows qateam Payment Summary Opening Balance: $ Opening Hold Balance: ($8.00) Total Payments: $ Total Taxes: $0.00 Total Handling Fees: $0.00 Total Domain Purchases: ($ ) Total Cert Purchases: $0.00 Total Domain Renewals: ($178.00) Total Domain Transfers: ($221.00) Total Domain Refunds: $49.00 Total Cert Refunds: $0.00 Other: $0.00 Closing Balance: $ Total Hold Transactions: ($4.00) Closing Hold Balance: ($12.00) Available Balance: $

72 Payments Transaction Detail Dat e ID Transaction Type Description Debi t Credi t Closing Balanc e 01- MAY Domain Purchase new tranbill1.com 1 y MAY Hold Transaction Return reserve transfer ludatu7.com 1 y Pages: of 23 >> > If you opt to select a CVS file, it contains the summary information in the first segment, then a listing (comma separate values) of all the transaction details (Date, ID, Transaction Type, Description, Debit, Credit, Closing Balance). Refunds OpenSRS refunds any unused account balance within two weeks of receiving a written request. We will not refund any portion of your account balance that has been used for domain registrations, renewals, or transfers. Checking your Balance Resellers can check their balance anytime using the Payment Manager page in the RWI. From the RWI main page, scroll down to the Profile Management section, and click Payment Information. The Payment Manager page opens. 59

73 General TLD (gtld) Registrations The following gtlds are offered by OpenSRS:!.COM!.NET!.ORG!.INFO!.BIZ!.NAME!.MOBI Registration Considerations There are no special requirements for registering gtlds. Any organization can get as many available names as they are willing to pay for. Registration in the gtlds is done in real-time the OpenSRS system sends commands to the Verisign Registry, which replies immediately with either confirmation of the requested change, or the appropriate error message. In either case, the result of the transaction is displayed for the Reseller (or in some cases, the end user) immediately. Note: The only exception is for gtld Registrar transfers, which are explained in the OpenSRS Domain Transfers guide, available from the Documentation page. The following screen shows the basic domain contact structure. Information from any contact can automatically be filled in for any subsequent contact (for example, the administrative contact can be marked same as Registrant Contact etc.). 60

74 General TLD (gtld) Registrations DNS Requirements When registering gtlds, you can provide up to 13 functional nameservers per domain. gtld Qualification In order to resell gtlds to your clients, you need to:! Read, sign, and fax the gtld Registration Contract to OpenSRS.! Post the gtld Registrant Agreement and ICANN UDRP on your site, and clearly bind your clients to them.! Establish an account balance with Tucows. Quickstart Considerations Using the Quickstart interface you can only register or transfer one domain at a time. To implement more advanced features like bulk order processing and credit card integrations, consider a Full Access implementation. gtld Renewals A renewal transaction is final, and cannot, under any circumstances, be canceled. Please be sure that you fully understand this before you attempt any domain renewals. We have no way to retrieve money from the registry for domain years purchased through renewals, and so we cannot refund Resellers who renew names in error. gtld Renewal Flow The OpenSRS renewal system was built to meet the requirements identified by our Resellers. Many features are optional, allowing you to use the elements of the renewal system that best match your business model. Assuming all the features of the system are enabled, the typical renewal cycle is as follows: 1. Reminder s are sent to the registrant 90, 60, 30, 5, and 0 days before the domains expiry. 2. Reminder s are sent to the reseller at 90, 60, 30, 1, and -40 day intervals. 3. The registrant either contacts the Reseller and orders a domain renewal, or requests the renewal online through the Resellers renewal scripts. 4. Once the domain is renewed, an confirmation is sent to both the registrant and the Reseller. 61

75 General TLD (gtld) Registrations The following diagram represents this process: gtld Renewals Features Overview The following sections explain the additions to the OpenSRS client and server to facilitate gtld renewals. Most features of this system are available on an opt-in basis, allowing Resellers to use our standard renewal automation functionality, or to build their own automated renewal processes. The following features are available to automate gtld renewals:! Views for 90, 60, 30, 0, Past Due, Deleted Names.! Reminders for 90, 60, 30, 1, Past Due to Reseller.! Reminders for 90, 60, 30, 5, 0, Past Due to Registrant.! Confirmation to Registrants/Resellers to confirm successful domain renewal.! Bulk Renewals.! Ability to set names for auto-renewal.! Ability to set names for NON-renewal. 62

76 General TLD (gtld) Registrations The Reseller Web Interface and gtld Renewals Nearly all renewal functionality can be found in the Renewal Management section of the RWI. The following screen shows some of the headings: 63

77 General TLD (gtld) Registrations The following table explains the elements in the RWI: Element Renewal Views Names expiring in the next days Names expiring in the next days Names expiring in the next 30-0 days Deactivated names (0-40 days past expiration date) Expired names (deleted) Search domains Names auto-renewing in 30 days Search domains set to auto-renew Search domains set to let-expire Renewal Settings Configure daily RSP renewal reminder Configure daily end user renewal reminder Configure renewal order processing messages Description Shows a list of domains expiring in the next days. Shows a list of domains expiring in the next days. Shows a list of domains expiring in the next 30 days. Shows a list of domains that are passed their expiry date, but not yet deleted. Names are deleted if they reach 40 days passed their renewal date and have not been renewed. Shows a list of expired domains. Shows a list of all domains. Shows a list of domains auto-renewing in 30 days. Shows a list of domains set to auto-renew. Shows a list of all domains set to let-expire. Allows Resellers to enable and configure an report of names coming up for renewal (details below). Allows Resellers to enable and configure reminders to end users for names coming up for renewal (details below). Allows Resellers to enable and configure confirmations of processed renewals to both the end user and the Reseller. (details below). 64

78 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Renewal Functionality from 90, 60, 30, 0 days and Passed Due Views Resellers can renew domains from any of the tables in the renewals section, except Expired Names. The tables are presented as follows, with renewal functionality described below. Table Header Domain Name Expiry Date Renewal Setting Renew Renewal Term WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Privacy Expiry Description The domain name that is due for renewal. Click this header to sort results by domain name. The expiry date of the domain up for renewal. Click this header to sort by expiry date. This drop-down list shows the current renewal setting and allows you to choose a different renewal option. Click this checkbox to renew the domain. Use the drop-down list to choose the number of years for which to renew the domain. Indicates if WHOIS Privacy was purchased for the domain. Indicates the expiry date for the WHOIS Privacy service if it was purchased for the domain. If you ve made changes on this form, click Submit to submit your renewal setting changes. Individual gtld Renewals Domain names can be renewed individually using the tabled views. Resellers can also click the domain name in question from the tabled renewal views (or the View Active Domains table) and renew the domain using a renewal feature located at the bottom of the page. 65

79 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Bulk gtld Renewals Bulk renewals are possible through the Reseller Web Interface using the Bulk Renew Names link under Renewal Management. Simply enter a list of names in the text box provided, and click Submit. You may also set the autorenew flag to on while processing renewals in this manner. See "Renewing Multiple Domains" for more information. Setting gtlds to Auto-Renew The Auto-renew feature is an excellent safety net for domains that must not be allowed to expire. All domain names that have the Auto-Renew feature enabled are automatically renewed 30 days before the domain expiration date. If the flag is set when there are less than 30 days to expiration, it should be done within 2 days of the expiration date, depending on when the Autorenew job processes the renewal. If a domain is close to the expiration date and you turn the Auto-renew flag on expecting it to be auto-renewed the very next day, you should renew the domain manually anyway just in case the Auto-renew job runs late. Afterwards, the Auto-renew function will see that a manual renewal has been performed and won t apply an extra renewal year. Names can be set for auto-renewal any of the following ways:! By the Reseller or Registrant during registration (client or RWI).! By the Reseller after clicking on the domain name from either the View Active Domains view or one of the renewal views.! By the Reseller from one of the renewals views.! From the Bulk Renewal Tool in the RWI, while processing renewals.! Via manage.cgi if you are using the Full Access client scripts and have enabled this functionality (see the Perl Client Manual for details). Generally, domain renewal becomes an issue once a domain name is approaching its expiration date; however, one feature that should be considered upon registration or transfer is the auto-renew feature. The registrant (or the Reseller) may now opt to put a name on Auto-renew. Note: Resellers must be sure to maintain a sufficient account balance that is capable of sustaining auto-renewals; an auto-renewal transaction will not succeed if there are not sufficient funds in your Reseller account. 66

80 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Auto-Renew all New/Transferred Domains Resellers can set all new or transferred domains to auto-renew by default using an option in the RWI. The auto-renew setting can be disabled at the order level by the Reseller, or by the Registrant, if enabled. To enable auto-renew 1. In the RWI main page, click Tech Contact Information. 2. Scroll down the page to the Domain Name Options section. 3. Beside the Auto-Renew all New/Transferred Domains option, click Yes. Reseller Notification End-User Activated/Deactivated Auto-Renew Using the AWI (Admin Web Interface), Resellers can opt to receive a notification when their end-users activate or deactivate the auto-renew setting for their domains. Auto Renew Enabled Sent to Reseller when a domain s auto renew setting is enabled. Auto Renew Disabled Sent to Reseller when a domain s auto renew setting is disabled. The same two messages are sent if all domains in the end-user s profile are changed (one message containing list of domains updated). Notification is sent only when the setting is changed and is not part of a renewal order. If a renewal order also sets the domain to auto-renew, no message is sent to the Reseller. Setting gtlds for Non-Renewal Domain names must be set individually for non-renewal from the information page for the domain. This feature is useful if you know that your client is not interested in renewing a domain name, and you want to prevent the system from including them in any automated s sent to your clients. Note: A domain that is set for non-renewal will be deleted 40 days after the domain s expiration date. 67

81 General TLD (gtld) Registrations To navigate to the information page for a domain 1. From the RWI main page, in the Domain Registration Administration section, click Search Domains. The Search Domains page opens. 2. Scroll to the bottom of the Search Domains page, then click Results to HTML page. The Search Results page opens. 3. In the Domain Name column, click the link for the domain. The domain information page opens. To set a domain for renewal through normal notification 1. From the domain information page, in the Change Domain Renewal Settings section, ensure the Let Domain Expire radio button is selected. 2. Click Update Settings. The result is displayed at the top of the page, indicating if the instruction was successful. To set a domain for automatic renewal 1. From the domain information page, in the Change Domain Renewal Settings section, select the Auto Renew radio button. 2. Click Update Settings. The result is displayed at the top of the page, indicating if the instruction was successful. To set a domain for non-renewal 1. From the domain information page, in the Change Domain Renewal Settings section, select the Let Domain Expire radio button. 2. Click Update Settings. The result is displayed at the top of the page, indicating if the instruction was successful. Note: ICANN rules require registrars to send a renewal message for a domain. Selecting Let Domain Expire results in a message being sent in order to comply with this requirement. gtld Renewals without Sufficient Funds If you try to process a domain renewal, or a domain that is set to auto-renew reaches the 30 day mark and renews, but you don t have sufficient funds in your account to complete the transaction, the transaction fails. If you are using the RWI renewal functionality, an appropriate error message appears on the screen. If the renewal request comes through the client or as the result of the auto-renew flag, an error message is displayed to the end user, and the following is sent to the Technical Contact address that we have on file for you to remind you to add money to your account: 68

82 General TLD (gtld) Registrations An order has been submitted (ORDER #) through the client scripts which cannot be processed due to insufficient funds. Your current account balance is ACCOUNT_BALANCE. Orders submitted from this point forward may not be processed and no further warnings will be sent for 24 hours. For payment remittance information please see: For payment related inquiries, please contact If you have any questions about this order please contact Note: This is the only circumstance where a renewal order error sends an to the Reseller. gtld Script/Client Considerations for Renewals Renewals are mostly handled on the server-side of the OpenSRS system; however, there is a feature in the client code that extends renewal functionality to the end user through the scripts. Resellers must enable this feature in the opensrs.conf file; once done, an end user can visit a URL and request a domain name renewal. Note: It is important that you build some kind of payment processing into your scripts if you enable this feature. For full instructions on configuring this option, please refer to the Reseller Client Library or the OpenSRS API Specification. gtld Renewal Messaging The following section explains how Resellers can configure the various messages that are involved in the renewal process. These include both renewal reminders and confirmations to both Resellers and Registrants. Reseller Renewal Reminders Resellers may configure the OpenSRS renewal system to send out reports listing names that are coming up for renewal. These reports can be configured in the Renewal section of the RWI, under Configure daily RSP renewal reminder . These reports can now be sent to multiple addresses when Resellers add the addresses in the Reseller Contact Information section of the RWI. To configure the renewal reminders 1. In the RWI, click Renewal Management. 2. In the Renewal Settings section, click Configure daily RSP renewal reminder . 69

83 General TLD (gtld) Registrations 3. Select the interval when you want to send the to your end users. You can choose 30, 60, and 90 days before the domain expiry date as well as 10 days after the expiry date. Send upcoming renewal report messages to yourself daily, even if there are no domains expiring within the next 90 days? Send upcoming renewal report messages to yourself daily, only if there are domains expiring within the next 90 days. Never send upcoming renewal report messages to yourself. Choose this setting if you want to receive renewal reminders, even if there are no domains set to expire in the following 90 days Choose this setting if you want to receive renewal reminders only if there are domains set to expire in the following 90 days Choose this setting if you do not want to receive renewal reminders Resellers receive this message in plain text. The reminder message tells Resellers:! Status of Daily Reseller Reminder Messages (on/off)! Status of Daily Registrant Reminder Messages (on/off)! Names to be deleted (> 40 days overdue) on that day! Names to be deactivated (0 days) on that day! Names expiring in 90, 60 and 30 days! Names Auto-renewed on that day (auto-renew occurs 30 days before expiry date)! Names set to hit the Auto-Renew date in the next 60 days Resellers can customize messages by changing the editable portions of the Daily RSP Renewal Reminder message template. To find this message template, choose the View Message Template List option on the RWI and navigate to the Domain renewal Messaging section of the template list. An example of a renewal reminder message follows: From: [email protected] Reply-to: [email protected] Subject: Automated 90 day renewal reminder for <CUSTOMIZABLE INTRODUCTORY TEXT BY ADMINISTRATOR> This message is being sent to you automatically by OpenSRS. To change the options for this message, or to stop receiving this message go to Renewals section of the Reseller Web Interface (RWI) at 70

84 General TLD (gtld) Registrations The following domains were not renewed and have been deleted today: Domain Name, Expiry Date, Billing Contact, Owner Contact, Tech Contact, Admin Contact <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> The following names have been deactivated today and will be deleted in 40 days. Domain Name, Expiry Date, Billing Contact, Owner Contact, Tech Contact, Admin Contact <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> The following names will expire in 30 days: Domain Name, Expiry Date, Billing Contact, Owner Contact, Tech Contact, Admin Contact <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> The following names will expire in 60 days: Domain Name, Expiry Date, Billing Contact, Owner Contact, Tech Contact, Admin Contact <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> The following names are set to 30 day auto-renewal in 60 days: Domain Name, Expiry Date, Billing Contact, Owner Contact, Tech Contact, Admin Contact <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> <DOMAIN>,<EXPIRY_DATE>,<BILLING>,<OWNER>,<TECH>,<ADMIN> 71

85 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Configuring Registrant Renewal Reminders You can configure the OpenSRS renewal system to send customized messages to your clients once their names approach their expiration date. The default send to address is the Registrant s Admin Contact. If the Admin Contact address is different than the Billing Contact address, a message is sent to both contacts. The Reseller sets the message body and the From and Reply To addresses. To configure the renewal reminders 1. In the RWI, click Renewal Management. 2. In the Renewal Settings section, click Configure daily end user renewal reminder Select the interval when you want to send the to your end users. You can choose 30, 60, and 90 days before the domain expiry date as well as 10 days after the expiry date. 4. If you are a Platypus customer, you can include in the renewal , a URL that directs registrants to a page where they can renew and process their payments through Platypus. Click Enable Renewal Links and enter the URL in the Renewal Link URL field. Use the following format: ervicetype=domain&options [target]=renew&options[domain]={{domain_name}} If you are not currently a Platypus customer, but would like to know more about the Platypus billing system, see 5. Edit the contents of the default messages as needed. You can change the From and Reply-To addresses as well as the message body. 6. Click Preview the xx Day Renewal Reminder Message to see your changes before you commit them, or click Reset this message to default content to discard your changes. 7. Click Save Changes to save the changes that you made. 72

86 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Manually Sending a Renewal Notice to End-Users Instead of relying on the renewal reminders sent at specific intervals (e.g. 30, 60, or 90 days before expiry), you can send renewal reminders to your customers at any time. To manually send a renewal notice 1. From the RWI main page, click Search Domains, located in the Domain Management section. The Search Domains page opens. 2. Use the fields and drop-down lists to search for the domain for which you want to send a renewal reminder. 3. Click the Results to HTML page button. The Search Results page opens. 4. From the Domain Name column, click the domain. A new page opens with details for the domain. 5. From the Renew Domain section, click Send Manual renewal reminder to Admin Contact. 6. Click OK to confirm. The renewal message is sent to the admin contact for that domain. Reseller Renewal Confirmation Resellers may also set the renewal system to automatically them when domains are renewed. This feature can be enabled and configured in the Renewal Settings section of the RWI, under Configure renewal order processing messages, to RSP. The Renewal Order Processed is sent to the domain s Billing contact to inform them that the domain was successfully renewed. 73

87 General TLD (gtld) Registrations 74

88 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Registrant Renewal Confirmation Resellers can configure the renewal system to send a confirmation to registrants once the domain has been renewed. This feature can be enabled and configured in the Renewal Settings section of the RWI, under Renewal Confirmation, To End User. Bounced Renewal Messages If the renewals system sends an to an invalid administrative contact address, the bounced message is collected by OpenSRS and sent to the technical contact address listed in the RWI. You can then act on these bounced messages to ensure that your clients are aware that their domain is coming up for renewal. The Manage Domain Interface and gtld Renewals When a registrant logs into the Manage Domain they are informed whether any of the names in their OpenSRS profile are due to expire within the next 60 days. The notice appears at the top of the screen. In addition, the manage.cgi can be configured to allow you to offer renewals to your customers directly through your Manage Domain interface. For more information on how to do this, please consult the latest version of our Reseller Client Library or API Specification guide. 75

89 General TLD (gtld) Registrations DNS for Expired Domains As of October 19, 2005, the DNS settings for expired domains in the TLDS.COM,.NET,.ORG,.INFO,.BIZ,.NAME,.CC and.tv are replaced with the Tucows Hostname ns1.renewyourname.net and ns2.renewyourname.net.! The DNS settings are changed if the domain is not renewed 15 days past its expiry date.! Expired domains are not placed on hold at day zero for the TLDs.COM,.NET,.ORG,.INFO,.BIZ,.NAME,.CC and.tv.! The original DNS settings for the expired name are saved so that if the registrant wants to renew or redeem the domain, their original DNS settings can be restored.! If an internet user tries to go to an expired domain they see a 404 error.! If an internet user uses the URL of the Tucows nameservers, they reach a white labeled page that explains that the Registrant should contact their service provider to renew the domain. Archived s from OpenSRS The Reseller Web Interface contains archives of some of the s sent from OpenSRS. Reseller Notification Log This section contains archives of various error-related s that OpenSRS sends to the Resellers, mostly relating to failed actions because of a low balance. This includes:! Account balance is below reseller threshold.! Transfer Failed, Insufficient Funds.! Registration Failed, Insufficient Funds.! Monthly Billing Statement for Reseller. View Announcements All the Live Reseller Updates (LRUs) are contained within the View Announcements section. LRUs contain information about new product offerings, functionality changes, and system performance issues. 76

90 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Pricing The current cost for gtld registrations can be found in the RRC (Reseller Resource Center) at You need your Reseller login information in order to access this page. ICANN charges an additional $0.25 surcharge to register each gtld. This applies to domains in the.com,.net,.org,.info,.biz, and.name domains. You can view this charge in the RWI under View Completed Orders. auth_code for.info,.org,.biz,.name,.net,.com and.mobi Domains Once registrants successfully register a.info,.org,.biz,.name,.net,.com, or.mobi domain, they are provided an auth_code which is a secret pass phrase that shows verifiable proof of ownership of a domain. This is specific to the registry technologies employed by the.info registry. This code should be kept secret, and is separate from the management username/password that is required to manage your OpenSRS domains. You may obtain this information via the Manage Domain interface, or from the current Registrar of record. Changing the Auth_code Registrants can change their auth_code using the manage interface. Registrants log in to the page using their existing data and either modify or change the necessary data. ing the Auth_code to the Admin Contact You can the auth_code to the admin contact for the domain by clicking a link in the RWI. To the auth_code to the admin contact 1. In the RWI, enter the domain in the View Domain field, and click Query. 2. In the Domain Management section, click the Auth-Code to the Admin Contact link. 77

91 General TLD (gtld) Registrations 3. A confirmation dialog appears. Click OK to confirm that you want to send the auth_code. An containing the auth_code is sent to the admin contact. Note: "auth_codes" are not used with the other gtlds. Managing gtlds To manage gtlds, advise your clients to use Tucows Manage Domain interface, using the username and password they selected when registering or transferring the domain. Note: It is possible for Resellers to offer domain management as a service; Tucows simply requires Resellers to provide a means for their clients to make changes to their domain name. WHOIS Info With the new shared registration system model, the nature of the WHOIS server has changed. Traditionally, the InterNIC/NSI Registry maintained the WHOIS server for.com,.net and.org domain names, and a single query returned full WHOIS data including registrant, administrative contact, billing contact, technical contact, and nameserver information. The Old Way: A single query returned full WHOIS data. The New Way: In the multi-registrar model, each registrar maintains a WHOIS server containing contact and nameserver information for the domains registered with them. The InterNIC maintains a central, registry WHOIS server, which simply contains nameserver and registrar information for all.com,.net and.org domains. 78

92 General TLD (gtld) Registrations To find out the registrar of record for a domain, consult the registry WHOIS server, at: The output from the registry WHOIS query indicates the website address and WHOIS server address for the domain's registrar of record, where full contact information can be found. Key Points! Only the WHOIS server of a domains' Registrar of record can be considered authoritative.! Some Registrars configure their WHOIS server to perform a 'registry lookup' for other Registrars' domain names; some will even go so far as to perform a lookup on another Registrar's WHOIS server. However, the only sure way to check domain availability or get contact and expiry information is to perform a WHOIS query with the domain's Registrar of record. As a convenience, the OpenSRS WHOIS server is configured to check other Registrars' WHOIS databases.! Many WHOIS databases are not updated in real-time, so you can make a change to a record, but the change does not appear in the WHOIS output until the next day. OpenSRS' WHOIS server is updated in realtime for all domains for which we are the Registrar. 79

93 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Deletion of New Registrations To delete a domain, click the Domain Refunds link in the Reseller Web Interface, and use the form to submit your deletion request. Please note the following about deletion of new registrations:! A refund may be issued for new domain registrations if the domain is deleted within four days of registration. Refunds will not be issued for domains that are five days or older.! A processing fee may be applied to domain refunds.! Registries differ in how they handle deletions (not available, extra charges, etc). Check that TLD s section in this document to see if there are exceptions.! Other than the administrative fee or Registry-specific deletion fees, the cost of the registration is refunded to the Reseller account. Refunds can be seen using the Payment Information link in the Reseller Web Interface. Note: There is no grace period and no refunds available for deleting.eu and.be domains. Domain Locking Domain locking prohibits certain changes to a domain. If a domain is locked, transfers and DNS modification cannot be made until the domain is unlocked. Resellers can now enable Registrants to change the lock setting for their domain in the Public Manage Interface. By default, the lock/unlock feature is enabled so that domain owners can lock or unlock their domains. To set domain locking 1. In the RWI main page, click Tech Contact Information. 2. Scroll down the page to the Domain Name Options section. 3. Enable or disable the domain locking setting for domain owner use. Note: As of September 12, 2005, locked.info domains are renewable. 80

94 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Locking all New/Transferred Domains Resellers can set defaults to lock all new domain registrations and transferins. The Lock all New/Transfer Domains option is set to Yes by default. When set to Yes, all new registrations and transferred-in domains will be locked against transfers. The lock can be disabled at the order level by the Reseller or, where enabled, by the Registrant. Note: Not all TLDs support locking; the "lock all" setting will not be applied to TLDs that do not support locking. Locking supported:.com,.net,.org,.biz,.vc,.us,.cc,.tv, and.info Locking not supported:.ca,.de,.uk,.ch,.nl,.fr, IT, BE, AT WDRP - Whois Data Reminder Policy The Whois Data Reminder Policy is an ICANN requirement with which all accredited registrars had to comply by October 31, The policy states that all Registrars must, at least once a year, present each of their Registrants with that Registrant s current Whois information. Tucows sends the WDRP message to each Registrant 120 days before their domain s expiry date. If a domain is registered for more than one year, the WDRP message is sent, each year, 120 days before the anniversary date of the domain s registration. The WDRP message includes a link to a page where Registrants can then update their Whois information, if required. Using the RWI, Resellers can personalize the WDRP message that Tucows sends to their Registrants as well as view the send status for the messages. If a Registrant fails to or opts not to respond, their current Whois information is assumed to be correct. Sample WDRP Message From: Whois-verify@{reseller_ } Sent: Tuesday, September 21, :00 AM To: domain_admin_contact@ sampledomain.com Subject: Whois Data Confirmation Dear Valued Customer, ICANN, the organization responsible for the stability of the Internet, requires that each domain name registrant be given the opportunity to correct any inaccurate contact data (WHOIS data) associated with a domain name registration. 81

95 General TLD (gtld) Registrations Our records for your domain are as follows: sampledomain.com Registrant: Sample IT Inc Smart St Toronto, ON M1M 1M1 CA Domain name: sampledomain.com Administrative Contact: Lastname, Firstname 1234 Smart St. Toronto, ON M1M 1M Fax: Technical Contact: Lastname, Firstname 1234 Smart St. Toronto, ON M1M 1M Fax: Billing Contact: Lastname, Firstname 1234 Smart St. Toronto, ON M1M 1M Fax: Registration Service Provider: Reseller Inc., This company may be contacted for domain login/passwords, DNS/Nameserver changes, and general domain support questions. Record last updated on 21-Sep Record expires on 23-Jul Record created on 23-Jul Domain servers in listed order: NS1.DOMAINDIRECT.COM NS2.DOMAINDIRECT.COM N1.TESTTEST.COM N2.TESTTEST.COM 82

96 General TLD (gtld) Registrations N3.TESTTEST.COM N4.TESTTEST.COM N5.TESTTEST.COM To review and update your WHOIS contact information, please log into our management interface at: If any of the information above is inaccurate, you should correct it. If all of the information above is accurate, you do not need to take any action. Please remember that under the terms of your registration agreement, the provision of false WHOIS information can be grounds for cancellation of your domain name registration. If you have any questions or comments regarding ICAAN's policy, please contact them directly at Thanks you for your attention. Best regards, Tucows NOTE: Please do NOT reply to this message. This is an outgoing message only. Customizing the WDRP Message Sent to your Customers Resellers can customize the message sent to their customers so that it displays their name and address as the sender. In the message s customizable fields, Resellers can include their contact information, a link to their manage page, and other WDRP related information. To customize the WDRP message 1. In the RWI, click View Templates Message List to open the list of OpenSRS message templates, and select the WHOIS Data Reminder Policy template under EU WDRP Domain Messaging: 83

97 General TLD (gtld) Registrations 2. Click Edit to open the Edit WHOIS Data Reminder Policy page. The page contains several customizable fields where you can add or change information: From Address Type your address here if you want to provide it to your customers. Replies to the WDRP message will not be sent to this address; your customers will have to create a new message and address it using the address you enter in this field. From Name Type your business name in this field to identify yourself as the sender. Replace the variable {{manage_url}} with your contact information (URL, Reseller manage URL, , phone number, etc.). If you do not replace this variable, the Tucows Manage page will be sent to your customers. Customize other fields such as {{domain}} or type additional messages where applicable. We recommend that you add Do not reply to this message; this is an outgoing message only at the end of your WDRP message. 3. Click Save. Your message preview appears. 4. Review the message and then click Confirm. Viewing your Customers WDRP Message Status To view your customers' WDRP message status 1. In the RWI, click WDRP Management to open the WDRP Views page: 2. Click one of the view links to view a list of registrants. For example, click the View Domains with WDRP message sent link to see the list of registrants whose WDRP messages have already been sent. Changing the WDRP Message Contact Type 1. On the WDRP Views page, click Admin or Owner to change the contact who receives the WDRP message. 2. Click Save Changes. 84

98 .NAME gtld The.NAME namespace is the only generic Top Level Domain (gtld) authorized exclusively for private individuals. It allows domain registrations on the second and third domain levels. Second level.name registrations allow Registrants to register domains like johnsmith.name; third level.name registrations allow registrations to register domains like john.smith.name. The.NAME registry is run by Global Name Registry (GNR). Their website can be found at Domains may be registered for 1, 2 or 10 year periods..name Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.name domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.NAME domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.name registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at You should post the.name registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should read as: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.NAME Agreement Once Tucows has received the and has checked your website, Tucows will reply to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.name registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..name Domain Formats and Availability Registration of.name domains allows Resellers to register a.name domain or a.name domain/ -forward bundle. Note: Upgrading to an -forward bundle is not available; in order to have forwarding for a domain, you must purchase forwarding and the domain registration in the same order. 85

99 .NAME gtld Format.NAME domains according to one of the following examples:! Firstname.Lastname.name (third-level)! Lastname.Firstname.name (third-level)! FirstnameLastname.name (second-level)! LastnameFirstname.name (second-level).name Second- and Third-Level Name Conflicts Second-level registrations that are already in use by a third-level registration are not available. For example, the second-level domain jsmith.name cannot be registered if mark.jsmith.name is already registered. Third-level registrations are available for domains that are already registered at the second-level. For example, joe.smith.name can still be registered even if smith.name is taken (provided joe.smith.name is available). Reserved and Restricted Names The following names and domains are reserved on.name, and as a result, are restricted from being registered in the RWI and client code:! All two-letter combinations on the second level (for example, ab.name, ie.name, li.name, xi.name)! All pure numbers on the second level (for example, 101.name, name)! All labels with hyphens in the second and third character positions (for example, "bq--1k2n4h4b")! All of the following second levels: aero afrinic alerts apnic arin arpa aso biz celeb celebrity cert certificate com coop directory dns dnso dotname edu etsi example famous findyour findyourfamily findyourname finger ftp getyour getyourname global globalregistry gnr gopher gov gtld-servers hostmaster iab iana iana-servers icann iesg ietf imap info int 86

100 .NAME gtld internic irtf istf itu lacnic latnic ldap login mil museum myname name namedomain nameregistry net nic nntp no1 ntp org pop pop3 pro pso registeryour registeryourname registry rfc-editor ripe root-servers scp security smtp snmp tel telnet theglobal theglobalname theglobalnameregistry theglobalregistry thenamedomain thenameregistry w3c whois www yourname zone! All of the following third levels (where is any second level):! www[1,100]..name (e.g. www1..name, www23..name)! mx[1,100]..name! ns[1,100]..name! mail..name! ..name! wap..name! http..name! directory..name! dir..name! genealogy..name! The following names, which the registry will delegate to an appropriate third party! Jesus.Christ.name! Santa.Claus.name 87

101 .NAME gtld.name Registration Eligibility Any person can register his or her own personal name. A parent may register the personal name of his/her child, provided that the registration is in the name of the child. The same applies to names given as gifts. All registrations must remain in the name of the rightful owner of the domain. Any individual or entity can register a personal name of a fictional character if that individual or entity has trade or service mark rights to that name. Registrants can add numeric characters to the beginning or end of a personal name to differentiate it from other personal names. For instance, if john.smith.name is already registered, an eligible registrant may opt to purchase john5.smith.name or john.smith5.name. Forwarding forwarding is available for third-level.name registrations only. forwarding is not available for second-level.name domains. Third-level.NAME registration with forwarding cannot be transferred into Tucows with the forwarding functionality. forwarding can only be added at time of registration. When you purchase a third level.name domain, you can also include an existing address to which sent to the.name domain will be forwarded. The address associated with a third-level domain is created based on the domain name. Depending on the domain name, the forwarding address will be structured according to one of the following examples:! [email protected] for a domain like firstnamelastname.name! [email protected] for a domain like lastnamefirstname.name Note: There is an additional cost for the forwarding feature. Registering Second- and Third-Level.NAME Domains without Forwarding Registration and management of second- and third-level.name domains, without the forwarding option, is done in the same way as for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.name domains. 88

102 .NAME gtld Registering a Third-Level.NAME Domain with Forwarding Follow the steps below to purchase a third-level.name domain with forwarding. If you do not want forwarding, use the Place Order Manually link in the RWI and order the domain as you would a gtld domain. To register a third-level.name domain and purchase forwarding 1. From the RWI main page, click Place Order Manually for.name 3rd level with forwarding in the.name section. The standard Domain Registration Form page opens. 2. Complete the form as you would for a gtld registration order. Note: For.NAME real-time registrations, the phone number MUST be in the format:+ccc.nnnnnnnnnnnnxeeee C =the country dial code N=the twelve digits of the phone number E=the extension. The x character is ONLY required if an extension is specified. For Tucows phone number, this would be (where 1 is the dial code for Canada). 3. To purchase the Domain/ bundle, scroll down the page to the Forwarding Option section, and enter an address in the Forwarding Address field. sent to the.name address will be forwarded to the address submitted in this field. Note: Once the order is processed, you cannot add or remove an forward. 4. When done completing the form, click Submit. 89

103 .NAME gtld.name Renewals Except for the following points, renewal features for.name are the same as they are for.com,.net and.org.! You can renew either the domain or the domain/ forward bundle, depending on what you purchased.! Upon renewing a domain, you cannot upgrade to a domain/ forward bundle.! Upon renewing a domain/ forward bundle, you cannot downgrade to a domain. Tucows will hold a.name domain for 40 days after the expiry date. On the 40th day the name is deleted from our system. It then takes the.name registry 1 to 7 days to delete it from their system and make it available to the general public..name Transfers and Out-of-Zone Hosts Any out-of-zone hosts attached to a.name domain must be registered before the domain is transferred. This policy applies to all.name transfers. To ensure the nameservers have been added to the root registry 1. From the RWI main page, in the Domain Registration Administration section, click Add Nameserver to All Foreign Registries. 2. From the Add Nameserver to All Foreign Registries page, enter the nameserver hostname, for example, ns1.example.com. 3. Click Add Nameserver. The results are displayed at the top of the page, indicating if the addition was successful..name Manage Considerations.NAME names can be managed using the manage.cgi, or Please note the following:! Contact changes cannot be made while the domain is locked.! Registrants can obtain the Auth_code (used in transfers) via the Manage Domain interface. 90

104 .MOBI.MOBI is the only generic Top Level Domain (gtld) designed to deliver the Internet to mobile devices. Domain names can be registered for one to ten year terms..mobi names must adhere to these rules:! Must be at least 3 characters in length.! Can include numbers (0 through 9), English language letters (A-Z), and a hyphen (-).! Must begin and end with either a letter or a number.! Do not include spaces and special characters.! Cannot use hyphen (-) as the third or fourth character. See the RRC for the a list of reserved and draft premium names: Nameserver Requirements Domains will only resolve if nameserver data is included in the initial registration application. If you intend to assign a site to your.mobi domain, but are unsure which nameservers to submit with your application, submit the OpenSRS nameservers ns1.mdnsservice.com and ns2.mdnsservice.com, and use the Managed DNS service to delegate traffic once the site is live..mobi Compliance The.MOBI Registry will regularly audit all.mobi sites to ensure.mobi compliance. Compliance ensures that the site has been optimized for display on mobile devices. Mandatory Requirements for Building a.mobi Website! Must use XHTML Mobile Profile 1.0 as the default for the landing page.! Cannot use frames.! Site must be present on second level <domain.mobi>. See the RRC for the mtld guidelines document (includes mandatory rules and recommended best practices): Any non-compliant.mobi domains will have 60 days to become compliant. If a domain fails to comply within 60 days, the Registry will remove the domain from the zone file and the site will no longer resolve. Resellers will be contacted regarding their customers' non-compliant sites. 91

105 .MOBI Viewing Pending Orders From the RWI main page, in the.mobi Orders section, click the View Pending Orders link. The Pending Orders page opens, listing any.mobi applications that were saved to pending or which could not be submitted. To edit a pending application: click the domain name link in the Domain Name column. The Edit.MOBI Sunrise Application page opens. Make any change to the form, then resubmit or save the application. To submit or cancel the application: select the Process or Cancel checkbox in the domain application record and click Submit. Viewing Submitted Orders From the RWI main page, in the.mobi Orders section, click the View Completed Orders link. The Completed Orders page opens, listing all.mobi orders that have been submitted to the Registry. Being "completed" does not guarantee that the.mobi domain has been successfully registered. The Registry may respond indicating that the domain has been taken. Completed orders, even those that fail with the Registry, are non-refundable. 92

106 Country Code TLDs The term cctld stands for Country Code Top Level Domain; it is a term used to differentiate country code name space such as.ca,.uk,.au (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia) from gtlds (generic top level domains) such as.com,.net, or.org. A complete listing of cctlds and their corresponding countries can be found at It is important to note that some cctlds are closed or chartered, meaning that there are restrictions placed on registering a domain in that space, while others are less restrictive and are open to everyone to register domains. OpenSRS offers the following country code TLDs.AT Austria.BE Belgium.CA Canada.CC Cocos Islands.CH Switzerland.CN China.DE Germany.DK Denmark.ES Spain.EU Europe.FR France.IT Italy.MX Mexico.NL Netherlands.TV Tuvalu.UK Great Britain.US USA Each country code TLD is addressed in its own section. 93

107 Country Code TLDs.AT.AT is the TLD for Austria, and is regulated by the nic.at registry. Registration of.at domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.at domains. Management of.at domains can be done at Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.at domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.AT domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.at registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at You should post the.at registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.AT Agreement Once Tucows receives the and has checked your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.at registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..at Residency Requirements.AT is an open registry; you do not have to be an Austrian resident or business operator to register a.at domain..at DNS Requirements In order to activate a.at domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to five nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.at domain, or when activating the.at domain. The domain name and nameserver details are usually transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. 94

108 Country Code TLDs.AT Renewals.AT domains must be renewed at least 28 days prior to their expiry date. If the domain is not renewed by the 28th day, Tucows changes the billing contact to that of the registrant. The registry then contacts the owner about renewing the domain. If the owner does not respond, with payment, by the expiry date, the domain is deleted. Once the domain is deleted, the owner must contact the Reseller to reactivate the domain. The domain can be transferred back with a regular Transfer request..at Transfers To initiate a transfer, the registrant contacts the new Registrar and notifies them that they want to transfer their domain. The Registrar then initiates the transfer request through the RWI. To transfer a domain 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.at page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. 6. Complete the.at transfer form found at ers.pdf and fax it to ATTN: Tucows Service Bureau. Tucows processes the request and notification is sent once the transfer is complete. 95

109 Country Code TLDs.BE.BE is the TLD for Belgium, and is regulated by DNS.BE. Registration and management of.be domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.be domains..be Contact Information Unlike gtlds, two contacts are required to register a.be domain: Owner and Tech..BE Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.be domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.BE domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.be registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.be registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL of the website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should read as follows: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.BE Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.be registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..be Residency Requirements.BE is an open registry; you do not have to be a Belgian resident or business operator to register a.be domain..be DNS Requirements In order to activate a.be domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to nine nameservers per domain. 96

110 Country Code TLDs.BE Renewals and Registration Term All.BE domains have a registration term of one year, and may only be renewed for one year terms, one year at a time. There is no renewal grace period for.be domains, so it is important to ensure that domains are renewed prior to their expiry dates. Sixty days prior to the expiry date, a scheduled deletion request is submitted to the registry. If the domain is renewed during that sixty day period, the deletion request is removed and the domain is renewed at the registry on its expiry date. If a domain name is not renewed by its expiry date, it is not immediately released, but is held in quarantine for 40 days. During that 40 day period, it can be retrieved (reactivated) by the owner; however, the cost to reactivate a domain that is in quarantine is higher than the standard renewal rate. After the 40 day quarantine period, if the domain has not been reactivated, it is made available to the public. To reactivate a domain name that is in quarantine, contact [email protected]. When you reactivate a domain that has been in quarantine, the new expiry date is one year from the date on which it is reactivated. Note: The.BE registry allows domains to be transferred while in quarantine. Although Tucows does not currently support this process, we will honor any transfers away from Tucows that occur while the domain is in quarantine..be Transfers and Changes of Ownership DNS BE oversees all.be transfers and changes of ownership. Although the process for executing transfers and changes of ownership is similar, the registry differentiates them as follows:! A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar through the RWI.! A Change of Ownership (also referred to as a Trade) transfers ownership of a domain name from one registrant to another. The current owner of the domain contacts their Reseller/Registrar, and the Reseller enters the new information in the RWI..BE Transfers To initiate a transfer, the registrant contacts the new Registrar and notifies them that they want to transfer their domain. The Registrar then initiates the transfer request through the RWI. To transfer a domain name 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 97

111 Country Code TLDs 3. Click Transfer. The Transfer Form for <domainname>.be page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry (DNS BE). The registry sends an to the registrant asking the registrant to confirm the transfer. Confirmation must be received within 14 days in order for the transfer to be completed. If confirmation is not received within 7 days, another is sent to the registrant as a reminder. Note: If confirmation is not received with the required 14 days of the initial request, the transfer is cancelled. When the transfer process is complete, a new 12 month term starts from the date of the transfer, and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration..be Change of Ownership To initiate a change of ownership, the current owner of the domain contacts their Reseller/Registrar and notifies them that they want to change the ownership information for their domain. The Reseller then initiates the request through the RWI. To change ownership of a domain 1. Launch the RWI 2. In the Domain Management section, click Submit.EU or.be ownership change. The.EU/.BE Ownership Change page appears. 3. Enter the list of.be domains for which you want to change ownership. 4. Complete the fields in the Owner Contact section, and click Submit. An is sent to the new and previous owners asking for confirmation of the change in ownership. Confirmation must be received within 14 days. If confirmation is not received within 7 days, an is sent to the Reseller with a reminder that confirmation is needed from both parties. When the confirmation is received, the change is processed and an is sent to the previous owner saying that the trade took place. Note: If confirmation is not received within 14 days, the change in ownership does not proceed. When the change in ownership process is complete, a new 12 month term starts for the domain name and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. 98

112 Country Code TLDs.CA.CA is the country code TLD for Canada, and its features include: Client:!.CA registrations, renewals and registrar transfers! Autorenewals Server:!.CA registrations, renewals and registrar transfers! Autorenewals! Do not renew flag About CIRA The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) is a not-for-profit Canadian corporation that is responsible for operating the.ca Internet country code Top Level Domain (cctld) for all Canadians in an efficient and professional manner. Tucows has partnered with CIRA to offer.ca domain registrations to qualified Tucows resellers..ca Reseller Qualifications In order to offer.ca domain names, each Reseller is required to sign and remit to Tucows a.ca specific Registration Service Provider Agreement. Additionally, Resellers are required to bind their clients to the terms and conditions of the.ca registry. Note: As of July 2004, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) no longer runs a test system. As a result of this, resellers can no longer test.ca registrations/lookups using the OpenSRS test environment at In order to apply for access to sell.ca names from our live environment, Resellers must:! Remit a new Reseller contract to Tucows authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.CA domain reseller. The contract can be found at: Bind your customers to the.ca registration terms, a copy of which can be found at: OpenSRS supports the registration of.ca TLDs via the Reseller Web Interface (RWI); however, as with previous versions of OpenSRS, the Quick Start method does not offer the full range of options that are available to Resellers with the Reseller Client implementation. 99

113 Country Code TLDs.CA Registration Considerations Special.CA registration templates are used when registering.ca domains. Upon successful registration.ca domains are seamlessly inserted into an OpenSRS registrant profile. New registrations can be either synchronous processes, or asynchronous processes, depending on whether the name is being registered to a new registrant or an existing registrant. Names registered to existing registrants are synchronous, and are processed in real-time. Names registered to new registrants are processed asynchronously, the appropriate Reseller funds are placed on hold within the OpenSRS system, and the order is treated as an order in progress until the registrant either confirms or rejects CIRA s terms and conditions. Tucows returns all funds on hold to the Reseller if a.ca registration fails or is rejected by CIRA. CIRA uses Registrant Profiles, which are much like the OpenSRS profiles or NSI s contact handle system. If, for example, one registrant orders a number of domain names, CIRA specifies that we process each of the domains with the Registrant ID number, as opposed to including full contact information with each order. During the registrant profile creation process, the registrant must agree to all of CIRA s terms and conditions. However, once done, the registrant can register as many.ca names to this profile as they want, and they do not need to go through the lengthy agreement process for each name. Registrant profiles also allow for the efficient modification of contact information once domains have been registered. If an existing.ca name is provided as the profile anchor during the registration process, then the new name is placed in the same CIRA profile as the existing.ca name. If a new profile is created, or the anchor name chosen is not a.ca name (even if there are other.ca names within that OpenSRS profile), or the existing profile contains no.ca names, then a new CIRA profile is created. Order States for Registrations The following are the system status messages, which are important during the Advance Registration Process (you can find all messages associated with your advance.ca orders under View Orders in Progress in the RWI): OpenSRS Status Code (in RWI) Sent to CIRA Meaning The advance registration has been submitted to CIRA, and accepted as properly formatted To Search Search Reg System Orders Status: Processed 100

114 Country Code TLDs OpenSRS Status Code (in RWI) Completed* (not under View Orders In Progress, but under View Active Domains) Declined Failed Meaning The domain has been successfully registered The order was submitted to CIRA, but rejected because it was improperly formatted. To correct or cancel the order: a) Search Reg System Orders for the domain in the RWI b) Change the information and resubmit, or cancel as desired The order was submitted to CIRA, and rejected. This may be because the name already exists, is reserved or illegal. The appropriate error is shown in the Order Notes section To Search Search Reg System Orders Status: Completed (or view under View Active Domains) Search Reg System Orders Status: Declined Search Reg System Orders Status: Cancelled Whois The current authoritative WHOIS server for.ca domains is: Note: Both the RWI and Reseller Client interfaces are equipped with a domain lookup tool to check domain name availability; the WHOIS interface simply provides more information about the domain registrar and registrant. At this time, the OpenSRS WHOIS service does not do recursive lookups for *.CA registrations. A sample of WHOIS output for a *.CA name follows: Domain tucows.ca Organization TUCOWS International Inc. Registrar Tucows International Corp. Renewal Date 2002/09/17 101

115 Country Code TLDs Date approved 2000/10/20 Last changed 2000/11/02 Description Registrar Number 156 Registrant Number Domain Number DNS1 DNS2 Nom Job Title Postal Address TUCOWS International Inc. is an internationally based firm offering web based content services (i.e. end users on a global scale. TUCOWS currently operates the largest Canadian owned web site and has mirrors at over 300 locations world wide. Administrative operations are based throughout Canada and the United States (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Michigan). cns1.idirect.com cns2.idirect.com Edward Gray Manager Central Services Phone +1 (416) Fax +1 (416) Nom Job Title Postal Address EDWARD GRAY MANAGER CENTRAL SERVICES TUCOWS INTERNATIONAL INC. TUCOWS INTERNATIONAL INC. 96 MOWAT TORONTO ON M6K 3M1 CAN [email protected] Adrian Daminato Network Engineer Phone +1 (416) Fax +1 (416) ADRIAN DAMINATO NETWORK ENGINEER TUCOWS INTERNATIONAL CORP. TUCOWS INTERNATIONAL CORP. 96 MOWAT TORONTO ON M6K 3M1 CAN [email protected] 102

116 Country Code TLDs Process Diagram The following diagram illustrates the.ca registration flow: 103

117 Country Code TLDs The CIRA Username/Password Once the registration is complete, CIRA sends a UserID and password to the administrative contact. This is NOT the same as the OpenSRS username and password. The CIRA UserID/password must be used to:! Confirm critical updates to the domain (these include changes to Legal Type and Administrative Contact)! Confirm Registrar/Registrant Transfers Important: Please make sure that either you or your clients save the UserID and password information, as it is needed to make the above changes. Retrieving the CIRA UserID and Password The CIRA UserID and Password can be resent to the Administrative Contact. To retrieve the CIRA UserID and password 1. Enter the domain in question in the View Domain field, and then click ENTER. 2. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. 3. Click Send request to CIRA to resend password to registrant s admin contact..ca Registration Flow Within the Reseller s Web Interface (RWI) there are two methods for placing a.ca order:! Place Order Manually for.ca (NEW)! Place Order Manually for.ca The Place Order Manually for.ca option presents the user with a one-page order form. To successfully use this option, the user is required to fully understand:! CIRA legal type/registrant name requirements! CIRA registrant profile concepts and how they are integrated into the OpenSRS profile environment. Since this knowledge is very complex and specific to only.ca domains, the one page order form does not facilitate entering correct orders. As the result, the Place Order Manually for.ca (NEW) option was introduced. With this option, the registration of.ca domains has been simplified for new users. The original form is still available for experienced users; however, the new form makes it easier to select Legal Types as required by CIRA and it provides help functions throughout the registration process. The remainder of this section focuses on the Place Order Manually for.ca (NEW) option, and provide hints for those using the Place Order Manually for.ca. You can click on the Help icon to get additional help about municipal domains and CIRA registrant profiles. 104

118 Country Code TLDs Depending on the data that you select, the registration process branches into four unique processes. These processes streamline the data collection required for:! Domain order for a new registrant! Domain order for an existing registrant! Municipal domain orders! Blocking/conflicting domain orders Domain Order for a New Registrant CIRA requires that new.ca registrants are correctly defined prior to acquiring a domain. As a result, the first focus is on obtaining the correct registrant information, prior to collecting the domain information. The registrant information has two key components:! legal type! registrant name 105

119 Country Code TLDs Providing Registrant Information Given the importance of selecting the correct legal type, the following screen is displayed: If you are familiar with Legal Types and know which type the registrant falls into, it is best to choose the option Select from all the available legal types, as the next screen allows you to access information on all 18 CIRA legal types. If you are not sure what Legal Type the domain is, select the group that best describes the registrant (domain owner), and the next screen will assist you in selecting the appropriate legal type. For example, if you select an Individual (and the domain is for personal use) the screen appears as follows: 106

120 Country Code TLDs The information that is displayed on this screen depends on the selection made in the previous screen, so that if you selected a Community Group (such as a religious congregation, social club or a sports club) on the previous screen, this screen contains completely different information. This screen displays:! A unique introduction about the CIRA s legal type and registrant name requirements for selection.! A customized legal type list which lists only those legal types appropriate for this selection.! Customized help information focusing on the appropriate legal types and the registrant name requirements Based on this information, you can select the appropriate legal type and enter the registrant name using the syntax information provided on the screen. When you go to the next screen, the system provides you with more examples of the registrant name and asks you to confirm or change the registrant name information. A sample of this screen is shown below: 107

121 Country Code TLDs At this stage, you have accessed all pertinent information regarding CIRA s legal types and the syntax for registrant names, so you can be sure that you are entering correct information! Note: If you use the Place Order Manually for.ca option rather than the Place Order manually for.ca (NEW) option, the one page order form does not provide any verification tools for selecting your legal type and providing your registrant name. When placing an order, please review the sections Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants and Which Registrant Name Rules Apply to the Various Legal Types. 108

122 Country Code TLDs Providing Domain Information You can now provide the domain information for the registration. You have the option to retrieve data from other sources or to enter the information yourself. The screen shown below allows you to pre-fill the domain information using information from other orders and domains. The next screen allows you to enter the Admin and Tech contacts for the Domain and the DNS information. If you selected a retrieve option, the screen is pre-filled with the information from the other order or domain, and you can simply modify this information as required. In order to activate a.ca domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to six nameservers per domain. In the Domain Name Security section, you are required to select whether the domain should be linked to an existing OpenSRS profile, or if a new profile should be created. 109

123 Country Code TLDs Finally, a small screen, like the one below, is displayed to collect the information for creating a new OpenSRS profile or linking to an existing OpenSRS profile. 110

124 Country Code TLDs You have now provided all the required information, and can review all the domain information entered in the previous screens. From the drop-down menu, you can choose to either save the order for processing at a later date, or process the order immediately. Domain Order for an Existing Registrant If you want to add a domain to an existing registrant profile, all you have to do is identify this registrant profile. The legal type, registrant name, admin and technical contacts from this profile are used for the domain, and you cannot modify this information. We provide you with two methods for selecting the registrant profile, which are fully described on screen below! Based on the method you select in this screen, the following screens are modified to prompt you for the relevant information only. The next sections describe the two methods for adding a domain to an existing registrant profile. 111

125 Country Code TLDs Add Domain to an Existing OpenSRS CA Profile In order to link the.ca domain to an existing OpenSRS profile, you have to enter a domain name that belongs to that profile, the existing username, and password. Because the domain can have different DNS values than the other domains in the CIRA registrant profile, you can enter the DNS values or use the default values provided. The screen for entering this data is: You have now provided, all the required information, and you can review all the domain information entered in the previous screens. From the drop-down menu, you can choose to either save the order for processing at a later date, or process the order immediately. Note: If you use the Place Order Manually for.ca option rather than the Place Order manually for.ca (NEW) option, and you want to add a domain to an existing CIRA registrant profile, you must enter the.ca domain, username, and password in the Retrieve Order Information section of the order form. Once you have retrieved the information, ensure that the same username/password and domain are included in the Registrant Profile section of the form. Adding a Domain to an Existing CA Registrant ID To add a domain to an existing CA registrant ID, a CIRA User Account number (which is also referred to as the Registrant ID) is required. If you do not know this value, you can obtain it from the CIRA whois. As you do not enter a password to confirm that you are indeed the registrant, we will the admin contact for the registrant, to obtain their approval for this order. The order status indicates whether the admin contact has approved or rejected the order request. 112

126 Country Code TLDs As the domain can have different DNS values than the other domains in the CIRA registrant profile, you can enter the DNS values or use the default values provided. You are required to select whether this domain should be linked to an existing OpenSRS profile, or if a new profile should be created. The screen for collecting this information is: Finally, a small screen, like the one below, is displayed to collect the information for creating a new OpenSRS profile or linking to an existing OpenSRS profile. You have now provided all the required information, and you can review all the domain information that you entered in the previous screens. From the drop-down menu, you can choose to either save the order for processing at a later date, or process the order immediately. Note: If you use the Place Order Manually for.ca option rather than the Place Order manually for.ca (NEW) option, the one page order form does not support this functionality. You must use the NEW form to be able to add a domain to existing CA registrant using the registrant ID feature. 113

127 Country Code TLDs Municipal Domain Orders CIRA has reserved a domain name for every village and town in Canada. The syntax for these names is:! Qualifier.name.province.ca Where, qualifier describes the place, be it town, village, etc. Examples: city.toronto.on.ca town.orangeville.on.ca! name.ca Examples: toronto.ca orangeville.ca Note: Qualifier.name.ca AND name.province.ca are NOT AVAILABLE, for example, city.toronto.ca and toronto.on.ca are NOT AVAILABLE Registration orders for these names are submitted normally through the OpenSRS system; however, CIRA has instituted a manual process to complete the registration. Once the order has been submitted, OpenSRS staff reviews it for completeness. If it appears likely to succeed (it appears to be a legitimate registration) then the order is submitted to CIRA. At this point, the Reseller should fax a letter to CIRA verifying the town s claim to the name. The letter should meet the following criteria:! Written on the city/town s letterhead.! State that the town is the registrant for the domain {{domain}}.! Officially name someone from the town s administration to be the administrative contact for the domain (include relevant contact information such as job title, relation to the town, address, phone number).! Be signed by a person with signing authority for the town; this person CANNOT be the person listed as the admin contact. Send this letter to CIRA at: You should also fax a copy to Tucows at When placing the order, the legal type for all municipal domains is Government or government entity in Canada. After you enter the domain name on the main screen, the legal type is automatically selected and you are prompted for the registrant name. The order process continues as outlined in the section Domain Order for a New Registrant. However, once the order is completed, you will be provided with all the information regarding the fax that must be sent to CIRA (as shown below). 114

128 Country Code TLDs Note: If you use the Place Order Manually for.ca option rather than the Place Order manually for.ca (NEW) option, the one page order form does not provide any verification tools for selecting your legal type and providing your registrant name for a municipal domain. Please review the sections Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants and Which Registrant Name Rules Apply to the Various Legal Types whenever placing a municipal order. Similarly, please review this section of the document to prepare the required fax for CIRA. Blocking/Conflicting Domain Orders Once a.ca name (or its provincial variant) has been registered, all other variants of that name are blocked to other registrants. For example, if the name smith.on.ca was registered to Jessica Smith, then only Jessica Smith could register smith.qc.ca (or any other provincial variant) or smith.ca Jessica Smith can order any and all of the other variants of her name by linking the new registration request to the existing CIRA profile. Jessica Smith can also grant permission to any other party that is eligible for.ca names to register one or some of the other variants of her name. To place a request for a blocked name, simply enter the order as you normally would for a.ca name. Our systems determine that the name has other variants, and engage the blocker process. The system s the administrative contacts of all the blocking domains to get their approval. If all blocking parties agree to grant the new name to your Registrant, our system sends the registration command to CIRA. If the parties do not agree, we cancel your request. You can have the system notify you and/or your customer by if the order is canceled. To enable this functionality, click Tech Contact Information under the Profile Management section of the RWI. You will see the following options: 115

129 Country Code TLDs If you want to configure the message that is sent to your customer, click Configure Message. This brings you to the following screen where you can customize the message. Note: In our experience, successful registration of blocked domains is quite rare; most registrants do not seem to be interested in complying with CIRA s processes, and either ignore or reject such requests. 116

130 Country Code TLDs The new order form informs you immediately if the domain is blocked. The following screen appears for blocker domains: If you do not want to proceed with this order, simply select No, otherwise the order continues on as outlined in the section Domain Order for a New Registrant. Note: If you use the Place Order Manually for.ca option rather than the Place Order manually for.ca (NEW) option, the one page order form does not inform you that the domain is a blocker until you submit the order. You may want to do a whois lookup before entering all the order information to ensure that domain is not a blocker. Deleted.CA domains in the RWI Search Domains Page The RWI Search Domains page does not distinguish domain deletions due to expiry and domain deletions due to transfers. All deleted.ca domains are shown as deleted due to expiration in the domain search results. 117

131 Country Code TLDs Canceling.CA Orders in Progress This option is useful if you placed a.ca order with OpenSRS, and subsequently, canceled, or were unable to confirm the order with CIRA, but the OpenSRS system has not yet been updated and still shows the order as active. In such a situation, you cannot use OpenSRS to resubmit a revised order for the same.ca domain until the.ca order is canceled with OpenSRS. You can either wait for OpenSRS to be updated with CIRA's records, or you can cancel the order in OpenSRS using this option. Note: OpenSRS synchronizes with CIRA once each day, during non-business hours, EST, including weekends. To cancel an in-progress.ca order at OpenSRS 1. From the RWI main page, click View Orders in Progress. 2. From the Orders in Progress page, click the domain name for the order that you want to cancel. 3. Click Cancel Order. Resending the CIRA Username and Password to the Registrant It is possible that you or your clients may misplace the CIRA user ID and password that is required to complete the CIRA authorization. If this happens, you can resend the information to the administrative contact. To resend the CIRA username and password 1. Query the name through View Domain feature in the RWI. 2. Scroll down to the bottom of the record, and click Send Request to CIRA to resend a password to the registrant's admin contact. Important: In order for your clients to successfully transfer their.ca names to you, they need their CIRA username/password to approve CIRA s authorization request; they need to obtain this from their current registrar..ca Registrar Transfers (RWI) Registrar transfers for.ca domains are done in the same way as transfers for.com domains. To transfer.ca names from other registrars to Tucows via the Reseller Web Interface, use the Transfer a domain field in the Reseller Web Interface (found at Contact and nameserver information do not change during the course of a.ca registrar transfer. If the administrative contact approves the transfer request, the name is simply transferred to Tucows and one year is added to the registration; contact changes may be initiated once the domain transfer is completed. 118

132 Country Code TLDs Notes: 1. The username and password may be completely new, resulting in the domain being inserted into a new OpenSRS profile, or may belong to an existing profile, resulting in the name being added to an existing domain profile. 2. The order may be processed immediately, or placed in your Pending Orders table, as specified by the criteria in the Action drop-down box. Once the order has been placed, you can review its progress in the View Orders in Progress section of the RWI, as well as in the appropriate Transfers view in the RWI.! OpenSRS treats.ca transfers as individual transfer requests; even transfers submitted in bulk result in individual confirmation requests (both from OpenSRS and from CIRA) being sent to the domain administrative contact.! CIRA uses the concept of a Registrant Profile, which may contain a number of.ca domains. It is possible for one registrant profile to contain domains hosted at different CIRA registrars; each Registrar who sponsors one of these domains may submit changes to the main profile, and once those changes are accepted, they apply to ALL domains that are contained within that Registrant Profile at CIRA. To break a domain out of a CIRA registrant profile (as opposed to an OpenSRS domain profile) a CIRA Registrant Transfer is required. To initiate a CIRA Registrant Transfer, please contact [email protected] Registrar Transfers through the Reseller Client Code Please refer to the latest version of the PERL Client Manual for full information on how to place a.ca registrar transfer order through the PERL Client. In general, orders placed using the existing Transfer forms result in a registrar transfer being initiated; however, NO contact or nameserver information is taken along with the order (since contact and nameserver information cannot be changed during a registrar transfer). A new template has been provided for.ca transfers. If you download our newest client, you get this template; if you do not, the registrant sees the existing Transfer template, which allows them to enter contact and nameserver information even though it will not be used. Any contact and nameserver information that is added is dropped, and the transfer proceeds. Once the order has been processed, it can be tracked via the RWI, and by using the Check Transfer command through the API. 119

133 Country Code TLDs.CA Registrar Transfer Process The following diagram shows the.ca registrar transfer process: 120

134 Country Code TLDs Registrar Transfer Status Codes The following status codes apply to.ca registrar transfers: OpenSRS Status Code Pending Owner Approval Pending Registry Approval Completed Canceled Meaning The OpenSRS has been sent to the listed administrative contact for the domain for their approval. The admin contact has approved the OpenSRS request, and we have sent the transfer request on to CIRA; at this point, the admin contact must approve CIRA s confirmation request using the CIRA UserID/Password originally provided by CIRA when the domain was registered. This means that the registrar transfer is complete, and that the domain has been renewed. This means that the order either: Timed out. Was canceled by the admin contact (at the OpenSRS level). Was canceled by the admin contact (at the CIRA level). The precise reason is recorded in the Order Notes. Forcing the Completion of Registrar Transfers It is possible that you will find that CIRA shows Tucows as being the Registrar for a particular name you are transferring here, but that our order still shows as Pending Registry Approval. Resellers can force OpenSRS to query CIRA to see whether the Registrar has been set to Tucows or not. If a Reseller initiates such a check and we find that the Registrar is now Tucows, we will complete the order immediately. To check the status of a transfer order that is Pending Registry Approval, click the domain name from the Waiting Registry Approval view, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click Check Transfer. Note: This feature also works for gtld transfers that are Pending Registry Approval. 121

135 Country Code TLDs.CA Transfers Messaging Reseller.CA names are now included in all Reseller Transfers messaging. End User Because OpenSRS has no power to stop transfers away from us to other registrars, End User Messaging is disabled for.ca transfers to other registrars. The listed administrative contact for the domain receives all other messages as specified in the section "gtld Renewal Messaging"..CA Transfers away from your Reseller Profile Once a.ca domain has been transferred away from your Reseller profile, it is marked as Deleted-Transferred and can be found by searching for All Deleted or Deleted Transferred domains, in the RWI. Note: Transfer Winback is not available for.ca domains..ca Reseller to Reseller Transfers Transferring.CA names between Tucows Resellers follows a similar process to.ca registrar transfers; however, since everything is local to OpenSRS, no CIRA confirmation step is required. Reseller transfer orders are entered into the RWI and RCL in exactly the same way as Registrar transfer orders; a domain year is still charged to the Reseller, and the domain s registration period is extended for one domain year. The following diagram shows the Reseller transfer process for.ca names: 122

136 Country Code TLDs.CA Reseller Transfer Status Codes The following status codes apply to.ca Reseller transfers: OpenSRS Status Code Pending Owner Approval Pending Registry Approval Completed Canceled Meaning The OpenSRS has been sent to the listed administrative contact for the domain for their approval. In Reseller transfers, this state actually means that the administrative contact has approved the transfer, but that OpenSRS has not yet renewed the domain. No.CA domain undergoing a reseller transfer should be in this state for longer than five minutes. If you find a domain that remains in this state, it means that OpenSRS is having trouble renewing the domain at CIRA. If this state persists, contact [email protected]. This means that the reseller transfer is complete and the domain has been renewed. This means that the order either: Timed out. Was canceled by the admin contact (at the OpenSRS level). The precise reason is recorded in the Order Notes..CA Reseller Transfers Messaging Reseller.CA names are now included in all Reseller Transfers messaging. End-User The listed administrative contact for the domain receives all Reseller to Reseller transfer messages as specified in the section "gtld Renewal Messaging". 123

137 Country Code TLDs.CA Registrant Transfers CIRA s domain ownership transfer procedure essentially consists of an organization name change, or more properly, a Registrant change. This cannot be done using manage.opensrs.net, and must be initiated either through the RWI or by a request to our support team, depending on the scenario (see below for details). There are three distinct variations in this:! Domain transfer to new registrant, both old and new registrants with Tucows.! Domain transfer to new registrant, old registrant with Tucows, new with another Registrar.! Domain transfer to new registrant at Tucows, old registrant at another Registrar. Domain Transfer to New Registrant, Both Old and New Registrants with Tucows During the process, a new registrant is created, and the name is transferred between registrants. To initiate this transfer, from the.ca Orders section of the RWI, select Submit.ca Registrant Transfer Request. The.CA Domain Registrant Transfer form appears. From here you can either base the transfer on an existing Registrant profile, or create a new one. The following describes the steps for both scenarios. To base the transfer on an existing Registrant profile 1. Enter the domain name to be transferred in the space provided. Please note that you cannot enter a municipal domain name as they cannot be transferred to a new Registrant. 2. Select Yes to transfer to an existing CIRA Registrant profile. 124

138 Country Code TLDs 3. Enter the existing profile number in the Registrant Number field, and click Next. 4. In the Registrant Transfer Information screen, review the information regarding your transfer request including the next steps that will be taken by Tucows and CIRA. If you are satisfied with this information, click Submit to confirm. 125

139 Country Code TLDs 126

140 Country Code TLDs Once the request has been submitted, Tucows inserts the domain into your Reseller profile with a random username and password. To create a new profile for the transfer 1. Enter the domain name to be transferred in the space provided. Please note that you cannot enter a municipal domain name as they cannot be transferred to a new Registrant. 2. Select No to create a new profile for the transfer. The Legal Type Selection screen appears. This screen and the subsequent screens are essentially the same as they are for a registering a new order. Domain Transfer to New Registrant, Old Registrant with Tucows, New with another Registrar This type of transfer results in the domain being transferred away from Tucows, to a different registrant at another registrar. You can initiate this process through the RWI as described in the preceding section. 127

141 Country Code TLDs Domain Transfer to New Registrant at Tucows, from a Registrant at another Registrar This type of transfer must be initiated at the OTHER registrar. If you are attempting this type of transfer, please send an to OpenSRS Support to inform us that the transaction will be taking place. Include the following information:! The domain name.! Reseller Username.! The date that you ordered the Registrant Transfer from the Other Registrar. Managing.CA Registrations We have enabled the Manage domain interface and scripts to work with CIRA and make changes to.ca domain names. However, there are some important things to keep in mind:! We are not the authoritative source of WHOIS information for.ca domains; CIRA is. Because of this, CIRA is the authority for all.ca contact and nameserver information. Your clients can change and review all.ca information through the Manage Domain interface, but the information is pulled live from the CIRA WHOIS database and at no time is the OpenSRS database updated to reflect these changes. All information for.ca domains that the registrant can see through the Manage Domain interface is pulled LIVE from the CIRA database. CIRA s WHOIS server is available at: Certain updates are considered critical and require registrant confirmation; these include: Any change to the Administrative Contact. Changes to Legal Type. Upon receiving requests to change any of these fields, CIRA sends a confirmation to the Administrative Contact that they will have to act upon to complete the modification. Administrative Contacts are instructed to visit a CIRA web site, and enter their Account ID and CIRA password to confirm the changes; these pieces of information are provided to the Administrative Contact when they originally registered the domain.! Currently, changes cannot be applied en masse between.ca domains and domains in other TLDs, regardless of whether they are in the same OpenSRS profile or not.! CIRA does not support the notion of a billing contact; we have removed this heading from the manage interface when a.ca name is being managed. 128

142 Country Code TLDs! Many elements of the CIRA WHOIS are CIRA specific, so you may notice new and different fields in the Organization, Administrative and Technical contact sections of the manage domain interface. Non-critical updates are completed in real-time and can be viewed through the Manage interface and WHOIS as soon as they are made. To manage a.ca domain, direct your clients to: or to your implementation of the newest manage.cgi. They can log into the Manage interface using the domain name, and their OpenSRS Username and Password. Note: They do NOT use their CIRA Account ID and Password; these are used to confirm critical updates only. Renewals The following sections explain the.ca renewal processes and systems..ca renewal functionality has been added to the existing gtld renewal systems..ca renewal functionality can now be found in all the places that we ve implemented.com renewal functionality, including:! Views for 90, 60, 30, 0, Past Due, Deleted Names.! Reminders for 90, 60, 30, 0, Past Due to Reseller.! Reminders for 90, 60, 30, 0, Past Due to Registrant.! Confirmation to Registrants/Resellers to confirm successful domain renewal.! Bulk Renewals.! Ability to set names for auto-renewal.! Ability to set names for NON-renewal.!.CA renewals through the client/rwi. Assuming all the features of the system are enabled, the typical renewal cycle is as follows: 1. Reminder s are sent to the registrant and the Reseller 90, 60, 30, and 0 days before the domains expire. 2. The registrant either contacts the Reseller and orders a domain renewal, or requests the renewal online through the Resellers renewal scripts. 3. Once the domain is renewed, an confirmation is sent to both the registrant and the Reseller. 129

143 Country Code TLDs The following diagram represents this process: Note:.CA names are deleted 30 days after their expiry date (in the absence of a renewal command) and not 40 as with.com/.net/.org names. Another key difference with.ca names is that CIRA also s the registrant to remind them that their name is coming up for renewal. CIRA's explanation of their procedure follows: If the registration period has not been renewed 60 days prior to the expiry date of the registration period, CIRA will advise the Registrar of record by or a web-based report of the expiry date of the Registration. The Registrant will also be sent an advising it of the expiry date; If the registration period has not been renewed 30 days prior to the expiry date of the registration period, CIRA will advise both the Registrant and the Registrar of record that the Registration is due to expire within 30 days; If the registration period has not been renewed seven (7) days prior to the expiry date of the registration period, CIRA will send a final advisory message to the Registrant and the Registrar of record that the Registration is due to expire within seven (7) days; and If the Registration has not been renewed by its expiry date, the Registration will be automatically suspended from the expiry date of the registration period for a period of 30 days. Both the Registrant and its Registrar of record will be advised of this suspension by . The effect of a suspension of a Registration is described in Section 6.10 of the Registrant Agreement. Essentially, the effect is that an Internet user will not be able to send or access a web page which incorporates the registered domain name until the Registration is reactivated. Note: In all cases,.ca renewal management is an extension of the gtld renewal management features. If, for example, your renewal messaging is enabled for.com/.net/.org, the same messages are used for.ca names. 130

144 Country Code TLDs Important: Be sure to modify your messages to address your.ca registrants. Specifically, make sure that you note the term post expiry that a registrant can still renew their name as 30 and not 40 days. Ability to Set.CA Names for Non-Renewal Names can only be set for non-renewal individually, while looking at the domain record linked from the View Active Domains view or one of the renewals views. Note: A.CA domain set for non-renewal is deleted 30 days after the domain s expiration date. A domain can be taken off non-renewal status by clicking on the domain name from the View Active Domains or Renewals tables, and selecting either:! Normal Notification! Auto-Renew This feature is useful if you know that your client is not interested in renewing a domain name, and you want to prevent the system from including them in any automated s sent to your clients. CIRA adds a further administrative step to the non-renewal process. As always, they insist on confirming the registrant s request. Once a.ca name is set to non-renewal in the OpenSRS, CIRA sends the administrative contact an asking them to confirm their intention. If the administrative contact does not confirm their request at the CIRA confirmation site (using the CIRA username and password associated with the domain) they will continue to receive CIRA renewal notices (though no OpenSRS notices will go out.) If a name set to Non-renewal at CIRA is, in fact, renewed, the non-renewal setting at CIRA is cleared, and normal renewal messaging resumes once the domain approaches its next expiry date. Allow.CA Domain Changes without Registrant Approval Using the MWI (Manage User Interface), Registrants can enable an option that allows changes to their domain to be made without their explicit approval. By default, this option is disabled. Once the Registrant enables this option, a request is sent to CIRA to enable this feature. The Registrant must visit CIRA's website, using the URL provided in the MWI, and confirm the request. 131

145 Country Code TLDs This option is located in the MWI, from the Edit Organization Contact page: Canadian Presence Requirements for Registrants Overview After public consultation, CIRA has determined that the.ca domain space should be developed as a key public resource for the social and economic development of all Canadians. Persons who want to register a.ca domain name or sub-domain name must meet certain Canadian Presence Requirements. CIRA is committed to reviewing these Canadian Presence Requirements from time to time in order to ensure they remain in the best interests of Canadians and the.ca registry. Canadian Presence Requirements On and after the Operational Transfer Date, only the following individuals and entities will be permitted to apply to CIRA (through a CIRA certified registrar) for the registration of, and to hold and maintain the registration of, a.ca domain name: Canadian citizen A Canadian citizen of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which he or she resides or last resided. Permanent resident A permanent resident as defined in the Immigration Act (Canada) who is ordinarily resident in Canada (as defined below) and of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which he or she resides or last resided. Legal representative An executor, administrator or other legal representative of the Persons listed in paragraph (a) and (b) above. 132

146 Country Code TLDs Corporation A corporation under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada. Trust A trust established and subsisting under the laws of a province or territory of Canada, more than 66 2/3 % of whose trustees meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (d) above. Partnership A partnership, more than 66 2/3 % of whose partners meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (e) above, which is registered as a partnership under the laws of any province or territory of Canada. Association An unincorporated organization, association or club:! At least 80% of whose members: (A) are ordinarily resident in Canada (if such members are individuals); or (B) meet one of the conditions set out in paragraphs (a) to (f) above (if such members are not individuals); and! At least 80% of whose directors, officers, employees, managers, administrators or other representatives are ordinarily resident in Canada Trade union A trade union which is recognized by a labour board under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada and which has its head office in Canada. Political party A political party registered under a relevant electoral law of Canada or any province or territory of Canada. Educational institution Any of the following: (i) a university or college which is located in Canada and which is authorized or recognized as a university or college under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada; (ii) a college, post-secondary school, vocational school, secondary school, pre-school or other school or educational institution which is located in Canada and which is recognized by the educational authorities of a province or territory of Canada or licensed under or maintained by an Act of Parliament of Canada or of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada. Library, Archive or Museum An institution, whether or not incorporated, that (i) is located in Canada and (ii) is not established or conducted for profit or does not form part of, or is not administered or directly or indirectly controlled by, a body that is established or conducted for profit, in which is held and maintained a collection of documents and other materials that is open to the public or to researchers. Hospital A hospital which is located in Canada and which is licensed, authorized or approved to operate as a hospital under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada. Indian band Any Indian band as defined in the Indian Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-5, as amended from time to time, and any group of Indian bands. 133

147 Country Code TLDs Aboriginal Peoples Any Inuit, First Nation, Metis or other people indigenous to Canada, any individual belonging to any Inuit, First Nation, Metis or other people indigenous to Canada and any collectivity of such Aboriginal peoples. Government Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, a province or a territory; an agent of Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, of a province or of a territory; a federal, provincial or territorial Crown corporation, government agency or government entity; and a regional, municipal or local area government. Trade-mark registered in Canada A Person which does not meet any of the foregoing conditions, but which is the owner of a trade-mark which is the subject of a registration under the Trade-marks Act (Canada), but in this case such permission is limited to an application to register a.ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of that registered trade-mark; or Official marks A Person which does not meet any of the foregoing conditions, but which is a Person intended to be protected by Subsection 9(1) of the Trade-Marks Act (Canada) at whose request the Registrar of Trademarks has published notice of adoption of any badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other mark pursuant to Subsection 9(1), but in this case such permission is limited to an application to register a.ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of such badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other mark in respect of which such Person requested publications. For the purposes of this policy:! ordinarily resident in Canada means an individual who resides in Canada for more than 183 days in the twelve month period immediately preceding the date of the applicable application for registration of the.ca domain name or sub-domain name and in each twelve month period thereafter for the duration of the domain name registration; and! Person includes an individual, a corporation, a partnership, a trust, an unincorporated organization, association or club, the government of a country or any political subdivision thereof, or any agency or department of any such government, and the executors, administrators or other legal representatives of an individual in such capacity, a person as defined in the Trade-marks Act (Canada) and a Person intended to be protected by Subsection 9(1) of the Trademarks Act (Canada). 134

148 Country Code TLDs Which Registrant Name Rules Apply to the Various Legal Types? CIRA explains that the following rules should be followed with respect to the format of the Registrant name (Organization name in the OpenSRS system) as it relates to the Legal Type chosen. The various allowable legal types follow immediately below, with in depth explanations of allowable Registrant names for each type.! Canadian citizen (CCT)! Permanent Resident of Canada (RES)! Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident (LGR)! Corporation (Canada or Canadian province or territory) (CCO)! Partnership Registered in Canada (PRT)! Trust established in Canada (TRS)! Official mark registered in Canada! Trade-mark registered in Canada (by a non-canadian owner) (TDM)! Canadian Unincorporated Association (ASS)! Government or government entity in Canada (GOV)! Canadian Political Party (PLT)! Canadian Educational Institution (EDU)! Canadian Hospital (HOP)! Canadian Library, Archive or Museum (LAM)! Canadian Trade Union (TRD)! Aboriginal Peoples (individuals) indigenous to Canada (ABO)! Aboriginal Peoples (groups) indigenous to Canada (ABO)! Indian Band recognized by the Indian Act of Canada (INB) 135

149 Country Code TLDs Descriptions of Registrant Types It appears that many registrants do not understand the requirements for the Registrant Type they have chosen. CIRA has provided the following information to help correct this problem. This text contains the official definition, what is expected by the Registry, and examples of acceptable and unacceptable registrant names for each Type. Registrant definitions are also viewable while registering a new.ca domain (in the Select Legal Type section). Canadian Citizen Definition: A Canadian citizen of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which he or she resides or last resided. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the full legal name of the Canadian Citizen who will hold the domain name registration as the name would appear on a passport, driver s license or other identification document issued by a government. The name may be followed by a space and o/a xxxx where o/a stands for Operating As and xxxx can be any alpha-numeric string designated by the applicant and subject to applicable rules and length restrictions (e.g. John Doe o/a Doe Consulting Group ). The name may also be followed by a space and a degree granted to the registrant by a recognized degree granting institution or a recognized professional designation, which the registrant has the right to use (for example PhD, MD, DDS). Full legal names of individuals may only consist of alphabetic characters and the special characters: single quote mark ( ), hyphen (-), period (.). Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe! Fred-Albert Doon PhD! Bernard St-James o/a St-James Services Examples of invalid registrant names for this Registrant type:! John! J. Doe! None! Personal! (blank)! Cool Gal! Domain Administrator! St-James Services! Acme Sales Inc. 136

150 Country Code TLDs Permanent Resident of Canada Definition: A permanent resident as defined in the Immigration Act (Canada) R.S.C. 1985, c.i-2, as amended from time to time, who is ordinarily resident in Canada and of the age of majority under the laws of the province or territory in Canada in which he or she resides or last resided. ( Ordinarily resident in Canada means an individual who resides in Canada for more than 183 days in the twelve month period immediately preceding the date of the applicable request for registration of the.ca domain name or sub-domain name and in each twelve month period thereafter for the duration of the domain name registration.) Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the full legal name of the Permanent Resident who will hold the domain name registration, as the name would appear on a driver s license or other identification document issued by a government. The full legal name may be followed by a space and o/a xxxx where o/a stands for Operating As and xxxx can be any alpha-numeric string designated by the applicant and subject to applicable rules and length restrictions (e.g. John Doe o/a Doe Consulting Group ). The name may also be followed by a space and a degree granted to the registrant by a recognized degree granting institution or a recognized professional designation, which the registrant has the right to use (for example, PhD, MD, DDS). Full legal names of individuals may only consist of alphabetic characters and the special characters: single quote mark ( ), hyphen (-), period (.). Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Jessica Smith! Fred-Albert Doon DDS! Bernard St-James o/a St-James Services Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John! John 7! J. Doe! F.A.D! Cool Gal! St-James Services! Acme Sales Inc. 137

151 Country Code TLDs Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident Definition: An executor, administrator or other legal representative of a Person listed as a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada. Note: This registrant type is only available to a person or entity that has been appointed by legal process to represent an individual who is not competent to represent him or herself. It is not available to anyone who represents a Canadian or foreign corporation in any capacity. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the full legal name of the Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident of Canada who is being represented as it would appear on a passport, driver s license or other government identification document. This must be followed by the full legal name and capacity of at least one of the official representatives. Full legal names of individuals may only consist of alphabetic characters and the special characters: single quote mark( ), hyphen(-), period(.). The representative should be identified as the administrative contact for these registrations. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! John Smith o/a Jayne Smith - executor Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Sales Are Us Inc.! Arlenza SP! Shingle LLP Corporation (Canada or Canadian Province or Territory) Definition: A corporation under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada Requirements: Registrant name must be the full legal name of the corporation and must be followed by the jurisdiction of incorporation (for example, Canada, Ontario, NWT) unless it is obvious from the corporation s name. Examples of valid Registrant names for this Registrant type:! Canada Inc.! Smith Corp. of Ontario! Smith Ltée. Canada 138

152 Country Code TLDs Examples of invalid Registrant names for this Registrant type:! Smiths! Smiths Consulting! Smiths Kennel! Smiths Corp.! Leatra SP Partnership Registered in Canada Definition: A partnership, more than 66 2/3 % of whose partners meet the requirements of one of the following Registrant Types: Corporation (Canada or Canadian province or territory), Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident of Canada, Trust established in Canada or a Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident, which is registered as a partnership under the laws of any province or territory of Canada. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the registered name of the partnership that will hold the domain name registration. The Registrant name must be followed by the jurisdiction of registration (e.g. Alberta) and the registration number. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Xenon Partnership (Ontario)! Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP (Ontario)! John Doe Partnership, British Columbia Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe Partnership! Mybusiness Inc.! Fred Smith Trust Established in Canada Definition: A trust established and subsisting under the laws of a province or territory of Canada, more than 66 2/3 % of whose trustees meet the requirements of one of the following Registrant Types: Corporation (Canada or Canadian province or territory), Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident of Canada, or a Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the trust, without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the official name in parentheses.) The Registrant name must also indicate the total percentage of the trustees that meet one or more of the following requirements: Canadian citizen, permanent resident, Canadian corporation, legal representative 139

153 Country Code TLDs Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Marie Daigle Trust - (100%)! Arbeit Trust - (70%) Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe! Sales Are Us Inc.! Arbeit Trust (10%) Official Marks Registered in Canada Definition: A Person which does not meet the requirements for any other Registrant Type, but which is a Person intended to be protected by Subsection 9(1) of the Trade-Marks Act (Canada) at whose request the Registrar of Trade-marks has published notice of adoption of any badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other mark pursuant to Subsection 9(1), but in this case such permission is limited to a request to register a.ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of such badge, crest, emblem, official mark or other mark in respect of which such Person requested publications. Notes: This registrant type is only intended for Registrants who do not meet the requirements associated with any other registrant type, but which have an Official Mark registered in Canada. The domain name must include the official mark (for example, if the official mark is WIPO, the registrant can register wipo.ca but not intellectualproperty.ca) Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the entity holding the domain name registration without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the complete name in parentheses.) The registration number of the official mark must follow the Registrant Name. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe Inc.! Arcuros SPA 140

154 Country Code TLDs Trade-Mark Registered in Canada by Non-Canadian Owner Definition: A Person which does not fall under any other registrant type, but which is the owner of a trade-mark which is the subject of a registration under the Trade-marks Act (Canada) R.S.C. 1985, c.t-13 as amended from time to time, but in this case such permission is limited to a request to register a.ca domain name consisting of or including the exact word component of that registered trade-mark. This Registrant Type is only intended for Registrants which do not meet the requirements associated with any other registrant type but which have a trade-mark registered in Canada. (Trade-marks subject of trade-mark applications and trade-marks registered in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, do not qualify.) The domain name to be registered must include the trade-mark. (for example, if the trade-mark is AVEA this type of registrant can register avea.ca or aveaisus.ca but not xyz.ca). Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete legal name of the trade-mark owner (not the trade-mark agent) holding the domain name registration without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the complete name in parentheses.) The applicant must also insert the Canadian registration number of the trade-mark following the Registrant name. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Arcuros SPA - TMA Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Arcuros SPA! Canadian Trade Union Canadian Unincorporated Association Definition: This Registrant Type is principally intended for religious congregations, social and sports clubs and community groups which are based and operating in Canada. An unincorporated organization, association or club:! at least 80% of whose members: (A) are ordinarily resident in Canada (if such members are individuals); or (B) meet the requirements of any one of the following Registrant Types: Corporation (Canada or Canadian province or territory), Canadian citizen, Permanent Resident of Canada, Partnership Registered in Canada, Trust established in Canada, Legal Representative of a Canadian Citizen or Permanent Resident; and 141

155 Country Code TLDs! at least 80% of whose directors, officers, employees, managers, administrators or other representatives are ordinarily resident in Canada. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete name of the association that will hold the domain name registration, without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the complete name in parentheses). Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! St-Alban s Reformed Church of Victoria! Archdiocese of Montréal! Sun Youth Montréal! Citizens for the Protection of the Red River! Toronto Junior Soccer Association Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! ACDEN! St-Patrick s! Dartmouth Soccer Club Limited! John Doe Government or Government Entity in Canada Definition: Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, a province or a territory; an agent of Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, of a province or of a territory; a federal, provincial or territorial Crown corporation, government agency or government entity; or a regional, municipal or local area government. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the entity that will hold the domain name registration, without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the official name in parentheses). If the Registrant is not a government, the Registrant s name must be followed by the name of the jurisdiction (e.g. Canada, province, territory, municipality, etc) to which the Registrant is related. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Government of Alberta! Export Development Corporation (EDC) (Canada)! Deposit Insurance Corporation of Ontario (DCIO)! The Corporation of the City of Toronto Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Toronto Sales Are Us Inc.! DCIOPEI! John Doe 142

156 Country Code TLDs Canadian Political Party Definition: A political party registered under a relevant electoral law of Canada or any province or territory of Canada Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the political party holding the domain name registration, without abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the official name in parentheses.) The Registrant name must also by followed by the jurisdiction in Canada in which it is registered (if it is not obvious from the official name). Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC)! Union Nationale du Québec! Reform Party - Alberta Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe! Sales Are Us Inc.! Liberal Party! ACCULD - Ontario! National Liberation Front of Mexico Canadian Educational Institution Definition:! a university or college which is located in Canada and which is authorized or recognized as a university or college under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada; or! a college, post-secondary school, vocational school, secondary school, pre-school or other school or educational institution which is located in Canada and which is recognized by the educational authorities of a province or territory of Canada or licensed under or maintained by an Act of Parliament of Canada or of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the institution that will hold the domain name registration, without any abbreviations. A common abbreviation may follow the official name in parentheses. The Registrant name must be followed by the jurisdiction (e.g. name of province, municipality) in which the institution is accredited if not obvious from the Registrant s name. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! University of British Columbia (UBC)! St-John s Middle School of Ottawa! Advanced Languages Institute of Ontario (ALI)(Ontario) 143

157 Country Code TLDs Examples of Invalid Registrant Names for this Type:! Sandhill Secondary School! Sales Are Us Inc.! UBC Student Association! Professional Association of Teaching Professionals of UdeM! Joe Smith Canadian Hospital Definition: A hospital which is located in Canada and which is licensed, authorized or approved to operate as a hospital under an Act of the legislature of a province or territory of Canada Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the hospital that will hold the domain name registration, without any abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the complete name in parentheses.) The Registrant s name must be followed by the jurisdiction (e.g. name of province) that accredited the hospital if not obvious from the Registrant s name. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Royal Victoria Hospital - Québec! Sick Children s Hospital of Ontario! Veteran s Hospital Canada, Pointe Claire Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Dr. John Doe! Jane Doe! John Doe Inc.! SHUL! Nurses Union Local 1455 NHCWA! Manitoba Doctors Against Drugs (MDAD) Canadian Library, Archive, or Museum Definition: An institution, whether or not incorporated, that:! is located in Canada; and! is not established or conducted for profit or does not form part of, or is not administered or directly or indirectly controlled by, a body that is established or conducted for profit in which is held and maintained a collection of documents and other materials that is open to the public or to researchers. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete legal name of the institution which will hold the domain name registration without abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the complete name in parentheses.) 144

158 Country Code TLDs Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Royal Ontario Museum! Musé des Beaux Arts de Montréal Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe! Sales Are Us Inc.! My site! Domain Administrator! Biggs Bargain Books Canadian Trade Union Definition: A trade union which is recognized by a labour board under the laws of Canada or any province or territory of Canada and which has its head office in Canada. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the trade union that will hold the domain name registration, without abbreviations. (A common abbreviation may follow the official name in parentheses.) The Registrant name must be followed by the jurisdiction in Canada that recognizes it (if it is not obvious from the Registrant s name.) Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN) - Québec! Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! ZZCEUL local 237! Jean Smith! Sales Are Us Inc. Aboriginal Peoples (Individuals) Indigenous to Canada Definition: Any individual belonging to any Inuit, First Nation, Metis or other people indigenous to Canada. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the full legal name of the Aboriginal Person applying for the Registration as it would appear on a driver s license or other identification document issued by government. The Registrant may enter its full legal name followed by a space and o/a xxxx where o/a stands for Operating As and xxxx can be any alphanumeric string designated by the applicant and subject to applicable rules and length restrictions (e.g. John Doe o/a Doe Consulting Group ). The name may also be followed by a space and a degree granted to the registrant by a recognized degree granting institution or a recognized professional designation that the registrant has the right to use (e.g. PhD, MD, DDS.) 145

159 Country Code TLDs Full legal names of individuals may only consist of alphabetic characters and the special characters: single quote mark ( ), hyphen (-), period (.). Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! John Doe! Fred-Albert Doon DDS! Bernard St-James o/a St-James Services Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! John! None! Personal! (blank)! Domain Administrator! St-James Services Inc. Aboriginal Peoples (Groups) Indigenous to Canada Definition: Any Inuit, First Nation, Metis or other people indigenous to Canada, and any collectivity of such Aboriginal peoples. Requirements: The Registrant s name must be the complete official name of the indigenous people a collectivity of Aboriginal Persons or, if there is no official name, the name by which the collectivity is commonly known. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Carrier Sekani Tribal Council Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Acme Sales Inc.! Helping Spirit Lodge Society! John Jones Indian Band Recognized by the Indian Act of Canada Definition: Any Indian band as defined in the Indian Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. I-5, as amended from time to time, and any group of Indian bands; Requirements: The name of Registrant must be the Indian Band Name as registered with the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, Canada. Examples of valid Registrant names for this type:! Lac la Ronge Indian Band Examples of invalid Registrant names for this type:! Mohawk Motors! Sioux Sales Inc.! Sales Are Us Inc.! Jean Gallant 146

160 Country Code TLDs.CC.CC is the country code TLD for the Cocos Islands. The Cocos Islands have made their name space available to any interested registrants, regardless of residency. The following restrictions apply to.cc domain names:! Maximum name length is 63 characters excluding the dot! Domain name must not start with a dash or a dot, and must not start with the sequence alphanumeric_alphanumeric_dash_dash. (Note: This format is only allowed when it is an International Domain Name which has the PUNYCODE prefix of XN- - )! The last character must be a digit or a letter; it cannot be a dash. Registration and management of.cc domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.cc domains..cc Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.cc domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.CC domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.cc registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.cc registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.CC Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.cc registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..cc Residency Requirements.CC is an open registry; you do not have to be a Cocos Islands resident or business operator to register a.cc domain. 147

161 Country Code TLDs.CC DNS Requirements In order to activate a.cc domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to 13 nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.cc domain, or when activating the.cc domain. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. Note: An auth_code is issued for.cc domains, and once issued, the auth_code is required to process any changes (for example, transfers) to that domain..cc Transfers A Transfer moves a domain name from one registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining registrar and the transaction is initiated by that registrar through the RWI. The following restrictions apply to transfers:! A domain name cannot be transferred within the first 60 days after it is created or within 60 days of a previous transfer.! If the domain is transferred to another registrar during the 45 day auto-renew grace period, the losing registrar is refunded for the autorenewal and the year is removed from the domain name term. The gaining registrar is charged for the transfer and the expiration date is extended one year from the original expiration date. To transfer a domain name 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfer Form for <domainname>.cc page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry. After the transfer request is submitted, a five day transfer pending period begins. If the transfer request isn't approved or rejected by the losing registrar within the five day period, the registry automatically approves the transfer request. After the domain is transferred, a five-day grace period begins. 148

162 Country Code TLDs When the transfer process is complete, the expiration date is extended one year from the original expiration date, and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. 149

163 Country Code TLDs.CH.CH is the TLD for Switzerland, and is regulated by the SWITCH registry. Registration and management of.ch domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.ch domains. Management of.ch domains can be done at: Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.ch domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.CH domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.ch registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.ch registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL of the website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.CH Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.ch registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..ch Residency Requirements.CH is an open registry; you do not have to be a Swiss resident or business operator to register a.ch domain..ch DNS Requirements In order to activate a.ch domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to nine nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.ch domain, or when activating the.ch domain. 150

164 Country Code TLDs The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. Note: Any modifications to the DNS must be confirmed by the registrant. The registry sends an that must be responded to in order for the modification to be completed..ch Renewals.CH domains must be renewed at least one month to their expiry date otherwise they will be deleted from the Reseller account and Tucows will no longer be the registrar. The registrant is then solely responsible for the name. In order to transfer it back to Tucows, the registrant would have to submit a regular transfer request. ALL modifications (contact, registrant or DNS changes) to a.ch name must be confirmed by the registrant. The registry sends an that must be responded to in order for the modification to be completed..ch Transfers SWITCH is the registry that oversees all.ch transfers. A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar. To transfer a.ch domain 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.ch page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. 6. Fax a letter requesting the transfer to the Tucows Service Bureau at The letter must be signed and on the registrant s company letterhead. The registrant must confirm the transfer within 10 days of receiving a request for confirmation from the registry. 151

165 Country Code TLDs.CN.CN is the country code TLD for China, and for international purposes, is managed by Neulevel. Registrations in the.cn TLD space include both second level (.CN) and third level (COM.CN,.ORG.CN and.net.cn) registrations. There are certain names that are not available for registration. Consistent with ICANN, gtld procedures, all two-character country codes are reserved from registration. In addition, the CNNIC Registry has reserved certain second level names. These include: Country names, 3-letter and ISO3166. Chinese Government organizations and leaders' names. Names that are for National Security. Province and City names. Special telephone numbers. (001), etc. All gtlds and some 2nd level spaces (biz.cn, kids.cn). Certain famous trademarks (about 350). Names labeled by the UN to promote world culture, heritage. Chinese Universities and Colleges. News Media as approved by the National News Office. Grand fathering: There are approximately names that were registered as third level domains prior to Dec 6th 2002, and that are not available as 2nd level for the general public. These 2nd level names are part of the agreement between CNNIC and Neustar, offered to the third level name holders. This Grandfathering process occurred between January 6th and February 28th, All registrants that were eligible to the 2nd level grand fathering were contacted by CNNIC..CN Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.cn domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.CN domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.cn registration terms, which are included in and can be obtained from the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at You should post the.cn registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.CN Agreement 152

166 Country Code TLDs Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.cn registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..cn Residency Requirements.CN is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator in China to register a.cn domain; however, all applicants must agree to abide by Chinese laws and regulations as laid out by CNNIC, the.cn Registry. Please visit: for details. In addition, the applicant must consent to the CNNIC Domain Name Dispute Resolution Process. This process is modeled after the Uniform Dispute Resolution Process, which is common in other Web domains, and requires that the complainant have a trademark of service and that there is evidence of bad faith. Currently, CIETAC and the Asian Domain Name Dispute Resolution Association of Hong Kong both uphold the process. Finally, there are no proxy registrations whereby one individual on behalf of another cannot register a.cn domain name..cn Registration Process The following outlines the basic steps in registering a.cn domain name, assuming that the name being requested is available. Note that the minimum registration period for.cn is 1 year and the maximum is 5 years. 1. Registrant requests a.cn domain The Registrant either submits their request for a.cn domain name through the RCL or notifies you directly to submit the request on their behalf via the Place Order Manually link on the RWI. 2. Registration is submitted to NeuStar Once the request has been submitted to OpenSRS, the system sends the registration information to NeuStar, the Registry Gateway for CNNIC. 3. Registration completes Upon receipt of the information, NeuStar issues the.cn domain name. Both you and the Registrant are then notified by OpenSRS that the registration was successful and money is then decremented from your account. 153

167 Country Code TLDs Auth_Codes Once a Registrant successfully registers a.cn domain name, they are issued an auth_code. This code is a private pass phrase, which denotes verifiable proof of ownership for the domain. Please inform your Registrants to keep this code private and separate from the management username/password required to manage OpenSRS domains. If they want to change their code, they can do so using the manage interface. Whois CNNIC maintains and publishes the authoritative Whois data for.cn..cn DNS Requirements In order to activate a.cn domain, you must provide at least one functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to six nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.cn domain, or when activating the.cn domain. The domain name and nameserver details are usually transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active..cn Deletions Upon registering a.cn domain name, you have 48 hours in which to delete it and receive a full refund..cn domains are deleted three days after their expiry date. There is no redemption grace period for.cn domains. Once deleted,.cn domain names are available for registration in 15 days..cn Renewals Except for the following points, renewal features for.cn are the same as they are for.com,.net and.org.! A.CN name cannot be renewed for a period that exceeds five years, as this is the maximum registration period for.cn.! Auto-renew functionality is not available.!.cn domains can be renewed up until they are deleted. 154

168 Country Code TLDs.CN Transfers The following describes the process for both Registrar-to Registrar transfers, and Reseller-to-Reseller transfers. Please note:! Transfers from CNNIC registrars to Neulevel registrars are NOT supported; the error message returned by the registry is DOMAIN_NOT_FOUND.! There is a five-day transfer pending period from the time that the transfer is requested; however, as soon as it is acknowledged, the transfer completes and the pending period ends. Transfer Process 1. Tucows receives transfer request order. 2. Tucows sends an authorization to the domain admin contact with a URL to approve the transfer, and a temporary password to accept or reject pages. 3. The domain Admin Contact must also use the auth_code when approving a transfer. This code is obtainable from the current Registrar of Record and is domain specific. 4. If either the Admin Contact or OpenSRS cancels the request (on behalf of the Registrant), the entire transfer request is canceled. 5. If the admin contact approves the transfer and includes the auth_code, Tucows sends the request to the Registry (same as existing gtld process). 6. The Registry approves the transfer. 7. Tucows notifies the Reseller/Registrant of the successful transfer. 8. One domain year is charged to the Reseller and is added to the domain. The Reseller then has five days in which to request a deletion of the transferred domain and a subsequent refund for the additional year that is added..cn Manage Considerations.CN names can be managed using the manage.cgi, or Please note the following:! Registrants can obtain the Auth_code for.cn domains via the Manage Domain interface.! Contact changes cannot be made while the domain is locked. 155

169 Country Code TLDs.DE.DE is the country code TLD for Germany, and is regulated by the DENIC Registry..DE names must follow a specific format and must be 3 to 63 characters in length. The names can include numbers, letters (A-Z), and a hyphen (-), and must begin and end with either a letter or a number. As well, the hyphen (-) cannot be used as the third or fourth character. Note: There are certain names that are not available for registration. Consistent with ICANN and gtld procedures, all existing TLDs and twocharacter country codes are reserved from registration. For example, COM.DE or NET.DE will not be accepted. In addition, all German license-plate numbers are reserved for possible third-level registrations. A complete list of reserved names can be found at: Reseller Qualification To qualify for selling.de names, you must:! Remit a new Reseller contract to OpenSRS authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.DE domain reseller. A copy of this contract can be found at: Bind your customers to the.de registration terms and conditions as set out by DENIC, the Registry for.de. These can be found at: Make the following documents available to your Registrants by posting them on your website:! Registration Guidelines DENIC Direct Pricelist After posting these documents, send an to [email protected], containing the URL of the website where you have posted these documents. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.DE Agreement Once Tucows has received the and has checked your website, you can offer.de registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement. 156

170 Country Code TLDs.DE Residency Requirements Registrations in the.de TLD space are second-level registrations. In order to register a.de domain name, either the Registrant or the Administrative Contact must be based in Germany with a verifiable German address. Note: There are no proxy registrations whereby one individual registers a.de name on behalf of another..de Registration Process The following outlines the basic steps in registering a.de domain name, assuming that the name being requested is available. Note that the registration period for.de is one year. 1. Registrant requests a.de domain The Registrant either submits their request for a.de domain name through the RCL, or notifies you directly to submit the request on their behalf via the Place Order Manually for.de link on the RWI. 2. Registration is submitted to DENIC Once the request has been submitted to OpenSRS, the system sends the registration information to DENIC. 3. Confirmation Registrations through DENIC are asynchronous, which means that, once the registration has been submitted, there is a waiting period that could take from several hours up to two business days before confirmation is received. During this waiting period, money for the registration is placed on hold and changes to the domain are not accepted unless they are changes made to an existing contact. 4. Registration completes The registration is considered complete once an is sent to Tucows from DENIC. The indicates success or failure. If there was a reason for the failure, such as inactive nameservers, it is noted on the along with instructions for how much time is left to activate them. If they are not activated in that time period, the name is deleted and the Registrant receives an informing them of the deletion..de DNS Requirements In order to activate a.de domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to five nameservers per domain. Additionally, the two required nameservers must be active on two different subnets and must be authoritative for the domain name at the time of registration. If the name is registered and the nameservers are not active, the Registrant has 30 days in which to activate and park the name on them. If the nameservers are not activated at the end of the 30-day period, DENIC deletes the name without refund. The nameservers associated with the 157

171 Country Code TLDs domain name can be modified during the 30-day period, subject to DENIC verification. If the nameservers do not meet DENIC criteria, the change request is ignored. If we are transferring.de domains that have no actual nameservers but are using DENIC nameservice, we provide a new DNS and ensure that the DNS is set up properly, or the domain will be deleted in 30 days. Registering IDN.DE Domains IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) enable the use of local language characters with certain TLDs. IDN.DE domains are not limited to native German characters, but can use several other languages as well. For example, žžēē.de uses Latvian characters followed by.de. When registering an IDN for.de, the available languages are provided in a drop-down list in the RWI. All IDNs must be in Punycode format; domains in RACE format or that use native characters are not accepted. In order to register an IDN for.de, you must first convert the domain name from its native language to Punycode, using a Punycode converter. Tucows' Punycode converter is available at See "Converting to Punycode and Verifying Punycode Compliance" for more information. To register an IDN for.de 1. Complete the.de registration form as you would for non-idn.de registrations. 2. On the.de Domain Registration Form in the RWI, enter the domain name in Punycode format in the Domain Name field. 3. Choose the IDN's native language from the Language drop-down list. 158

172 Country Code TLDs 4. After completing the.de Domain Registration Form, click Submit. If you are not registering an IDN for.de, do not select a language from the Language drop-down list. By default, Standard ASCII is used for non-idn domains. For more information about IDNs, see "IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations"..DE Expiries/Deletions If a.de domain has reached its renewal date but has not yet been renewed, it is automatically set to expire and is deleted by the root Registry the day after the expiry date. At expiry, the.de domain is deleted from Tucows, and the domain is sent to the Registry for handling. The Registry contacts the Registrant for renewal. If there is no action from the Registrant, the Registry deletes the domain. If the Registrant wants to restore the domain to Tucows, the Registrant must contact the Registry ( and, using the DENIC-242 (Tucows) Registrar tag, request that the domain be restored to Tucows..DE Renewals.DE renewals can be performed at any time; however, because of the min/max one year registration term, if you set a.de domain to renew before the one-year term is up, it goes into a renewal applied state. The cost for the renewal is decremented from your account at the time you set the domain to renew. The domain is then renewed for an additional year at its actual renewal date. 159

173 Country Code TLDs All other renewal features for.de are the same as they are for.com,.net, and.org..de Transfers DENIC s transfer policy states that transfers must be initiated by the gaining Registrar. In addition, the Registrar must receive, via fax, a written authorization of the transfer request from the domain s Registrant (or admin contact). This authorization must be kept on record in case the Registry requests it to resolve a dispute. Therefore, gaining Tucows Resellers should initiate transfer requests and maintain a record of written Registrant confirmations. Unlike.COM,.NET,.ORG,.INFO,.BIZ,.NAME,.MOBI, and.us which have a 60 day post-registration transfer-hold restriction for Registrar to Registrar transfers,.de transfers in and out are not restricted to any type of hold period. This means that a transfer can be performed at any time after a domain is registered. Finally, because the Registry does not hold expiry dates (domains are renewed monthly), Registrants who transfer a registration lose any remaining time on the current registration. In order to minimize any lost time for the Registrant, Tucows has imposed a min/max one year registration term. Note: Currently, all transfer requests for.de are only supported through the RWI..DE Transfers to Tucows A Registrant who wants to transfer domains away from a non-tucows Reseller initiates the transfer of the domains to Tucows. Once you ve initiated the transfer process (you = the gaining Reseller) on behalf of the Registrant, you must collect the Registrant information and enter the details, including the correct profile details, into the OpenSRS system. To transfer a.de domain name to Tucows 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field, and click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.de page appears. 3. Complete the Transfer Form. For.DE transfers, this form contains three additional sections that are not found on other transfer forms in OpenSRS:! Under Transfer Management, in the Owner Confirmation Address field, enter the address of the domain owner. This address must match the owner contact details with the losing Registrar. 160

174 Country Code TLDs! Under Transfer Management, select Yes or No for Fax Received. If you select No, the transfer request is placed into a pending state until you receive a signed authorization.! Under Zone Contact Information, enter the contact information for the individual who is responsible for nameserver management. 4. Click Submit. You can view the status of.de transfers by selecting any of the existing transfer views from the RWI main menu..de Transfers away from Tucows If a Registrant chooses to transfer their.de domains from a Tucows Reseller to a non-tucows Reseller, a transfer notice is sent to you advising you of the request. Once this occurs, you cannot prevent the transfer from going through..de Reseller to Reseller Transfers Reseller transfers occur in the same manner as Registrar transfers. Please refer to the OpenSRS Domain Transfers Guide ( for details..de Manage Considerations Registrants can manage their.de domain names directly through the Manage Domain Interface by using manage.cgi or visiting Only changes that are in accordance with DENIC s registration rules can be made. For example, if the Registrant is not a resident of Germany, changes can only be made by the administrative contact (provided that they are still a German resident). Similarly, if modifications are requested for a domain name for which the associated nameservers are either not active or authoritative, the changes are not accepted. 161

175 Country Code TLDs.DK.DK is the TLD for Denmark, and is regulated by the dk-hostmaster.dk Registry. Registration and management of.dk domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.dk domains. Management of.dk domains can be done at: Registrants have three months to activate a domain name once it is registered. The registry sends the admin contact an with instructions to activate the domain once the registration has been submitted. If no action has been taken after two months, the registry sends a reminder . If no activation occurs within three months, the domain is made available for registration and no refund is provided..dk Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.dk domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.ES domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.es registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.dk registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.DK Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.dk registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..dk Residency Requirements.DK is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator in Denmark to register a.dk domain. 162

176 Country Code TLDs.DK DNS Requirements In order to activate a.dk domain, you must provide at least two nameservers. The DNS must be set up to allow zone transfer from the name server to DK Hostmaster's primary name server - hostcount.dk-hostmaster.dk, Each server also has to be registered and approved by DK Hostmaster before it can be used, and the approval is granted to each name server separately. The registration and approval of a name server is initiated by the person in charge of the domain name server, who completes and submits the application form to DK Hostmaster. The online form is available at When your application has been processed and your nameserver has been approved, you will receive a notification by . Note: The registry charges a fee to register nameservers. To check your current nameservers to verify if they are accepted by the registry, use the following link: If your nameservers are not registered, follow the registry instructions at the following link: Renewals Domains names are registered for a period of one year. Renewal requests must be submitted prior to the domain s expiry date in order to renew the name for another one-year period. Domains that have not been renewed are deleted. Note that the registry does not apply renewals until the expiration day of the domain name. So, while OpenSRS reflects a renewal immediately, the Registry WHOIS does not reflect the renewal until the day it is supposed to expire..dk Transfers Transfers in are not supported. 163

177 Country Code TLDs.ES.ES is the TLD for Spain, and is regulated by the Esnic Registry. All.ES registrations are for one year. Registration of.es domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.es domains. Management of.es domains can be done at Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.es domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.ES domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.es registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.es registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.ES Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.es registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..es Residency Requirements.ES is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator in Spain to register a.es domain..es DNS Requirements In order to activate a.es domain, you must provide at least two nameservers; however, you may provide up to eight nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.es domain, or when activating the.es domain. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. 164

178 Country Code TLDs.ES Renewals The.ES registration term ends on the last day of the last month of the term. For example, if a domain name is registered on April 7, 2007, its expiry date will be April 30, Renewal orders must be placed 15 days before the expiry date. Registrations can be renewed one year at a time. Note: The registry does not apply renewals until the expiration date. So, while OpenSRS reflects a renewal immediately, the Registry WHOIS does not reflect the renewal until the day it is supposed to expire..es Transfers Esnic oversees all.es transfers. A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar through the RWI. To initiate a transfer, the registrant contacts the new Registrar and notifies them that they want to transfer their domain. The Registrar then initiates the transfer request through the RWI. To transfer a domain name 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.es page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. 6. Complete the following forms, which are available at Holder Change! New Holder The forms must be signed by the administrative contact for the domain. Note: Although the documents are posted in Spanish and English, the Spanish version is the one that must be submitted; the English is only to be used as a guide. 7. Fax the completed document to ATTN: Tucows Service Bureau. 165

179 Country Code TLDs When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry (Esnic). The registry sends an to the registrant asking the registrant to confirm the transfer. Confirmation must be received within 10 days in order for the transfer to be completed. If confirmation is not received with the required 10 days of the initial request, the transfer is cancelled. When the transfer process is complete, a new 12 month term starts from the date of the transfer, and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. 166

180 Country Code TLDs.EU.EU is the TLD for the European Community, and is managed by the EURid Registry. Registration and management of.eu domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information..eu Contact Information Unlike the gtlds, two contacts are required to register a.eu domain: Legal Owner and Technical Contact. When registering a.eu domain, registrants can keep their name private in the WHOIS record by leaving the Organization field blank. In that case, the address displays in the registry WHOIS..EU Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.eu domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.EU domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.eu registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.eu registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.EU Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.eu registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement. 167

181 Country Code TLDs.EU Residency Requirements The.EU Registry maintains the following list of General Eligibility requirements, one of which must be met to qualify to register a.eu domain:! An undertaking has its registered office, central or principal place of business within the Community.! An organization established within the Community prejudice to the application of national law.! A natural person resident within the Community. The "Community" referred to in the General Eligibility requirements list is comprised of the following countries and regions:! United Kingdom (GB)! Austria! Belgium! Cyprus! Czech Republic! Denmark! Estonia! Finland! France! Germany! Greece! Hungary! Ireland! Italy! Latvia! Lithuania! Luxembourg! Malta (including Gozo and Comino)! Netherlands! Poland! Portugal! Slovakia! Slovenia! Spain! Sweden! Aland Islands! Gibraltar! Martinique! French Guyana! Guadeloupe! Reunion 168

182 Country Code TLDs.EU DNS Requirements In order to activate a.eu domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to nine nameservers per domain..eu Renewals and Registration Term All.EU domains have a registration term of one year, and may only be renewed for one year terms, one year at a time. There is no renewal grace period for.eu domains so it is important to ensure that domains are renewed prior to their expiry dates. Sixty days prior to the expiry date, a scheduled deletion request is submitted to the registry. If the domain is renewed during that sixty day period, the deletion request is removed and the domain is renewed at the registry on its expiry date. If a domain name is not renewed by its expiry date, it is not immediately released, but is held in quarantine for 40 days. During that 40 day period, it can be retrieved (reactivated) by the owner; however, the cost to reactivate a domain that is in quarantine is higher than the standard renewal rate. After the 40 day quarantine period, if the domain has not been reactivated, it is made available to the public. To reactivate a domain name that is in quarantine, contact [email protected]. When you reactivate a domain that has been in quarantine, the new expiry date is one year from the original expiry date. Note: The.EU registry allows domains to be transferred while in quarantine. Although Tucows does not currently support this process, we will honor any transfers away from Tucows that occur while the domain is in quarantine..eu Transfers and Changes of Ownership EURid oversees all.eu transfers and changes of ownership. Although the process for executing transfers and change of ownership is similar, the registry differentiates them as follows:! A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar through the RWI.! A Change of Ownership (also referred to as a Trade) transfers ownership of a domain name from one registrant to another. The current owner of the domain contacts their Reseller/Registrar, and the Reseller enters the new information in the RWI. 169

183 Country Code TLDs.EU Transfers To initiate a transfer, the registrant contacts the new Registrar and notifies them that they want to transfer their domain. The Registrar then initiates the transfer request through the RWI. To transfer a domain name 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers Form for <domainname>.eu page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry (EURid). The registry sends an to the registrant asking the registrant to confirm the transfer. Confirmation must be received within 14 days in order for the transfer to be completed. The.EU transfer may not complete immediately after the registrant confirmation. The registry allows for an internal verification period, and transfers may take up to 14 days to complete. If confirmation is not received within 7 days, another is sent to the registrant as a reminder. If confirmation is not received with the required 14 days of the initial request, the transfer is cancelled. When the transfer process is complete, the existing registration term is extended an additional year, and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. Note: Although the.eu registry allows domains to be transferred while in quarantine, Tucows does not currently support this process. However, we will honor any transfers away from Tucows that occur while the domain is in quarantine. 170

184 Country Code TLDs.EU Change of Ownership To initiate a change of ownership, the current owner of the domain contacts their Reseller/Registrar and notifies them that they want to change the ownership information for their domain. The Reseller then initiates the request through the RWI. To change ownership of a domain 1. Launch the RWI 2. In the Domain Management section, click Submit.EU or.be ownership change. The.EU/.BE Ownership Change page appears. 3. Enter the list of.eu domains for which you want to change ownership. 4. Complete the fields in the Owner Contact section, and click Submit. An is sent to the new and previous owners asking for confirmation of the change in ownership. Confirmation must be received within 14 days. If confirmation is not received within 7 days, an is sent to the Reseller with a reminder that confirmation is needed from both parties. When the confirmation is received, the change is processed and an is sent to the previous owner saying that the trade took place. Note: If confirmation is not received within 14 days, the change in ownership does not proceed. When the change in ownership process is complete, a new 12 month term starts for the domain name and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. 171

185 Country Code TLDs.FR.FR is the TLD for France, and is regulated by the AFNIC Registry. Registration and management of.fr domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.fr domains. Management of.fr domains can be done at Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.fr domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.FR domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.fr registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.fr registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.FR Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.fr registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..fr Residency Requirements Effective June 20, 2006, any adult who has a postal address in France can register a domain name ending in.fr. (Previously, the only entities that could register a top-level.fr name were registered French organizations with a SIREN/SIRET number, or anyone who owned a trademark (recognized in France) on the domain they were registering.) Note: To successfully register a.fr domain, the admin contact address must be in France. 172

186 Country Code TLDs.FR DNS Requirements In order to activate a.fr domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to eight nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.fr domain, or when activating the.fr domain. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time, the domain name becomes active. The nameservers must comply with the following registry requirements and conditions: General Conditions! The zone is installed in all the nameservers (at least two) given in the installation request ticket sent to the address.! The primary server name in the Server of Authority (SOA) record corresponds to the first server given in the list of servers to install.! The zone contact (RNAME) is valid and contactable by .! The zone serial number is the same on each server.! The refresh time is at least one hour.! The retry time is at least one hour.! The expire time is at least a week, and much higher than the refresh time.! The TTL time in the SOA specifies the TTL for negative responses (NXDOMAIN) and must not exceed one day.! The TTL time is at least one hour for SOA and NS records.! The list of zone name servers returned by the server corresponds to the list of servers requested in the ticket.! There is one MX for the zone, using a message service relay with a legal name that must be (or must point to) an Internet address (A record); any alias (CNAME) will be refused in accordance with the RFCs.! The [email protected] or [email protected] mailbox must be contactable.! The contents of the zone conform to the RFCs. Configuration of Nameservers! The server must have international IP connectivity.! The server must be online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.! The DNS service must be accessible on port 53 in UDP and TCP, and to ICMP echo packets, for packets sent from any machine on the Internet.! The server must have authority for the requested zone. 173

187 Country Code TLDs! The server must obtain the correct list of name servers corresponding to each of the ".fr /.re", ".in-addr.arpa" and "." zones, and must not have authority unless it is mentioned in this list. The addresses of the servers mentioned must be correct.! The server obtains the correct address for each of the other servers in the zone.! The server calculates checksums for UDP packets and generates its IP packets with a TTL of at least 64.! The server does not forward requests to AFNIC servers.! It must be possible to obtain the server names based on their IP addresses. Messaging! The VRFY command is implemented in accordance with RFC1123.! The return code must be of type "2xx" in accordance with RFC1893.! The [email protected] or [email protected] address can be delivered to on the first message service relay.! It must be possible to deliver to the zone contact address specified in the SOA record on the first message service relay. Network Database (RIPE - RADB) For each server mentioned:! There is an "inetnum" record for the network to which it belongs.! There is a "route" record for the network to which it belongs. For each zone registration request:! The first technical contact is located at the requesting registrar,! The identifier of the first technical contact is a NIC-HDL of a role object in the FRNIC database..fr Renewals Renewal requests must be submitted prior to the domain s expiry date in order to renew the name. Domains that have not been renewed by the expiry date are deleted on that date, and become available to the public within 24 hours of deletion. 174

188 Country Code TLDs.FR Transfers A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar. To transfer a domain 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.fr page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. In the Order Notes section, be sure to indicate the current holder s SIREN/SIRET or trademark number (if it s an organization) or their nameholder Key (if it s an individual). 5. Click Submit. When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry (AFNIC). Once submitted, the losing registrar has 15 days to confirm or deny the transfer; otherwise, the transfer automatically completes. 175

189 Country Code TLDs.IT.IT is the TLD for Italy. The registration process for.it domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for more information. All.IT registrations are for one year. The following information is required for each registration: For Companies! Chamber of Commerce registration number when required by law, or a statement that there is no requirement for such registration! VAT number, or taxpayer's code! Legal representative's full name! Company headquarters address For Individuals! Full name! Date and place of birth! Residential address! Unique identifier (ie: taxpayer's code) and name of EU country which issued it. This information can be entered into the Notes section of the RWI order. If it is not entered, after the order has been submitted, the RSP will receive an from Tucows Service Bureau requesting the information. For additional information and forms that are specific to.it, see the Reseller Resource Center. Important: The English version of the Letter of Responsibility (LAR) is supplied for reference only; you must sign and submit the Italian version. Note: The registrar code for Tucows is TUCOWS-MNT. Due to the manual steps involved, it may take two days to a week to complete the registration process at the registry. To expedite the process, we recommend that you fax the Italian Letter of Responsibility to Tucows at the same time as you submit the order form through the RWI. Management of.it domains can be done at: 176

190 Country Code TLDs.IT Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.it domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.IT domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.it registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.it registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.IT Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.it registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..it Residency Requirements Entities residing in or belonging to the following European Union member states can register a.it domain: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The administrative contact must be from the same entity that is applying for the domain..it DNS Requirements In order to activate a.it domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers. Nameservers can be provided when registering the.it domain or when activating the.it domain. All DNS zones must be pre-configured beforehand. The following DNS requirements must be pre-configured for any domain name registered:! The servers IP addresses must be static and correspond to those actually associated with them.! The first nameserver must be the same as indicated in the Server of Authority (SOA) record of the domain name.! A CNAME must not be associated with the domain name. 177

191 Country Code TLDs! The name of the nameserver specified in the SOA cannot be a CNAME.! At least one MX or A record must exist for the domain name.! Where an MX record is listed, it must not have an associated CNAME.! Whenever interrogated, the servers must not give the following responses: not responding, not reachable, not running, non-existent domain, host not found, server failure, query failed.! Indicated nameservers must be authoritative for the domain name. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active..it Renewals If a.it name is not renewed by the expiry date, it is deleted from the Reseller account and Tucows is no longer the registrar. The domain name remains registered to the registrant with "NO-PROVIDER" listed as the registrar. To recover the name (and transfer it back to Tucows), the registrant submits a transfer request, or they can [email protected]. If no action is taken, the registry will eventually delete the name..it Transfers A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining Registrar and the transaction is initiated by that Registrar. To transfer a domain 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.it page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. 6. Do one of the following: To transfer a domain name belonging to an individual person, complete the document titled.it Transfer Italian Version for Individuals. The document is available at 178

192 Country Code TLDs To transfer a domain name belonging to a company, complete the document titled IT Transfer Italian Version for Companies. The document is available at The form must be signed by the administrative contact for the domain. Note: Although the documents are posted in Italian and English, the Italian version is the one that must be submitted; the English is only to be used as a guide. 7. Fax the completed document to ATTN: Tucows Service Bureau. Due to the manual steps involved, it may take two days to complete the transfer process at the registry. To expedite the process, we recommend that you fax the Italian transfer form (steps 6 and 7) to Tucows at the same time as you submit the transfer order through the RWI. 179

193 Country Code TLDs.MX.MX is the TLD for Mexico, and is regulated by the NIC.MX Registry..COM.MX is the second-level.mx domain that is offered by Tucows. All.COM.MX registrations are for one year. Registration and management of.com.mx domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). Please see "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.com.mx domains. Tucows uses the following address for the admin and technical contact: This address will appear in the public WHOIS of the registry and is used to confirm modifications to the domain. Tucows manages this confirmation when one is requested via OpenSRS. Resellers can see the admin and tech contact addresses used at registration via OpenSRS. Management of.com.mx domains can be done at Note: Tucows does not support the transfer of.com.mx domains..mx Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.com.mx domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.ES domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.es registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.com.mx registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL from your website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should read as: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.COM.MX Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.com.mx registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..mx Residency Requirements.MX is an open registry; you do not have to be a resident or business operator to register a.com.mx domain. 180

194 Country Code TLDs.MX DNS Requirements In order to activate a.com.mx domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.com.mx domain, or when activating the.com.mx domain. The DNS entries used in each order must be authoritative for the domain that is being ordered. Otherwise the order will still be processed, but new DNS will have to be submitted manually. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active..mx Renewals Domains names are registered for a period of one year. Renewal requests must be submitted prior to the domain s expiry date in order to renew the name for another one-year period. Domains that have not been renewed will be deleted. Note that the registry does not apply renewals until the expiration day of the domain name. So, while OpenSRS reflects a renewal immediately, the Registry WHOIS does not reflect the renewal until the day it is supposed to expire..mx Transfers Transfers in are not supported. 181

195 Country Code TLDs.NL.NL is the TLD for the Netherlands, and is regulated by the SIDN Registry. Registration and management of.nl domains through OpenSRS is done is the same way as for General TLDs (gtlds). See "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.nl domains. Management of.nl domains can be done at Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.nl domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.NL domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.nl registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.nl registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL of the website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.NL Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.nl registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..nl Residency Requirements Registration of a.nl domain name is unrestricted except that applicants who are not based in the Netherlands or who do not have a registered address in the Netherlands must provide an address in the Netherlands where written documents can be sent to the applicant and where legal summonses can be served. 182

196 Country Code TLDs.NL DNS Requirements In order to activate a.nl domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to three nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.nl domain, or when activating the.nl domain. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. The nameservers must comply with the following registry requirements.! Each domain shall have a primary name server and at least one secondary name server. The name servers stated for incorporation in the NL zone file should preferably be located in different (sub) networks.! The name servers stated for incorporation in the NL zone file should be accessible from anywhere on the Internet.! Zone transfers may be blocked if desired, but shall be open at least to the NL primary name server host. This is necessary for (regular) checks of the name servers. It should be pointed out that blocking of zone transfers usually provides only a semblance of security. Prior to a domain being registered, the NL zone file manager checks all name servers. This check includes name servers that have not been stated, but are (evidently) incorporated in the zone file of the domain concerned. Attention will be paid especially, but not exclusively, to the following items:! The NS records of the zone file shall contain at least the stated name servers.! Primary name server according to [field #4 of] the Server of Authority (SOA) record shall be identical to that in the NS record and in accordance with the statement.! The SOA, NS and MX records may refer to objects with an A record only, not to objects with a CNAME record.! In view of the provisions under item 4, the zone file shall contain an MX record (or an A record) for the domain proper.! Fallback MX records may not refer to third parties without permission being granted by those third parties; in case of doubt the NL zone file manager can verify this with the third party in question.! According to the standards a glue (A) record is incorporated in the NL zone file for each name server host at any sub-domain level under the.nl domain; if a name server for a domain is operated from a host of the provider involved, the host name as it is known with the provider shall be included in the zone file and the statement; the domain name in question may not be included in the zone file, to prevent pollution of the NL zone file by unnecessary glue records as well as problems in case the IP address of such a nameserver host should change. 183

197 Country Code TLDs.NL Renewals Renewal requests must be submitted prior to the domain s expiry date in order to renew the name. Domains that have not been renewed by the expiry date are deleted on that date, and become available to the public within 24 hours of deletion..nl Transfers SIDN is the registry that oversees all.nl transfers. A Transfer transfers a domain name from one Registrar to another. To transfer a.nl domain 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfers for <domainname>.nl page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. 6. Complete the.nl transfer form found at erform.pdf and fax it to ATTN: Tucows Service Bureau. Tucows processes the request and notification is sent once the transfer is complete. 184

198 Country Code TLDs.TV.TV is the country code TLD Tuvalu. Tuvalu has made its name space available to any interested registrants, regardless of residency. Registration and management of.tv domains is done through OpenSRS in the same way as it is for General TLDs (gtlds). See "General TLD Registrations" for complete information on the registration and management of.tv domains..tv domains can be registered for a minimum of 1 year to a maximum of 10 years..tv Reseller Qualification To qualify to sell.tv domain names, you must:! Re-submit the Master TLD Exhibit A contract to OpenSRS, authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.TV domain Reseller. The required form can be obtained from Bind your customers to the.tv registration terms, which are included in, and can be obtained from, the Master TLD Exhibit A contract, at Post the.tv registration terms on your website. Once you've posted the terms on your website, [email protected] with the URL of the website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should read be: Subject: {Reseller Username} *.TV Agreement Once Tucows receives the and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.tv registrations. Note: If you do not post the agreement on your website, you must inform Tucows of the method that you have chosen to bind your customers to the agreement..tv Residency Requirements.TV is an open registry; you do not have to be a Tuvalu resident or business operator to register a.tv domain..tv DNS Requirements In order to activate a.tv domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to 13 nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.tv domain, or when activating the.tv domain. The domain name and nameserver details are transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. 185

199 Country Code TLDs.TV Transfers A Transfer moves a domain name from one registrar to another. The owner of the domain contacts the gaining registrar and the transaction is initiated by that registrar through the RWI. The following restrictions apply to transfers:! A domain name cannot be transferred within the first 60 days after it is created or within 60 days of a previous transfer.! If the domain is transferred to another registrar during the 45 day auto-renew grace period, the losing registrar is refunded for the autorenewal and the year is removed from the domain name term. The gaining registrar is charged for the transfer and the expiration date is extended one year from the original expiration date. To transfer a domain name 1. Launch the RWI. 2. In the Domain Registration Administration section, under Order Management, enter the domain name in the Transfer a domain field. 3. Click Transfer. The Transfer Form for <domainname>.tv page appears. 4. Complete the Transfer Form. You can complete the Retrieve Order Information section and click Retrieve Data to autopopulate the fields. 5. Click Submit. When the transfer request is submitted through the RWI, the request is sent to the registry. After the transfer request is submitted, a five day transfer pending period begins. If the transfer request isn't either approved or rejected by the losing registrar by the end of the five day period, the registry automatically approves the transfer request. After the domain is transferred, a five-day grace period begins. When the transfer process is complete, the expiration date is extended one year from the original expiration date, and a charge is applied that is equal to the cost of a one year registration. 186

200 Country Code TLDs.UK This section describes the registration and management of the second-level.uk domains offered by Tucows. Domain Registration Management Transfer-in Transfer-out.CO.UK Y Y Y Y.ORG.UK Y Y Y Y.ME.UK Y Y Y Y.PLC.UK N Y Y Y.LTD.UK N Y Y Y.NET.UK N Y Y Y Note: The.UK second-level domains offered by Tucows (.CO.UK,.ORG.UK,.ME.UK,.PLC.UK,.LTD.UK,.NET.UK) are collectively referred to as.*.uk throughout this document..uk Top-Level Registration Restrictions The.UK Registry restricts registrations into their top-level domain,.uk, to registrants living in the United Kingdom. However, they offer open registrations for several second-level.uk namespaces that can be registered by anyone, regardless of where they live. Tucows goal is to offer as many TLDs (both cctlds and gtlds) as possible to our Channel Partners. Where a cctld is deemed too restrictive, Tucows does not usually offer it (as in.uk), but where registration requirements seem reasonable (as in.co.uk,.org.uk, and.me.uk) we endeavor to offer it to our channel. The.PLC.UK and.ltd.uk domains are too restrictive and complicated to register, but behave like.co/.org/.me after registration. About Nominet Nominet is a United Kingdom based company that has been given administrative rights over the.uk namespace. Nominet acts as the Registry for.uk domains. Nominet does not provide ownership of a.uk domain name; instead,.uk names are referred to as "registered. In becoming a Registrar with Nominet, Tucows/OpenSRS can extend.org.uk,.co.uk, and.me.uk domain name registrations to our channel partners in much the same way as we do with the.com and.net gtlds. Due to Nominet s requirements surrounding.ltd.uk,.plc.uk, and.net.uk, Tucows is unable to offer registration of these domain names, but we do offer renewals and transfers of domains within these namespaces. The registration of.ltd.uk,.plc.uk, and.net.uk second-level domains must be done with Nominet directly. 187

201 Country Code TLDs Reseller.UK Qualification In order to offer.*.uk domain names and management, each Reseller is required to submit a.uk specific Registration Service Provider Agreement or the Master TLD Contract. Additionally, Resellers are required to bind their clients to the terms and conditions of the.uk Registry; this includes posting and/or linking to the dispute policy specific to.uk names. In order to apply for access to sell.org.uk,.co.uk, and.me.uk registrations from our live environment, you must:! Remit a new Reseller contract to Tucows authorizing you to act as an.org.uk,.co.uk, and.me.uk domain reseller.! Demonstrate to Tucows how you will bind your clients to the.uk terms and conditions; send an to [email protected] with a URL showing the terms in your ordering process and your OpenSRS username. Both the UK contract and UK Terms and Conditions can be found at: DNS Requirements In order to activate a.uk domain, it is not necessary to provide a functional nameserver; however, you may provide up to ten nameservers per domain. Quick Start Considerations OpenSRS supports the registration of new cctlds via the existing Quick Start (server side) access method, otherwise known as the Reseller Web Interface (RWI). However, as with previous versions of OpenSRS, the Quick Start method does not offer the full range of options available to Resellers that the Full Access client implementation does. For example, a Quick Start implementation does not allow Resellers to build payment processing into their domain registration process. Pricing The pricing information in this section is included to illustrate how the Value Added Tax is handled for.uk domain registrations. The price is subject to change, and so we suggest consulting the.uk section of the OpenSRS website for the most current pricing information. We offer two-year.co.uk,.org.uk, and.me.uk registrations for only $13.00 US including VAT (value added tax, see below). That is $ $1.94 VAT. Renewals for all.*.uk domains are also $13.00 US. 188

202 Country Code TLDs After an initial request is submitted, the OpenSRS system puts the appropriate amount ($13 for two domain years) on hold. Once the domain is registered, that amount is taken off hold and deducted from the Reseller s account. If the domain registration fails for any reason, the credit is taken off hold, and returned to the Reseller s account (see below). Order Processing with Respect to Account Balances VAT (Value Added Tax) VAT refers to Value Added Tax, a tax levied by the UK government. Depending on the location from which you operate your business, there are different implications: Resellers who are not UK Corporations! Must pay VAT on.*.uk registrations.! May be able to reclaim VAT paid. See for details on the requirements governing VAT refunds. Resellers who Operate in the UK Because the services Tucows provides are considered to be supplied from outside the UK, Resellers resident in the UK or elsewhere in Europe must pay VAT on.*.uk registrations, and then reclaim the VAT paid as they normally would. 189

203 Country Code TLDs.*.UK Registration Considerations The same registration templates used for.com and.net are used for registering.uk domains. Within the OpenSRS client code, the order templates include support for.uk registrations. Upon successful registration,.org.uk,.co.uk, and.me.uk domains are seamlessly inserted into an OpenSRS registrant profile. When requesting.org.uk,.co.uk, and.me.uk registrations, consideration should be given to:! The registration period, which is set to two years.! Nominet s confirmation of registration requirement.! The nature of asynchronous processing. Note: The registrant field is mandatory for all new registrations. Registration Period (term) All.UK registrations are set for two years. The Registry does not offer any other registration periods at this time. Renewals can be requested six months before the expiry date of your domain;.*.uk domains can then be renewed for another two years. Registration Confirmation When a domain has been successfully registered, Nominet sends the registrant a welcome that contains login details for the new account. Important: In order to complete a.org.uk,.com.uk, or.me.uk registration, registrants are required to complete the registration confirmation form located in Registrants Online. Asynchronous Processing.UK registrations are handled at the Registry (Nominet) level as an asynchronous process. This means that registrations submitted are not immediately processed/approved by the registry server. When an order is submitted, it enters a pending state, subject to registry approval. In the case of a new domain, a reply from Nominet typically arrives in 5-10 minutes. That means that no one else can reserve this domain at this point; Nominet rejects any new registration requests for the same name. However, the owner cannot use the domain yet, because the root nameservers are not updated immediately. Nominet updates the root nameservers twice daily; your clients will be able to use their names as soon as the root zone is updated. They will be able to view their Nominet WHOIS information within one hour. 190

204 Country Code TLDs Registry processing time can take longer based on circumstances beyond Tucows control. As a result of this, it is important to communicate this delay to users when they place orders with you. You can check the status of a submitted order anytime through the RWI. This delayed processing is very similar to the process for executing a sponsoring Registrar transfer in the.com and.net namespace. As with the transfer process, once a registration for a.uk domain has been submitted, the funds required for each registration (domain) are put on hold (frozen) in the Reseller s account. Should the registration fail for any reason, the funds are refunded (released) upon notification of failure from Nominet. Note: If a request is made for a domain name that is already registered, or if the domain is in the OpenSRS queue to be registered, the Reseller receives an error message immediately. Asynchronous order states Circumstance Message from Nominet Type Order State in RWI.*.UK name available at time order submitted to Nominet Order # processed: Domain registration successfully submitted Real Time Sent to Registry.*.UK name not available at time order is submitted to Nominet Domain 'requesteddomain.co.uk' taken Real Time Canceled.*.UK name ordered when Tucows already has another request in queue for the same name Order not registered: A request is currently waiting on this domain Real Time Canceled.*.UK name fails to register Unless you changed your.uk Retry and Failure Reporting settings, failed requests will be queued and retried three times, every four hours. Not-real time Varies Request Queuing As an asynchronous registry, Nominet can process only one request at a time. For example, a nameserver change must be completely processed before the corresponding contact details can be changed. In order to avoid waiting for one transaction to process before submitting the next, requests are queued. Note: A maximum of 20 requests can be queued for a domain at one time. 191

205 Country Code TLDs Queued requests are listed in the order that they are submitted, and each request can be canceled from the queue. If a queued request fails, the failure is recorded, and the next request in the queue is processed. Retry for Timed-Out and Failed Requests When requests are sent but no response is received from Nominet, or if there is an error, the attempt times-out and is queued. Queued requests are retried three times, every four hours, or until a response is received from Nominet. Note: Domain tag transfers cannot be retried. Upon failure of a domain tag transfer, a failure message is sent. Failure Reporting Whenever a Nominet registry request finally fails (for example, after it has been retired with no success), an is sent to the Reseller and/or End User. Failure messages are sent according to your.uk Retry and Failure Reporting settings. Managing.*.UK Registrations OpenSRS supports record modification for.org.uk,.co.uk,.me.uk,.ltd.uk,.net.uk, and.plc.uk registrations. The standard manage interface and profile system can be used to execute modifications to registrations. Record modification is not done in real-time; expect a delay after submitting a modification request before the changes actually take effect. Our testing has shown that these modifications are normally applied within 60 minutes. Modifying Contact and Nameserver Information Registrants can make multiple changes to their.*.uk contact and nameserver information. However, since Nominet is an asynchronous Registry, there are delays in applying these changes. Notes:! The Organization contact cannot be changed using the Manage Interface.! As of November 15, 2005, the Technical contact no longer is required or accepted. Also, a valid address is the only mandatory information required for a.uk domain's administrative contact. OpenSRS stores technical contact information for existing.uk registrations but the technical information is no longer forwarded to the registry. The Technical contact fields have been removed. 192

206 Country Code TLDs Wait States and Sample Messages from the Manage Domain Interface Activity Wait State Message Changing any contact information Changing any nameserver information Waiting Request: modify_contact_info Waiting Request: enhanced_update_nameservers.*.uk Renewals Renewals of.uk domain names are offered in two year periods. When you first register a.uk domain, it is registered for two years. Within the six months before the end of the two year term, you can renew the domain for another two years. Nominet refers to the date by which a.uk domain must be renewed as the renewal date. So, in order to retain your.uk domain, you must renew every two years, by the renewal date. Nominet is an asynchronous Registry, and as such, there are delays in applying renewal years to.uk domains. Renewals are accomplished the same way as with other domains, that is, via the RWI or client code..uk Renewal Process 1. Renewal is performed via Client Code, Reseller Web Interface, or triggered by the Auto-Renew flag. 2. Renewal Order is processed, and the order state becomes Renewal Applied (you can find the order again using Search Reg System Orders). 3. OpenSRS receives a response from Nominet that the Renewal was successful, and the state of the order is changed to Completed. Note: It is important to follow the Tucows renewal process; renewing a.uk name at the registry level after purchasing it through Tucows could lead to incorrect renewal warnings and other data syncing issues..*.uk Domain Expiration and Grace Period If a.uk domain has reached its renewal date, but has not yet been renewed, Nominet sends the registrant a Pro Forma invoice directly to the Admin Contact. The Registrant then has 30 days from the invoice date to submit the renewal fee to their Reseller. If the renewal fee is not paid within those 30 days, the domain is suspended for 60 days and the domain does not resolve. If the 60-day suspension period passes and the domain is not renewed, the domain is deleted and is made available for registration by someone else. Once a suspended domain is renewed and the renewal is processed by OpenSRS, the domain resolves within hours. 193

207 Country Code TLDs *.UK Transfers Nominet s transfer policy requires the losing Registrar to initiate transfers on behalf of the Registrant. For domains transferring to OpenSRS, OpenSRS Resellers should advise the Registrant to contact their current Registrar to initiate the process of getting their domain transferred under the Tucows tag. The Tucows tag is TUCOWS-CA. Notes:! Due to parsing problems at Nominet, contact data may be skewed. Instructions about how to rectify this are noted on the transfer confirmation s sent to you and your customers.! When transferring a domain, the losing Registrar must change the Domain Tag of the domain to the gaining Registrar.! The Domain Tag can only be changed to a valid Nominet tag. To see valid Nominet tags, visit the Nominet website at It is not possible to force the completion of.uk transfers that are Pending Registry Approval.! Transfer Winback is not available for.uk. Reseller to Reseller.*.UK Transfers With this type of transfer, the domain tag does not change, as both the losing Reseller and the gaining Reseller are part of the OpenSRS system. In this scenario, the End User notifies the gaining Reseller, and the gaining Reseller initiates the transfer, following the regular transfer process for gtlds. Once the transfer is initiated: 1. Tucows sends the Registrant a transfer-away notification. In order to complete the transfer, Registrants must approve (ACK) the transfer request. If the Registrant fails to respond, the transfer is canceled. 2. Tucows sends the losing Reseller a transfer-away notification. This is simply a notification; the losing Reseller cannot NACK the transfer. 3. Once complete, Tucows sends a confirmation of the successful transfer to the gaining Reseller. Note: If you (the gaining Reseller) place the transfer of an expired domain, the renewal cost for that domain is charged to your Reseller account if and when it completes. 194

208 Country Code TLDs.*.UK Transfers to Tucows To transfer a domain away from a non-tucows Reseller, the Registrant, the losing Registrar (Tag Holder), and the gaining Reseller must do the following:! The registrant contacts their new Reseller (that is, the gaining Tucows Reseller).! The registrant asks the losing Registrar (Tag Holder) to submit the tag change to Nominet. Our Tag is TUCOWS-CA.! The gaining Reseller accepts the transfer, according to the instructions below. To accept the domain transfer 1. Specify the domain. In the Transfer a domain section of the RWI, enter the domain that you want to accept as a transfer, and then click Transfer. 2. In the Transfer for <domain> page, specify an existing Registrant profile or create a new Registrant profile to associate with the transferred-in.uk domain. To add the transfer-in domain to an existing registrant profile enter the existing domain and registrant profile information in the Retrieve Order Information area, then click Retrieve Data. The profile details are needed to ensure that domains get inserted into the correct profile once the transfer has completed. To create a new registrant profile for the transfer-in enter the new owner and contact details in the registrant Profile Information and Contact Information sections. 3. Scroll down the page and ensure that Transfer Now is selected in the Action drop-down list. When done entering details, click Submit. Provided that the domain is under the Tucows tag (the losing registrar submitted the tag change to Nominet), that domain is added to your Reseller profile. Note: If you (gaining Reseller) place the transfer of an expired domain, the renewal cost for that domain is charged to your Reseller account if and when it completes. 195

209 Country Code TLDs.*.UK Transfers away from Tucows For transfers away from Tucows, the domain s tag must be changed to that of the gaining Registrar. The losing Reseller must provide the new tag using the RWI. To transfer away from Tucows 1. From the RWI main page, in the.uk Orders section, click UK Domain Tag Transfer away. The Change Domain Tags page opens. 2. In the New Domain Tag field, enter the gaining Registrar s tag. 3. In the List domains box, enter the domain(s) to transfer away. 4. Click Submit. Tucows sends the tag change to Nominet. The gaining Registrar can then claim the transferred domain from Nominet. Transferring a De-Tagged Domain to a New Tag Holder When a de-tagged domain is transferred to a new Tag Holder, Nominet's automated system requests an ISP Reference number: Nominet message You have arranged with your new registration agent for them to pay the registration or renewal fees due for the domain name(s). Your registration agent should have given you a reference number, which will allow you to proceed with your application to move your domain name(s) to them. Tucows does not provide such a number; simply enter your Reseller username or any number to proceed with your transaction..*.uk Transfers of Registrant Nominet requires that a transfer of a domain to a new Registrant be handled between the Registrants and Nominet directly. Both the existing and new Registrant must complete Nominet s transfer form and send Nominet the completed form along with a letter of authorization. Nominet s transfer form is available from Nominet s website: Note: Nominet charges a fee of 30 plus VAT (value added tax) per name for this type of transfer. 196

210 Country Code TLDs Canceling a Transfer-In Request and Resubmitting a Failed Transfer-In Resellers can view their transfer-in requests in the RWI. To cancel a transfer-in request 1. From the RWI main page, in the.uk Orders section, click UK Transfer In Requests. 2. From the Transfer In Requests page, cancel requests in-progress, and resubmit canceled requests. Note: It is not possible to force the completion of.uk transfers that are Pending Registry Approval. Changing Retry and Failure Reporting Settings Upon success or failure of certain requests, Tucows sends an notification to Resellers and End Users. Many of the notification messages can be activated or deactivated. To change retry and failure reporting settings 1. From the RWI main page, in the.uk Orders section, click Configure UK Retry and Failure Reporting. 2. Change the reporting settings, and then click Save Changes. 197

211 Country Code TLDs.*.UK Deletion Requests As with.com registrations, Resellers can receive a refund if they delete.*.uk domains within two days of registration. Nominet requires that domain deletions are handled between the Registrant and Nominet directly. The Reseller can assist the Registrant in the deletion, but OpenSRS does not get involved with this process. Surrendering your domain name (without refund) is straightforward. On the reverse of the Domain Name Certificate, there is a surrender form. Complete this and return it to Nominet, along with a letter of authorization on your company letterhead. If you do not have a certificate or if you downloaded an online certificate, you can obtain a copy of Nominet s surrender form from their website. You must then print, complete, and return the form to Nominet along with your authorization letter. On receipt of these documents, Nominet cancels the domain name, removing it completely from the.uk Register Database. Once this is done, the name is available for someone else to register. If the Registrant has misplaced their Domain Name Certificate, they should notify Nominet in writing on company letterhead of their requirement to surrender their domain name. Once a.*.uk name is registered, you cannot get a refund for the registration when surrendering the name. WHOIS Info The Nominet WHOIS server is authoritative for all.*.uk names. You can search the.uk WHOIS database at Note: Both the Quickstart and Full Access interfaces have a domain lookup tool to check domain name availability; the WHOIS interface simply provides more information about the domain registrar and registrant. At this time, the OpenSRS WHOIS service do not do recursive lookups for.*.uk registrations. Sample WHOIS Output Domain Name: jasonslaughter.co.uk registrant: Tucows, Inc. registrant's Address: 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto Ontario M6K 3M1 CA 198

212 Country Code TLDs registrant's Agent: TUCOWS INC [Tag = TUCOWS-CA] URL: Relevant Dates: Registered on: 13-Nov-2003 Renewal Date: 13-Nov-2005 Last updated: 04-Feb-2004 Registration Status: Registered until renewal date. Name servers listed in order: ns1.mydomain.com ns2.mydomain.com WHOIS database last updated at 17:00:00 06-May-2004 Note: The information returned with a.uk WHOIS is substantially less than the information available for gtlds. Modification of Contact Info - WHOIS Considerations! If only the contact info is updated for a.*.uk name, then the change is reflected in the WHOIS database within one hour. If nameservers are updated, the change doesn't take effect until the root nameservers are reloaded, which happens twice daily.! When a nameserver based on a.uk domain is created, it is not usable by other domains until it has first been added to the parent domain. For instance, to be able to attach the new nameserver ns1.parent.co.uk to other.co.uk, the following procedure must be done:! Create nameserver through the normal means.! Add the new nameserver to parent.co.uk.! Add the new nameserver to other.co.uk. Note: This requires that ns1.parent.co.uk DNS be setup to return details on both the parent and the other domains. 199

213 Country Code TLDs WHOIS Opt-Out Nominet allows individuals to opt-out of their WHOIS database so that none of their personal information is returned with a WHOIS query. Organizations cannot use the WHOIS opt-out feature. The WHOIS opt-out feature for.uk domains is available from the MWI at from the Domain Extras page: 200

214 Country Code TLDs.US.US is the TLD for the United States, and is regulated by the NeuStar registry. There are certain names that are not available for registration. Consistent with ICANN and gtld procedures, all existing TLDs and two-character country codes are reserved from registration. In addition, the following names are reserved:! All domains, of any length, beginning with 18xx, or 1-8xx, or 8xx, where x is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive.! All domains beginning with nxx or 1nxx or 1-nxx followed by exactly seven numbers, not including hyphens, where n is any number form 2 to 9 inclusive, and x is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive.! All domains beginning with xxxxx, where x is any number from 0 to 9 inclusive. Examples of reserved names! 1800abc.us! 812abc-def.us! us! us! us! us! us! Melrose.us Examples of non-reserved names! 18-00bar.us! 1111.us! yourname.us! us! abc.us! 2222.us.US Reseller Qualification In order to apply for access to sell.us names from our live environment, resellers must:! Remit a new Reseller contract to OpenSRS authorizing you to act as an OpenSRS.us domain reseller. The contract can be found at: Bind your customers to the.biz registration terms, found at: 201

215 Country Code TLDs Once you have the above on your website (or can demonstrate your alternative method for binding your customers to this agreement) with the URL of the website where you have posted the agreement. The subject line of this should be: Subject: {RSP Username} *.US agreement Once Tucows receives this and checks your website, Tucows replies to your message, confirming that you are now authorized to offer.us registrations..us Registration Considerations Prospective Registrants in the.us TLD must fall in one of three U.S. Nexus categories and must certify that they have a "bona fide presence in the United States." Prospective registrants must indicate their use of the domain by selecting one of the following categories: Nexus Category 1 A natural person (i) who is a United States citizen, (ii) a permanent resident of the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories, or (iii) whose primary place of domicile is in the United States of America or any of its possessions. Nexus Category 2 A United States entity or organization that is (i) incorporated within one of the fifty (50) U.S. states, the District of Columbia, or any of the United States possessions or territories or organized, or otherwise constituted under the laws of a state of the United States of America, the District of Columbia or any of its possessions or (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof, and unincorporated organizations based in the United States). 202

216 Country Code TLDs Nexus Category 3 An entity or organization (including a federal, state, or local government of the United States, or a political subdivision thereof) that has a bona fide presence in the United States of America or any of its possessions or territories.! If foreign entity, applicant must state country of citizenship.! Check from category list, basis for compliance with Nexus requirement - regularly sells goods in the United States; regularly provides services in the United States; regularly engages in business activities, trade or other business (commercial or non-commercial including not-for-profit) relations in the United States;! Maintains an office or other property within the United States. Nexus requirements can be entered during the registration process, and altered via the Manage interface. Note: By agreeing to the policies of the registry, Registrants agree to having one of these requirements. Nothing further is required from the Reseller to prove the Registrant has a legitimate registration. For an up to date version of the official Nexus Requirements from the Neustar registry, please see the document located here: DNS Requirements In order to activate a.us domain, you must provide at least two functional nameservers; however, you may provide up to thirteen nameservers per domain. Nameservers can be provided either when registering the.us domain, or when activating the.us domain. The domain name and nameserver details are usually transferred to the zone file within 24 hours, after which time the domain name becomes active. 203

217 Country Code TLDs Modifications to the Reseller Web Interface for.us Nexus Requirements MUST be filled in for.us domain names: Note: For.US real-time registration, a minimum one-year registration term is required. Additionally, the phone number MUST be in the following format: +CCC.NNNNNNNNNNNNxEEEE where C = the country dial code, N is up to twelve digits of the phone number, and E is the extension. The x character is ONLY required if an extension is specified. For example, the Tucows phone number would be (where 1 is the dial code for Canada). The.US Auth_code Once Registrants successfully register a.us domain, they are provided an auth_code which is a secret pass phrase that shows verifiable proof of ownership of a domain. This auth_code is specific to the registry technologies employed by the.us registry. This code should be kept secret, and is separate from the management username/password required to manage your OpenSRS domains. You may obtain this information via the Manage Domain interface, or from the current Registrar of record. The latest OpenSRS release provides users with the ability to change their auth_code using the Manage interface. Registrants will log in to the page using their existing data and either modify or change the necessary data. 204

218 Country Code TLDs.US Registration Flow Description 1. Registrant completes required information (RCL or other). 2. Registrant submits information to reseller (RCL or other). 3. Reseller submits information to OpenSRS (via RWI or RCL). 4. OpenSRS submits registration to NeuStar. 5. OpenSRS debits reseller s account. 6. OpenSRS notifies reseller of successful domain registration..us Registrant/Registrar/Reseller Transfers Transferring of.us domains follows the gtld transfer process. Refer to: m.us Deletion Requests Deletions are handled the same as with gtld domains. See "Deletion of New Registrations" for more information. Reseller Pricing for.us Current pricing for.us domains can be found in the.us section of the OpenSRS website at Note: NeuStar (the.us registry) currently requests a minimum two-year registration period for new registrations..us Manage Considerations.US names can now be managed using the manage.cgi, or Please note the following:! Registrants may register associate.us names with profiles created with a previous gtld registration, but not with a previous cctld.! Registrants can obtain the auth_code for.us domains via the Manage Domain interface.! Contact changes cannot be made while the domain is locked. 205

219 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations IDNs (Internationalized Domain Names) enable the use of local language characters with gtlds. For example, µψδοµαιν.com uses local characters followed by.com. As of April 24, 2004, only Punycode compliant (xn--) IDNs are supported. Any IDN registrations submitted after April 24, 2004 must be in Punycode. RACE encoded submissions will not be accepted; Resellers and end users will be prompted to convert any RACE or UTF-8 encoded IDNs to Punycode using the conversion tool available in the RRC. IDN features include: Client! Support for IDN registrations/management in all supported languages. See the "IDN Supported TLDs and Languages" table.! Bulk registrations of IDNs.! Punycode conversion tool. Server! Support for IDN registrations/management in specified languages. See the "IDN Supported TLDs and Languages" table. IDN Registration Agreement Multilingual.COM and.net domains are governed by the same registration agreement as their English equivalents. All customers registering IDNs must be bound to the existing ICANN sanctioned registration terms and conditions. For more information, see the Exhibit A registration agreement, which is available from the Reseller Resource Center. Reseller Web Interface for IDN Registrations This section identifies the differences between registering domains and registering IDNS. Domain Name Field The Domain Name field allows the Reseller to input a domain in their specific language and binds it to the language selected in the Language drop-down list. See the "IDN Supported TLDs and Languages" table for the complete of list of languages. 206

220 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Language Specification Drop-Down List This feature occurs throughout the domain registration and management areas of the client. Anytime there is a domain name to be input, the language selection drop-down is displayed. The default language is Standard ASCII, which can only be used for English language registrations. If registering an IDN, you must choose the native language from the Language drop-down list. If you attempt to register an IDN but do not change the language from Standard ASCII to the native language, the registration will fail. It is important to note that all other input fields (address, contact info, etc.) can accept input of other languages but that the current registry/registrar schema will not support the correct display of this information, especially within WHOIS searches. Therefore we encourage resellers to post a warning to their IDN customers not to do so. Otherwise WHOIS data will be completely incomprehensible. Resellers must bear in mind that cctlds, even if enabled in your profile, are not enabled for IDN registrations. For example, attempting to register yourname.co.uk in its Japanese translated version would cause an error to occur and the registration to fail. Username and Password Username and password fields do not accept non-acsii characters. Attempting to submit local language characters will result in registration errors. For additional restrictions that apply to these fields, please see "Data Constraints". IDN Renewals and Registration Periods As with regular.com and.net domains, IDNs are available for a registration period ranging from 1 to 10 years. IDN renewals work in exactly the same way as non-idns. IDN Transfers IDN transfers work in exactly the same way as.com and.net domain transfers. Simply submit a properly formatted transfer request via the Reseller Web Interface, or using the API as specified in the API Specification. 207

221 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations IDN WHOIS Info WHOIS lookups must be done in Punycode format. Tucows provides a publicly available Punycode conversion tool at This conversion tool is also packaged with the client distribution. Viewing IDN Orders using the RWI Within all view domain areas of the Reseller Web Interface, the value in the Encoding Type column identifies the language type, for example: Russian or Standard ASCII. For non-idn domains registered before April , a blank field identifies the name as being a Standard ASCII based English domain. Important: When communicating with OpenSRS regarding IDNs, Resellers should do so using the Punycode converted name (for example xn 2kjskjdfkjsf.com). This helps facilitate any language barriers that may exist and allows proper resolution of any issue regarding these names. Converting to Punycode and Verifying Punycode Compliance The Tucows Punycode converter allows Registrants and Resellers to view a domain name in all encoding formats (for example, RACE, UTF-8, Punycode). You can also use the Punycode converter to ensure that any domain names you intend to submit are in correct Punycode format. The Tucows Punycode converter, publicly available at accepts domain names in the formats listed below, and converts the domain name to the remaining formats. Native Characters This option allows you to enter the domain in the native language, using either the language characters in Unicode, or using an IME (Input Method Editor), and returns the domain s representation in Punycode, RACE, and UTF-8 format. To learn more about Unicode, please visit RACE This option allows the input of a RACE converted name and converts it to UTF-8 and Punycode format. When entering a RACE encoded name, make sure that the name is prefaced with "bq--". 208

222 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Punycode This option allows the input of a Punycode converted name and converts it to UTF-8 and RACE format. When entering a Punycode encoded name, make sure the name is prefaced with "xn--". To verify a domain name for Punycode compliance 1. Using the Punycode converter, copy and paste the complete, Punycode-converted domain name into the Input field. 2. From the Type options, select Punycode. 3. Click Convert. The page reloads, displaying the conversion results. If the Input String name does resemble your input, then your data is not encoded in Punycode, and cannot be used for IDN registrations. Note: The data may not exactly match your input due to case folding and other syntactical rules of Punycode. Changing your Browser Settings to View IDNs To enable your Browser to display an IDN in your own language, download and install the I-Nav plug-in from Once installed, you can access domains that use an IDN. Note: To view the actual characters used in some IDN URLs, you need to install the language pack used by that IDN. To add a language in Internet Explorer choose View > Encoding > More, and then select the language that you would like to view. To add a language in Netscape choose View > Character Set, and then select the language that you would like to view. 209

223 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations IDN Bulk Registrations Process Overview The following list outlines the steps that resellers should take to prepare and submit their files for bulk registrations. Step 1: Resellers collect domain name registration requests from their customers. Step 2: Resellers create flat files based on the names collected. For more information, see "Creating an IDN Flat File". Step 3: Tucows strongly recommends that Resellers visually inspect their files to ensure that the representation of the domain name in the flat file matches the domain name requested by the customer. You should also verify that the data you ve entered is Punycode compliant using the Punycode converter. For more information, see "Converting to Punycode and Verifying Punycode Compliance". Step 4: Resellers submit their requested domain names via the OpenSRS RWI in a flat file as described in "Creating an IDN Flat File". Step 5: The RWI reads the batch file and converts the local language characters to Punycode. Step 6: Tucows has integrated the IDN specification defined by Verisign into the server OpenSRS software. Once the requested domain name has been transformed into Punycode by the browser, the OpenSRS system uses Punycode to transform the requested domain name into a representational ASCII character string. Note: The Place Multilingual Bulk Order option in the RWI only works with supported languages. For a list of supported languages, see the "IDN Supported TLDs and Languages" table. 210

224 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Entering data in Punycode for Bulk Registrations In order to create the flat file you need to use for bulk IDN registration (or to create single domain names to use via the standard RWI Place Order Manually feature, or the client code), you need a method of inputting data in Punycode or UTF-8 format. There are various methods available to you; three possible options are explained below. Method 1: Encoding using Characters Native to your System Method 1 assumes that you already have a process and the tools to translate from your native encoding type into Punycode or UTF-8. If this is the case, simply enter the Punycode or UTF-8 characters into the domain name field (or in the text file for the bulk loader) and everything will work properly. To test whether your data is properly Punycode encoded, see "Converting to Punycode and Verifying Punycode Compliance". Method 2: Encoding using Microsoft Word and a Unicode Font Microsoft Word 2000 (and probably earlier versions) is packaged with a Unicode font and a character input tool. Before accessing the tool, first make sure you have a Unicode font installed. A Unicode font (such as Arial Unicode MS) is required to represent all the various possible characters. This font is available with Microsoft Office 2000, or from the Microsoft web site. Once you ve installed the font, open MS Word and perform these steps: 1. From the Insert menu, choose Symbol. 2. From the Symbol dialog box, make sure that the Symbols tab is active. 3. From the Font drop-down list, choose Arial Unicode MS (or your Unicode font). 4. From the Subset drop-down list, choose the character set you want to use. 5. Enter the string you want to register as a domain name. 6. Repeat steps 1 to 5 for each domain name. 7. Once you have added all domain names to your file, see "Creating an IDN Flat File" for file saving instructions. 211

225 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Method 3: Obtain a Freeware IME (Input Method Editor) An IME is an application that allows users to input foreign language characters. IMEs usually display foreign language characters using an onscreen keyboard which you can also use to enter each character. We have done limited testing with SC UniPad for Windows, and have found that it works as a Unicode character input tool: With proper mapping information, available from this tool works for all supported languages. Creating an IDN Flat File Given the feedback from a core group of beta testers, the following procedures describe the easiest and safest way to create a batch IDN Bulk File, and describes how to submit that bulk file using Microsoft 98/2000/ME running MS Office To submit your Bulk Orders using the RWI, the file should be in a CSV (comma delimited) format and must conform to the file format as outlined below. Field List Max Length Variable Domain_Name 50 N/A User_Name 100 N/A Password 20 N/A Reg_Period Note: The Domain_Name length presented in the table above is, of necessity, an approximate value. There is no way to tell the length of the Punycode converted name before conversion. 212

226 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Creating a Flat File 1. Enter each registration in MS Word using the following format: Domain_Name, User_Name, Password, Reg_Period Domain_Name, User_Name, Password, Reg_Period Etc. Notes:! Be sure to use one of the input methods described in "Entering Data in Punycode".! Domain_Name = the domain in the desired UTF8 encoded characters (found using the Input Symbol tool as described above). The TLD (.COM,.NET) must use English characters.! Username = the username for Registrant control of the name.! Password = the password for Registrant control of the name.! Reg_Period = the registration term. 2. Save the Word file as HTML: choose File > Save as Web Page and save the file. 3. Open the HTML file in IE 5.0 or greater. 4. Re-save the file in IE: i. Choose File > Save As. ii. In the File name field, change the file name to something in ASCII (e.g. domains). iii. From the Save as Type drop-down list, choose Text. iv. From the Encoding drop-down list, choose Unicode (UTF-8). v. Click Save to save the file. You re now ready to upload the file! Useful Steps for Resellers not Running Office 2000 This procedure uses Win98 and Netscape 4.7. Special thanks to Homero Alejandro Gonzalez! 1. Create your file with WordPad and save it in Unicode. 2. Open the file in Netscape Composer. (Please note that V4.7, version 6+ does not work consistently.) 3. Choose View > Character set, and then choose Unicode UTF-8. A warning appears indicating that characters will change. This is acceptable. 4. Save as.txt with Unicode UTF-8 still selected. Your file should be ready to upload. 213

227 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Submitting Bulk IDN Registrations 1. From the RWI main page, in the Order Management section, click Place Multilingual Bulk Manually. The Domain Registration Form opens. 2. Ensure that all required fields in this form are filled out with your default settings for your placement of batch domains (Admin., Billing, and Technical, and Desired Nameservers). You can also submit these names based on an existing domain profile. 3. Once all of the required fields are filled out, click Browse in the Upload File section. Use the Choose File dialog to locate the flat file that you created (for example, domains.txt), then click Open in the dialog box. 4. In the Domain Registration Form page in the RWI, click Submit. The browser reads your batch file and opens the Domain List page, listing all of the domains from the submitted batch file. 5. Ensure that all domains appear correctly, and check that your browser is set to UTF-8 Encoding. Corrections or changes to any domains may be done directly on this page. While your batch file is being read, it is checked for any duplicates and/or invalid domains before displaying this page. A routine is then run to discard any duplicates or invalid names. 6. To submit your batch file from a numbered position, enter the number in the Start registration process at number field. This feature is useful should your registrations be stopped at any point within the registration process and you need to resubmit part of your batch. 7. Once you have visually inspected your domains, click Register to commence the bulk lookup and registration process. The time it takes to register your bulk file depends on the size of your batch file. Each name appears on the screen as it either registers or fails to register because it s taken. The word Done appears at the bottom of the domain list once the file is completely done. 214

228 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations As orders are looked up and registered, a new page is displayed showing the status of each order. Please make sure that your browser is still set to UTF-8 when reviewing the results page. Note: In some cases, especially with large files or during times when the registry s response is slow, your browser may not display live updates of the registration progress until it has completed the file. Do not shut down your browser and try again; instead, let the browser complete the process until you see a screen as displayed below. IDN UDRP Considerations As with the Registration Agreement, IDNs fall under the same UDRP consideration as regular.com and.net names. The UDRP protects individuals and companies with Trade Marks and Copyright protections. Cybersquatting on multilingual names will prove as fruitless as with regular English domain names. Squatters stand as good a chance of losing their squatted names in other languages as they do in English. IDN Pricing Tucows does not impose any additional costs for the registration of IDNs. IDNs follow the same pricing schedule as.com and.net transactions. 215

229 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations IDN Supported TLDs and Languages.COM,.NET,.CC,.TV Punycode enables the conversion of the following languages for use with.com,.net,.cc, and.tv IDNs. Language ID Language Code 3 Name 1 NO None specified 2 ARG Aragonese 3 ASM Assamese 4 AST Asturian; Bable 5 AVE Avestan 6 AWA Awadhi 7 BAK Bashkir 8 BAL Baluchi 9 BAN Balinese 10 BAS Basa 11 BEL Belarusian 12 BOS Bosnian 13 CAR Carib 14 CHE Chechen 15 CHV Chuvash 16 COP Coptic 17 COS Corsican 18 WEL Welsh-WEL 19 DIV Divehi 20 DOI Dogri 21 FIJ Fijian 22 FRY Frisian 23 GLA Gaelic; Scottish Gaelic 24 GLE Irish 25 GON Gondi 26 INC Indic (Other) 27 IND Indonesian 28 INH Ingush 29 JAV Javanese 30 KAS Kashmiri 216

230 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Language ID Language Code 3 Name 31 KAZ Kazakh 32 KHM Khmer 33 KIR Kirghiz 34 LTZ Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch 35 MAO Maori-MAO 36 MAY Malay-MAY 37 MLT Maltese 38 MOL Moldavian 39 MON Mongolian 40 OSS Ossetian; Ossetic 41 PUS Pushto 42 SIN Sinhalese 43 SMO Samoan 44 SOM Somali 45 SRD Sardinian 46 TGK Tajik 47 YID Yiddish 48 AFR Afrikaans 49 ALB Albanian-ALB 50 ARA Arabic 51 ARM Armenian-ARM 52 AZE Azerbaijani 53 BAQ Basque-BAQ 54 BEN Bengali 55 BHO Bhojpuri 56 TIB Tibetan-TIB 57 BUL Bulgarian 58 BUR Burmese-BUR 59 CAT Catalan 60 CZE Czech-CZE 61 CHI Chinese-CHI 63 DAN Danish 64 GER German-GER 65 DUT Dutch-DUT; Flemish 217

231 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Language ID Language Code 3 Name 66 GRE Greek-GRE, Modern (1453-) 67 ENG English 68 EST Estonian 70 FAO Faroese 71 PER Persian-PER 72 FIN Finnish 73 FRE French-FRE 74 GEO Georgian-GEO 75 GUJ Gujarati 76 HEB Hebrew 77 HIN Hindi 78 SCR Croatian-SCR 79 HUN Hungarian 80 ICE Icelandic-ICE 81 ITA Italian 82 JPN Japanese 84 KOR Korean (Hangul) 85 KUR Kurdish 86 LAO Lao 87 LAV Latvian 88 LIT Lithuanian 89 MAC Macedonian-MAC 90 MAL Malayalam 91 NEP Nepali 92 NOR Norwegian 93 ORI Oriya 94 PAN Panjabi 95 POL Polish 96 POR Portuguese 97 RAJ Rajasthani 98 RUM Romanian-RUM 100 RUS Russian 101 SAN Sanskrit 102 SCC Serbian-SCC 104 SLO Slovak-SLO 218

232 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations Language ID Language Code 3 Name 105 SLV Slovenian 106 SND Sindhi 107 SPA Spanish; Castilian 108 SWA Swahili 109 SWE Swedish 110 SYR Syriac 111 TAM Tamil 112 TEL Telugu 113 THA Thai 114 TUR Turkish 115 UKR Ukrainian 116 URD Urdu 117 UZB Uzbek 118 VIE Vietnamese.ORG Punycode enables the conversion of the following languages for use with.org IDNs. Language ID Language Code 3 Name 63 DAN Danish 64 GER German-GER 79 HUN Hungarian 80 ICE Icelandic-ICE 84 KOR Korean (Hangul) 87 LAV Latvian 88 LIT Lithuanian 95 POL Polish 107 SPA Spanish; Castilian 109 SWE Swedish 219

233 IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) Registrations.INFO Punycode enables the conversion of the following languages for use with.info IDNs. Language ID Language Code 3 Name 63 DAN Danish 64 GER German-GER 79 HUN Hungarian 80 ICE Icelandic-ICE 84 KOR Korean (Hangul) 87 LAV Latvian 88 LIT Lithuanian 95 POL Polish 109 SWE Swedish.BIZ and.de Punycode enables the conversion of the following languages for use with.biz and.de IDNs. Language ID Language Code 3 Name 61 CHI Chinese 63 DAN Danish 64 GER German-GER 80 ICE Icelandic 82 JPN Japanese 92 NOR Norwegian 107 SPA Spanish; Castilian 109 SWE Swedish 220

234 Bulk Changes The bulk changes feature allows you to update domain details for multiple domains in one request. Bulk changes are accepted for:! DNS changes (nameserver change)! Contact information (Reseller's Admin, Tech, and Billing contact)! Domain locking/unlocking! Domain Parked Pages! Domain renewals Up to 1000 domains can be changed in bulk. If this limit is insufficient for your needs, please contact your sales representative. Note: You can have only one active request in the queue at a time. If you need to queue more than one request, please contact your sales representative. Restrictions by TLD for Type of Bulk Change Some TLDs do not support certain types of bulk changes. Below is a list of the supported bulk changes according to TLD. TLD Contact Lock/Unlock Nameserver Renewals Notes.COM Y Y Y Y.NET Y Y Y Y.ORG Y Y Y Y.INFO Y Y Y Y.BIZ Y Y Y Y.NAME Y Y Y Y.CA N N Y Y.CC Y Y Y Y.CN Y N Y Y.DE N N Y Y.TV Y N Y Y Registrant-C must allow 5 days after registration Auto-renew in Dec UK Y N Y Y Two-year renewals only.us Y Y Y Y.VC Y Y Y Y 221

235 Bulk Changes The Bulk Domain Change Management Page All bulk changes and related tasks are executed from the Bulk Domain Change Management page in the RWI. To open the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Domain Change Management in the RWI. The Bulk Domain Change Management page opens. Identifying the Domains to which to Apply a Bulk Change You can identify the domains to which to apply the bulk change by either using a plain text file that lists all domains, or manually entering the domain names in the field provided in the RWI. Creating a Plain Text File that Lists Domains You can generate the text file using the Search function in the RWI, or you can manually create the text file that lists the domains you want to modify, and then you can submit that list when you initiate a bulk change request in the RWI. 222

236 Bulk Changes Manually Creating a Plain Text File The text file can list up to 1000 domains, with one domain per line. Save the text file with the ".txt" extension. Generating a Plain Text File using the RWI Search Function 1. From the RWI main page, click Bulk Domain Change Management. 2. On the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Domain Search. 3. On the Bulk Changes Domain Search page, use the form to define your search criteria. If no search criteria are selected, all the domains you have under management with Tucows are included. Note: If you choose the Include Domain Status option in your search criteria, this request may take longer to complete as each domain s status must be queried from the database. 4. In the Address field, be sure to enter your address; the text file will be sent to that address. 5. Click Result to File. The results are ed to the address specified on the search page. This search is performed on our asynchronous system, so any domains registered within the last 24 hours will not appear in the results. Once you have a text file listing the domains that you want to modify, you can submit that list when you specify the action to apply to those domains. Making Bulk DNS Changes The bulk DNS change functionality allows you to perform three types of changes:! Add nameservers: This adds new nameservers to the domains you specify.! Remove nameservers: This removes nameservers from the domains you specify.! Assign nameservers: This replaces the existing nameservers with new ones for the domains you specify. Please note that the original nameservers will be removed. Use this functionality with caution. 223

237 Bulk Changes To make bulk DNS changes 1. On the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk DNS Changes. The Bulk Domain DNS Changes page opens. 2. Specify the domains to which you want to apply the bulk DNS change. To manually enter each domain, type each domain name, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. To upload a text file that already lists the domains, click Browse, and locate the text file that lists the domains. For more information on generating a text file listing domains for a bulk change, see "Identifying the Domains to Which to Apply a Bulk Change", above. 3. Specify the nameservers to add, remove, or assign using the Add NS, Remove NS, or Assign NS textboxes. Note: You cannot add nameservers and assign nameservers in the same request. 4. To apply the DNS change to locked domains as well as unlocked domains, click Apply Changes to Locked Domains. 5. Enter the address where you want the change confirmation to be sent in the Contact field. 6. When done specifying the nameservers to assign, add, or remove, click Submit. The Bulk Changes Domain Change page opens, indicating that your request has been submitted and will be processed within 48 hours. 224

238 Bulk Changes Making Bulk Contact Changes A bulk contact change allows you to change contact information for up to 1000 domains at once. Note: If you do not have access rights to make changes to the Admin and Owner contacts, contact your account representative for assistance. 1. From the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Contact Changes. The Bulk Domain Contact Changes page opens. 2. Specify the domains to which you want to apply the bulk contact change. To manually enter each domain: type each domain name, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. To upload a text file that already lists the domains: click Browse, and locate the text file that lists the domains. For more information on generating a text file listing domains for a bulk change, see "Identifying the Domains to Which to Apply a Bulk Change", above. 3. Use the Owner Contact, Admin Contact, Billing Contact, and/or Technical Contact sections to specify the new information for the contact type(s) that you want to update. To reuse contact information for different contact types: click the Same as Owner Information, Same as Admin Information, etc. checkboxes. 4. To apply the contact change to locked domains as well as unlocked domains, click the Apply Changes to Locked Domains checkbox. 5. Enter the address where you want the change confirmation to be sent in the Contact field. 6. When done changing contact details, click Submit. The Bulk Changes Contact Change page opens, indicating that your request has been submitted and will be processed within 48 hours. 225

239 Bulk Changes Locking and Unlocking Multiple Domains 1. From the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Locking/Unlocking. The Bulk Domain Locking & Unlocking page opens. 2. Specify the domains that you want to lock or unlock. To manually enter each domain: type each domain name, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. To upload a text file that already lists the domains: click Browse, and locate the text file that lists the domains. For more information on generating a text file listing domains for a bulk change, see "Identifying the Domains to Which to Apply a Bulk Change". 3. Select either Lock All Domains or Unlock All Domains. You cannot both lock and unlock domains in the same request; instead, you must submit one request to lock domains, and an additional request to unlock domains. 4. Enter the address where you want the change confirmation to be sent in the Contact field. 5. When done, click Submit. The Bulk Changes Domain Change page opens, indicating that your request has been submitted and will be processed within 48 hours. 226

240 Bulk Changes Assigning Parked Pages to Multiple Domains To assign Parked Pages to multiple domains 1. From the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Parked Pages. Alternatively, click the link at the bottom of the Parked Pages Settings page. The Bulk Parked Pages page opens. 2. Specify the domains for which you want to enable or disable Parked Pages. To manually enter each domain: type each domain name, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. To upload a text file that already lists the domains: click Browse, and locate the text file that lists the domains. For more information on generating a text file listing domains for a bulk change, see "Identifying the Domains to Which to Apply a Bulk Change". 227

241 Bulk Changes 3. Select either Enable Parked Pages or Disable Parked Pages. Note: You cannot enable Parked Pages for some domains and disable Parked Pages for other domains in the same request; instead, you must submit one request to enable Parked Pages, and an additional request to disable Parked Pages. 4. Enter the address where you want the change confirmation to be sent in the Contact field. 5. When done, click Submit. The Bulk Changes Domain Change page opens, indicating that your request has been submitted and will be processed within 48 hours. Renewing Multiple Domains The bulk renewals feature allows you to renew up to 100 domains in one request. Depending on the renewal restrictions imposed by the registry for each TLD, domains may be renewed for one to 10 years. 1. From the Bulk Domain Change Management page, click Bulk Renewals. The Bulk Name Renewal page opens. 2. From the Renewal Period drop-down list, select the renewal period for the domains that you want to renew. Note: You cannot specify different renewal periods for individual domains. All domains submitted in the bulk renewal request will have the same renewal term applied..uk domains can only be renewed for a term of two years. To activate the auto-renew feature for the specified domains: select Yes in the Set Auto-Renew area. If unsure, leave No Change selected (default). 228

242 Bulk Changes 3. In the Domain List box, enter the domains, one domain per line that you want to renew. 4. When done, click Submit. The Bulk Renewal Results page opens, indicating the status of each renewal. Successful renewals are shown in green with a status of success. If the domain appears in the list more than once, subsequent entries are skipped and shown in yellow with a status of skipped. Failures are shown in red with a status of failed. Possible reasons for failures include (but are not limited to):! Domain is not in your reseller account, or at OpenSRS.! Previous renewal order for domain had failed (contact Support).! Insufficient funds. Viewing Queued Bulk Change Requests Requests are visible in the queue for two weeks upon completion, after which time the request is removed from the queue. You can only have one active request in the queue at a time. To view current bulk change requests and their status: click View Change Request Queue from the Bulk Domain Change Management page. The Bulk Change Request Queue page opens, showing the status and details of the request. Suspending or Resuming a Bulk Change Request Any bulk change request in the waiting or processing phase may be suspended temporarily. You cannot suspend a request that has a status of Terminated, Canceled, or Complete. Once a suspension is performed, you have two weeks to resume the process. If the process is not resumed within two weeks, it is removed from the queue. To suspend a request: locate your request in the Request Queue and click Suspend. For information on the request queue, see "Viewing Queued Bulk Change Requests". 229

243 Bulk Changes Canceling a Bulk Change Request Any change request that has not yet begun may be canceled. To cancel a request: locate your request in the Request Queue and click Cancel. For information on the request queue, see "Viewing Queued Bulk Change Requests". Terminating a Bulk Change Request Any change request in the processing or suspended phase may be terminated. Note: Terminating a request may not affect all domains in the request as some changes may have already been applied. To terminate a request: locate your request in the Request Queue and click Terminate. For information on the request queue, see "Viewing Queued Bulk Change Requests". 230

244 WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Privacy hides the identity of a Registrant when a user does a WHOIS lookup on that Registrant s domain. The benefit of having WHOIS Privacy is that the Registrant s identity, including home address, phone number, and address, is shielded from spammers, identity thieves, scammers, and other undesirables. When Registrants enable the WHOIS Privacy service, masked WHOIS contact information appears in the public WHOIS database. Supported TLDs gtlds -.COM,.NET,.ORG,.BIZ,.INFO,.NAME cctlds -.CC,.TV Reseller Qualification In order to enable the WHOIS Privacy service, a Reseller must agree to the terms and conditions of the service. The agreement is available at Product Overview You can enable WHOIS Privacy for a domain when! Purchasing a new domain.! Renewing an existing domain.! Transferring in a domain.! Adding to an existing domain. Only domains in your reseller account can be set-up for WHOIS Privacy, and WHOIS Privacy remains in effect until you disable it or until the domain expires. Note: WHOIS Privacy can be enabled on locked domains. The WHOIS Privacy service can be disabled at any time; however, if you disable WHOIS Privacy, make sure that the Registrant is aware that, from that point forward, their personal WHOIS information will display whenever a WHOIS query is done on their domain name. If WHOIS Privacy is disabled, and the domain is still active, the correct WHOIS information is sent to the Registry. If the domain is deleted, the WHOIS Privacy service must be disabled so that renewal messages are not sent to the Registrant listed in the WHOIS record, since they no longer own the domain. 231

245 WHOIS Privacy Enabling WHOIS Privacy for a New Domain When registering a new domain, the domain registration form includes an option to enable WHOIS Privacy. Note: There is no WHOIS Privacy for forwarding WHOIS, only for the domain name. To enable WHOIS Privacy 1. In the Domain Information section of the registration form, click Yes beside WHOIS Privacy. 2. Complete and submit the domain registration order. An is sent to the Registrant to verify that the address is correct. When the Registrant clicks on the link in the to verify the address, WHOIS Privacy is enabled. For more information, see "Validating WHOIS Privacy Requests". Note: WHOIS Privacy for new.name registrations can only be enabled after the first five days after the registration has passed. Enabling WHOIS Privacy for an Existing Domain 1. From the RWI main page, do one of the following:! In the View Domain field, enter the domain name and click Query.! Click WHOIS Privacy Management, click View Domains with WHOIS Privacy Disabled, and then select the domain for which you want to enable WHOIS Privacy.! Click Search Domains, and in the Whois Privacy Status criteria, select Disabled. In the results list, select the domain for which you want to enable WHOIS Privacy. 2. In the WHOIS Privacy Settings section, click the Enable button. 3. Click Update WHOIS Privacy. If this is the first time the domain has been enabled for WHOIS Privacy, an is sent to the Registrant to verify that the address is correct. When the Registrant clicks on the link in the to verify the address, WHOIS Privacy is enabled. Enabling WHOIS Privacy for Multiple Domains 1. From the RWI main page, click WHOIS Privacy Management. 2. Click Place Bulk WHOIS Privacy Order. The WHOIS Privacy Purchases page opens. 3. Specify the domains for which you want to enable WHOIS Privacy. To manually enter each domain: type each domain name, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. 232

246 WHOIS Privacy To upload a text file that already lists the domains: click Browse, and locate the text file that lists the domains. For more information on generating a text file listing domains for a bulk change, see "Identifying the Domains to which to apply a Bulk Change". Enter the address where you want the change confirmation to be sent in the Contact field. 4. When done specifying the domains, click Submit. A message displays indicating that your request has been submitted and is in progress. Enabling WHOIS Privacy when Transferring a Domain You can add WHOIS Privacy to a domain during the transfer-in process. On the Transfer Domain form, choose Yes beside WHOIS Privacy to enable this service. WHOIS Privacy is enabled once the transfer process completes. When a domain is transferred away, if WHOIS Privacy was enabled for the domain, the service remains enabled. Validating WHOIS Privacy Requests The Registrant is required to validate the request for the WHOIS Privacy service. Validation occurs in the following way: When the Registrant requests WHOIS Privacy for their domain, an message is sent to their address asking them to activate the service. The message text: To: <Registrant> From: <[email protected]> Subject: <Product Name> Purchase Verification Thank you for choosing to enable WHOIS Privacy. In order to finalize the process and enable privacy on <domain name>, please click the link to verify your address to ensure that valid information can be sent to you. URL: &decision=approve If you do not complete this step, the service will not be enabled. WHOIS Privacy on.name domains will be enabled after the first 5 days of the registration have elapsed. NOTE: Please do NOT reply to this message. This is an outgoing message only. The Registrant clicks on the link in the to indicate that the address is correct. Note: If this bounces, it is then sent to the Reseller. 233

247 WHOIS Privacy Contact Privacy Registrant Verification Page If the Registrant clicks the link in the message to activate the WHOIS Privacy service, and there is a problem with the verification, for example, the URL was truncated or an error occurred, the Confirmation of Enabling WHOIS Privacy page opens. Field Domain Name Key Action Description The domain name for which WHOIS Privacy is requested. An alphanumeric string that can be found in the URL link provided in the verification ; the key appears in the URL after "&key=". Select Approve to confirm the request. Once the Registrant clicks Submit, a confirmation page opens. Clicking the Here link on the confirmation takes the Registrant to the WHOIS output for the domain. Resending the Confirmation Request to the Registrant If the Registrant has not approved the enabling of WHOIS Privacy, you can resend the confirmation to the Registrant. 1. From the RWI main page, do one of the following:! From the RWI main page, click View Orders in Progress.! From the RWI main page, click WHOIS Privacy Management, and then click View Domains with WHOIS Privacy Pending. 2. From the Domain Name column, click the domain for which you want to resend the WHOIS Privacy confirmation In the WHOIS Privacy Order Info page, click the send link. 234

248 WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Privacy Request Not Confirmed If the Registrant does not confirm the WHOIS Privacy request for their domain after 10 days, a message is sent to the admin contact of the domain and another message to the Reseller. To Domain Admin Contact: "WHOIS Privacy was requested for <domain>} on <purchase_date>. Confirmation has not been received and WHOIS Privacy will not be enabled." To Reseller: "WHOIS Privacy request for domain <domain> on <purchase_date> has not been confirmed and has timed out after 10 days." Canceling a Pending WHOIS Privacy Request You can cancel a WHOIS Privacy request before the Registrant has responded to the confirmation Do one of the following: From the RWI main page, click View Orders in Progress. From the RWI main page, click WHOIS Privacy Management, and then click View Domains with WHOIS Privacy Pending. 2. From the Domain Name column, click the domain for which you want to cancel the WHOIS Privacy request. 3. Click Cancel Whoisprivacy. Disabling WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Privacy can be disabled from the View Domain page or from the WHOIS Privacy Management page. To disable the WHOIS Privacy feature: select the Disable option, and then click Update WHOIS Privacy. 235

249 WHOIS Privacy Viewing Domains with WHOIS Privacy To view domains with WHOIS Privacy enabled 1. From the RWI main page, click WHOIS Privacy Management. The WHOIS Privacy Management page opens. 2. Click View Domains with WHOIS Privacy Enabled. Search results for all domains with WHOIS Privacy enabled for your Reseller account are returned. To view domains with WHOIS Privacy disabled: click View Domains with WHOIS Privacy Disabled on the WHOIS Privacy Management page. Searching for Domains with WHOIS Privacy The Search Domains page allows you to search for domains that have WHOIS Privacy Enabled, Disabled, Pending, or Suspended, along with the other search criteria to which you are accustomed. From the Search Domains page, choose the search criterion from the WHOIS Privacy status drop-down list. Changes to the Manage Web Interface In the MWI, the WHOIS Privacy functionality is available from the Domain Extras page, but only if the Reseller is enabled to offer the WHOIS Privacy service. If WHOIS is disabled for a domain, the only option that appears on the Domain Extras page is Enable WHOIS Privacy. The Registrant can apply the changes to all domains in their portfolio. If WHOIS Privacy is suspended, no options are available to the Registrant to make changes. If WHOIS Privacy is enabled for a domain, the only option that appears on the Domain Extras page is Disable WHOIS Privacy. The Registrant can apply the changes to all domains in their portfolio. Note: Disabling WHOIS Privacy does not result in a refund for the service; refunds are not available for WHOIS Privacy. 236

250 WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Rate Limiting WHOIS rate limiting provides Resellers with access to the Tucows WHOIS server while preventing abuse from unscrupulous users trying to mine data. Access Limits for Port 43 WHOIS The default limit for each IP or IP range is one (1) lookup per second. A daily rate-limit for each IP or IP range has also been set. Contact your account manager to discuss the daily rate-limit applied to your IP. Daily and per second rate-limits ensure system stability and load management, while still allowing Registrars to perform daily lookups required to properly perform transfers. 237

251 WHOIS Privacy WHOIS Rate Limit Error Messages Message Maximum daily connection limit reached. Lookup refused. WHOIS lookup refused for this IP range. This IP range is on Tucows block-list for WHOIS lookups. To request that this IP range be removed from the block-list, please send an to Please include the IP range and a reason why it should be removed from the block-list. Please note that Tucows reserves the right to make final determinations on block-list inclusion. Description The IP address in question has reached its maximum for communication with the WHOIS server. Contact your account manager if you feel that this was done in error. The IP address in question has been blocked for perceived abuse of the WHOIS server. Resellers must follow the instructions and send an to [email protected] with the IP range and justification for removal from the block list. As per the message, the request will be investigated, but Tucows does not guarantee removal from the block list. 238

252 Order Queuing Queue Setting is a powerful feature in the OpenSRS system that allows you to have the system automatically queue transactions if a supplier (registry) is offline or having communications problems, and then process those transactions once the supplier (registry) is reachable again. If enabled, this is done in real-time and requires no effort on your part. Note that this ONLY queues billable transactions (new domains, transfer requests, renewals). Funds are not removed from your account until the queue (and transactions therein) is processed. Additionally, any transactions entering the queue are NOT guaranteed, since the transaction has not yet reached the registry. Given this, you must ensure that, if you are enabling this capability, you are aware that you are potentially turning a synchronous supplier into an asynchronous supplier. While this allows you to take orders when a supplier is offline (scheduled, unscheduled, or unreachable due to internet connectivity issues) it also means that you may be taking orders (paid for) that won t process. Note:.CA transfers, due to their unique processing nature, are NOT queued transactions. There are related settings and interfaces in the Reseller Web Interface ( as seen below: The default setting for transaction Queuing is OFF for all suppliers. If you select Enabled, it turns on queuing for ALL the products that you offer. If you select Disabled, you can then opt to select whichever supplier concerns you (or for whom you are willing to handle the potential asynchronous billing). Below is an example of an account that has only com,. net,.org,.biz and.us enabled for queuing. 239

253 Order Queuing Viewing Queued Requests During a supplier outage (or unavailability), any queued transactions, whether placed through the RWI or the Client Code, are viewable via this interface. This shows the Request ID, Registry, Time Queued, Request Details, and an option to Cancel. Request ID is for internal purposes only and can be ignored, unless you require specific support (for example, why an ID is still in the queue). Registry shows the supplier for which this transaction has been queued. Time Queued shows the date and timestamp when the transaction was placed into the queue (consequently, ordered). Request Details show details such as order type (new domain/renew/transfer), the reg_system order #, and the domain in question. 240

254 Order Queuing The queues are processed automatically by our system as it determines supplier availability. This is done in real-time without any interaction by you. Transactions are done first in, first out from the queue. If errors occur during the processing of the transaction (domain not available, insufficient funds, etc.), an error is generated and the order is placed into Pending Orders. You may opt to cancel a transaction that resides in the queue before it s processed. Note that this ONLY works if a) the supplier is down or b) that particular transaction hasn t been re-processed from the queue. View Queued Requests Request ID Registry Time Queued Request Details Cancel 196 NSI 14-JUN :36:28 sw_register new tucowsqueuetest.com for Neulevel 14-JUN :39:00 process_sw_order # for tucowsqueue.biz 345 Neustar 14-JUN :39:09 process_sw_order # for tucowsqueue.us 241

255 Parked Pages When the owner of a domain name does not have a web page to display for that domain, another web page can be substituted for that page. In this situation, the domain name is considered to be 'parked' and the page displayed in its place is termed a 'parked page.' Resellers can implement a customized (logo branded) Ad Revenue Partner page for Parked Pages in order to generate revenue from the resulting traffic. Resellers can support and customize parked pages by domain name. Tucows offers a number of different options for parked pages. You can choose to display parked pages with:! Customized (logo branded) header, but no ads! Customized (logo branded) header plus ads! No ads and no header! Ads, but no header The Parked Pages service is available for both new and existing registrations for all TLDs. For information on adding your logo to the parked pages see "Extending Your Branding to Parked Pages". Note: Changes to the Parked Pages state for.ca domains may take up to 48 hours to take effect. This is due to the Registry s (CIRA) zone-file publication schedule. If the nameserver's underlying domain no longer exists, a parked page is displayed that contains ads as well as a message saying to contact the service provider to update the nameserver information. Setting up your Business with Parked Pages Once you sign the amended Tucows Reseller Agreement for Parked Pages and the functionality is activated, you receive an automated message that provides a brief overview of how the functionality works and the steps to take in order to activate it. Then, within the RWI, you can customize parked pages by uploading your logo and entering your URL. The logo shows up on your customized (logo branded) Ad Revenue Partner page for Parked Pages. The URL allows visitors to your parked pages to go to your website. Once these tasks are complete, you can search for prospect pages and add Parked Pages service as required to new and existing registrations for available TLDs. 242

256 Parked Pages Extending your Branding to Parked Pages You can extend your branding to Parked Pages service by creating your custom Parked Page, entering the URLs in the RWI for your new and expired headers, and put the customization into effect by updating your information. To create your custom Parked Page: 1. On the machine that will host it, determine the URL for your custom Parked Page. 2. Create a template for your custom Parked Page, a simple HTML page at this URL, optionally with: Your logo. A message from your business. A link to a page of your choice, for example, your business's home page. This information will appear in the header of your custom Parked Page. The header is the top portion of your custom Parked Page. The bottom part will display the Google Related website links. 3. Upload the page to the URL. To enter the URLs for your Parked Pages headers and update your information: 1. If you are not there already, go to the Domain Management area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. Click Parked Pages Settings. The Parked Pages Settings page opens. 3. Ensure the Enable checkbox is selected in the Parked Pages For Domain Names That Have Not Expired section, and then enter a fully formed address in the Header URL field, for example, The header defines the top portion of your Parked Pages. The bottom part displays the Ad Revenue Partner Related website links. If you do not enable your header URL, a generic header is used instead. Note: If the Reseller does not enter a Renewal URL, expired domain names will go to a generic Parked Pages page. 4. Determine whether you want to display ads on the parked page, and select either Display ads or Do not display ads. The default is to display ads. 5. Ensure the Enable checkbox is selected in the Parked Pages For Domain Names That Have Expired section, and then enter a fully formed address in the Header URL field, for example, 6. When your have entered all the data, to put the customization into effect, click the Update button near the bottom of the page. 243

257 Parked Pages To view the layout of a parked page: click View Sample. An example opens in a new window. When your review, is complete, click Close. To view the finished look of a parked page: click Preview. An example opens in a new window. When your review is complete, close the window. To add or remove the Parked Page Service for multiple domains click the link at the bottom of the Parked Pages Settings page to access the Bulk Parked Pages page. For information on how to use this page, see "Assigning Parked Pages to Multiple Domains". Checking your Parked Pages Revenue Report Reporting helps you manage your business as you can use the report to monitor your revenues from the Parked Pages service. The revenue report displays data by month. Monthly reports are available within four business days after the last day of the month. For example, the monthly report for Parked Pages revenue for the month of February 2007 will be available on or before March 6, To check your Parked Pages revenues: 1. If you are not there already, go to the Registration Statistics section of the RWI. 2. Click Tucows Insight. The Tucows Insight page opens. 3. Click Go to Tucows Insight. Your personal Business Reporter page opens. 4. Click the Business Reporter arrow. A Business Reporter menu page opens in a different window. 5. Click the Parked Pages Details link. The Parked Pages Details page opens. 6. Use the drop-down lists to choose the time period for the report, then do one of the following:! To see the revenues for all domains, click Go.! To see the revenues for a single domain, enter the domain name in the Domain Name textbox, then click Go. 7. The Parked Pages Details page opens, displaying the revenue for your Parked Pages service. To see more detail, click the links to change the view. You can choose to display total revenue by month, by day, or by domain. To save the Parked Pages detail report: click Download CSV File and save the file. 244

258 Parked Pages Searching for Parked Pages within Domains you Manage 1. If you are not there already, go to the Domain Management area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. Click Search Domains. The Search Domains page opens. 3. Use the Parked Pages Status drop-down list to choose one of the following values: All display domains where the Parked Pages service is both enabled and disabled; this is the default. Disabled display only those domains where the Parked Pages service is disabled Enabled display only those domains where the Parked Pages service is enabled 4. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Results to HTML page. The Search Results page opens, displaying the results for the Parked Pages service search. To sort the search results: click one of the following headings: Date Registered, Expiry Date, or Domain Name. To view domain charges for a single domain: click the view link in the Charges column. To view the settings for a single domain: click the link in the Domain Name column. To carry out another search: click Back to Search Domains Page. Adding Parked Page Service to an Existing, Non-Expired Domain Resellers can add Parked Pages service to a non-expired domain under their management in the RWI. The previous DNS information is saved in the Parked Pages database but the Parked Pages servers are used. To add Parked Pages service to an existing domain: 1. If you are not there already, go to the upper area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. In the View Domain textbox, enter the domain name, for example, catmas.com, then click Query. The View Domain page opens. 3. In the Change Parked Pages Settings section, select Enable Parked Pages, and select either Display ads or Do not display ads. The default is Display ads. 245

259 Parked Pages 4. Click Update Parked Pages Settings. The domain s DNS is automatically switched from the Reseller s to Tucows internal DNS server for Parked Pages. Parked Pages service is invoked. Once it is registered and propagated, the domain displays your customized Ad Revenue Partner parked page. Adding Parked Page Service when Registering a New Domain Resellers can add Parked Pages service to a domain being registered under their management in the RWI. To add Parked Page service to a new domain: 1. If you are not there already, go to the Order Management area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. In the Place Order Manually textbox, enter the domain name, for example, catmas.com, then click New Order. The New Domain Registration Form page opens. 3. Enter the information for the new domain. 4. Select the Yes radio button in the Enable Parked Pages area of the Domain Information section and, optionally, enter any comments. If you select Parked Pages Enable = Yes and the DNS information is entered, those DNS servers are saved in the Parked Pages database but the Parked Pages servers are used. 5. When the information is complete, ensure Register Now appears in the drop-down list, then click Submit at the bottom of the page. The domain s DNS is automatically switched from the Reseller s to Tucows internal DNS server for Parked Pages service. Parked Pages service is invoked. Once it is registered and propagated, the new domain displays your customized Ad Revenue Partner parked page. Adding Parked Page Service when Transferring a Domain Resellers can add Parked Pages service to a domain being transferred to their management in the RWI. To add Parked Pages service when transferring a domain: 1. If you are not there already, go to the upper area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. In the Transfer a domain textbox, enter the domain name, for example, catmas.com, and click Transfer. The Transfer Form for <domain name> page opens. 246

260 Parked Pages 3. Enter the information required to transfer the domain, then ensure the Action drop-down list shows Transfer Now and click Submit. You return to the RWI. 4. In the View Domain textbox in the Domain Registration Administration section, enter the domain name, for example, catmas.com, and click Query. The View Domain page opens. 5. Select the Yes radio button in the Enable Parked Pages area of the Domain Information section and, optionally, enter any comments. If you select Parked Pages Enable = Yes and the DNS information is entered, those DNS servers are saved in the Parked Pages database but the Parked Pages servers are used. 6. When the information is complete, click Update. You return to the RWI page that now displays a message near the top. The domain s DNS is automatically switched from Reseller s to Tucows internal DNS server for Parked Pages. Parked Pages service is invoked. Once it is registered and propagated, the transferred domain will display your customized Ad Revenue Partner parked page. Adding Parked Page Service when Renewing a Domain Resellers can add Parked Pages service to a domain being renewed under their management in the RWI. To add Parked Pages service when renewing a domain: 1. If you are not there already, go to the upper area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. In the View Domain textbox, enter the domain name, for example, example.com, then click Query. The View Domain page opens. 3. Choose the appropriate renewal duration from the Renewal Period drop-down list in the Renew Domain section. 4. Select Enable Parked Pages in the Change Parked Pages section, and select either Display ads or Do not display ads. The default is Display ads. 5. Click Update Parked Pages Settings. The domain s DNS is automatically switched from the Reseller s to Tucows internal DNS server for Parked Pages and Parked Pages Service is invoked. Once it is registered and propagated, the domain displays your customized Ad Revenue Partner parked page. 247

261 Parked Pages Adding Parked Page Service to Multiple Existing Domains You can assign the Parked Page service to many domains at the same time without having to go to each domain individually and assign this function. Prepare a list of the domains to be changed, one domain per line, before following these instructions. To add parked page service to many domains at once: 1. If you are not there already, go to the Domain Management area of the Domain Registration Administration section of the RWI. 2. Click Bulk Domain Change Management. The Bulk Domain Change Management page opens. 3. Click Bulk Parked Pages. The Bulk Parked Pages page opens. 4. To change multiple domains, do one of the following: Type or paste the list, one domain per line, in the Enter the list of Domains textbox. Click the Browse button to use the standard Windows browse functionality to find the plain text file containing the list of names. The text file should contain the domains to be changed; one domain per line. 5. Ensure that the Enable Parked Pages radio button in the Bulk Change Request section is selected. 6. Enter the address to receive your request results, for example, [email protected]. If you leave this field blank, you will not receive a results report or other notification regarding this bulk change. 7. Click Submit. The system carries out your instructions immediately. To remove the Parked Pages service from multiple domains: follow the steps above except select the Disable Parked Pages radio button instead. 248

262 Tucows Insight Tucows Insight offers reporting and monitoring tools to assist you in managing your business. The first release includes Business Reporter, which is a package of business reports related to your Tucows transactions and is offered to you free of charge. To access Tucows Insight, from the RWI main menu, click the link under Registration Statistics. This brings you to the main menu as shown below. All packages currently available for Tucows Insight are displayed. From this screen you can do the following: 1. View a demo of the package that you are interested in. Click the link provided in the description area for the package of your choice to view a demo. The following is an example of the demo for Business Reporter. 249

263 Tucows Insight 2. Activate a trial subscription for the package of your choice. Click Try Now for 30 Days beside your chosen package. As shown below, the system then displays terms and conditions that you agree to on-line. Note: Trial subscriptions are not available for packages that are free of charge. This includes the first package, Business Reporter. Once you agree, the date on which the trial subscription ends is displayed in the Status column beside the respective package. At any time during your trial subscription, you have the option to fully subscribe to the package immediately or to have the subscription start at the end of your trial period. Click Subscribe Now to bring you to the screen shown below for these options. Click either After Trial to activate your subscription after your trial ends or Now to start your subscription right away. 3. Subscribe to the package of your choice. 250

264 Tucows Insight 4. Click Subscribe Now beside your chosen package to bring you to a summary screen outlining the details of your package including a price quote where applicable. As with the trial subscription, you are then presented with terms and conditions to which you must agree. Upon your agreement, the status displays the subscription end date. You also have the option of canceling your subscription. Note that the Cancel Subscription link is only available for 30 days. After 30 days have passed, this link is no longer available and you must contact Tucows Support at [email protected] if you want to cancel at this time. 5. View your subscription history. Click View my subscription history to bring you to a screen that details all the packages that you have subscribed to fully or on a trial basis. This screen displays the following information:! Package Name displays the name of the package to which you subscribed, for example Business Reporter.! Status displays the status of a particular package Active Canceled Expired! Price displays the price of a particular package. If you have a trial subscription for a particular package, this column displays trial.! Start displays the start date of either your trial or full subscription.! Expiry displays the expiry date of either your trial or full subscription.! Action if you have fully subscribed to a package this column displays the option to cancel.! Paid Until displays the date to which your subscription is paid. 251

265 Tucows Insight 6. Go to Tucows Insight. Click this link to go to the Tucows Insight application. 252

266 Technical Support This section outlines the various support resources available to Resellers. OpenSRS support can be reached using the following methods:! ; or for a much faster response, the private reseller-only address listed at the bottom of the Reseller Web Interface! Phone; or ext in North America, M-F 8AM to 8PM EST, S-S 9AM to 5PM EST! Fax; ! Emergency pager; - 7x24 pager; for guidelines on emergency support use, please review: Peer Based Support OpenSRS operates and maintains several web based forums for our Resellers. We heavily encourage participation in these forums, as they allow Resellers to discuss issues, and solve business and technical problems. The forums are closely monitored by Tucows staff, who contribute regularly. For current information and subscription methods, please refer to: Other Documentation Other documentation is available from the OpenSRS web site or in the current code distribution. All current documents can be found at: This documentation includes:! OpenSRS API Specification for Resellers who want to develop their own implementation of OpenSRS in a language of their choice! Reseller Client Library for Full Access Resellers, provides details on the PERL client provided In addition to this, our web site has several FAQs that are updated on a daily basis. 253

267 Technical Support Communication Methods The following is a description of how Tucows communicates important information our Resellers. Live Reseller Notification We have a system that sends messages to all active resellers. Resellers can control where these messages are directed, by selecting "Emergency Contact Information", then "System Status Announcements" in the RWI (Reseller Web Interface) on our *live* (as opposed to test ) system This sends a message to all live Resellers who have configured this setting appropriately (by default it is populated with your technical contact info). This is used for:! Downtime announcements (scheduled and unscheduled)! New release information! Critical operational information It is important to ensure that this setting is configured correctly so you receive these important announcements. The OpenSRS Web Site The OpenSRS web site ( has been designed with three goals in mind:! To generate interest in prospective Resellers, and to sign them up.! To provide existing Resellers with the resources they need to run a domain registration business through the OpenSRS system.! To provide End Users with enough information about the OpenSRS system that they might choose to register a domain name through an OpenSRS reseller. Please send any questions or comments regarding the OpenSRS web site to [email protected] 254

268 Data Constraints The following section shows the data rules that must be followed when entering data in the various OpenSRS fields. Usernames! Allowed characters: A-Z a-z 0-9 Passwords! Allowed characters: A-Z a-z 0-9 [ ] ( $ ^,. ~ = - + _ ] Phone Numbers! max 40 characters! whitespace stripped! /^[\d\-\(\)\.\+\#\*]{4,}((x ex ext xt)\.?\d+)?(tdd)?$/i! >= 4d! > 1/3 digits total! matching # left/right brackets For EPP domains (.info/.biz/.us/.name)! EPP Phone Format! +CCC.NNNNNNNNNNNNxEEEE! C = Country Dial Code, N = number, E = extension! x is ONLY required if an extension is specified -/^\+\d{1,3}\.\d{1,12}( *x\d{1,4})?$/ Fax Numbers! max 40c! whitespace stripped! /^[\d\-\(\)\.\+]{4,}$/! >= 4d! > 1/3d total! matching # left/right brackets! checking not currently implemented For EPP domains (.info/.biz/.us/.name)! EPP Phone Format! +CCC.NNNNNNNNNNNNxEEEE! C = Country Dial Code, N = number, E = extension! x is ONLY required if an extension is specified! /^\+\d{1,3}\.\d{1,12}( *x\d{1,4})?$/ 255

269 Data Constraints Addresses! uses RFC822 check in :Valid Affiliate ID Resellers who have their own reseller or affiliate base can use an optional Affiliate ID field to track this business. If you don't have a reseller or affiliate business model or you don't want to track this information, this field can be ignored. This field can also be used to store any information that you want associated with each record.! Allowed characters: A-Z a-z 0-9! Maximum characters: 100! Optional if no affiliate, leave this field blank Field Limits! *_first_name => 64! *_last_name => 64! *_org_name => 64! *_address1 => 64 (note, conflicts in various areas)! *_address2 => 64 (optional) (note, conflicts in various areas)! *_address3 => 64 (optional) (note, conflicts in various areas)! *_city => 64! *_state => 32! *_country => 2! *_postal_code => 32 (required) ("na" accepted as a placeholder)! *_phone => 20 (note, conflicts in various areas)! *_fax => 20 (note, conflicts in various areas) (optional)! *_ => 100! *_url => 255 (optional)! reg_username => 20! reg_password => 20, 1S+! domain => 80! fqdn1 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! fqdn2 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! fqdn3 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! fqdn4 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! fqdn5 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! fqdn6 => 60, /^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9\.\-]*[a-z0-9]$/! lang_pref => (for.ca domains)! isa_trademark => (for.ca domains)! legal_type => (for.ca domains)! period => int (1 if renewal) 256

270 Registry Errors When performing certain actions on a domain, the Registry for that domain may return the following errors. Tucows does not issue these messages and cannot control when they are returned. 552 Domain is less than 60 days old This can occur if:! Domain is not yet 60 days old.! Existing registrar has the name locked for either non-payment or at the end users request.! Requesting party needs to contact existing registrar to resolve.! Domain name is in dispute.! The name has been deleted. 557 Name server locked Extracted from the RRP spec: An attempt has been made to modify or delete a name server that is hosting a TLD in the root zone. Modifications to the root zone can only be made with the approval of the U.S. Department of Commerce and IANA, so if the registrar absolutely needs to modify or delete such a name server, the action needs to be coordinated through the registry operator using an out-of-band communications channel. 257