Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TM
G l o b a l R e g i s t r y S e r v i c e s
October 2012
Contents
Contents
....................................................................................................................................................................
2 1.
About
CentralNic
...................................................................................................................................................
4 2.
Introduction
...........................................................................................................................................................
4 3.
Accreditation
.........................................................................................................................................................
4 4.
Access
....................................................................................................................................................................
4 4.1
Registrar
Console
.....................................................................................................................................................
4
4.2
Toolkit
API
................................................................................................................................................................
5
4.3
EPP
Server
................................................................................................................................................................
5
5.
Registry
Operations
...............................................................................................................................................
5 5.1
DNS
..........................................................................................................................................................................
5
5.2
WHOIS
Service
..........................................................................................................................................................
6
5.3
Technical
Support
.....................................................................................................................................................
6
5.4
Maintenance
Downtime
..........................................................................................................................................
6
5.5
Billing
Policies
...........................................................................................................................................................
7
5.5.1
Available
Billing
Models
........................................................................................................................................
7
5.5.1.1
Debit
Model
.......................................................................................................................................................
7
5.5.1.2
Credit
Model
......................................................................................................................................................
7
6.
The
Shared
Registry
System
...................................................................................................................................
8 6.1
Domain
Objects
........................................................................................................................................................
8
6.1.3.1
Restoring
a
Domain
on
"Pending
Deletion"
Status
............................................................................................
9
6.2
Contact
Objects
........................................................................................................................................................
9
6.3
Host
Objects
...........................................................................................................................................................
10
6.4
Expiry
Dates
...........................................................................................................................................................
11
6.5
Grace
Periods
.........................................................................................................................................................
11
6.6
Internationalised
Domain
Names
(IDNs)
...............................................................................................................
11
6.7
Renewal
.................................................................................................................................................................
12
7.
Extensible
Provisioning
Protocol
..........................................................................................................................
12
7.1.
Operational
Testing
and
Evaluation
(OT&E)
.........................................................................................................
12
7.2.
The
Shared
Registry
System
..................................................................................................................................
13
7.2.1.1
Registration
and
IDNs
......................................................................................................................................
13
7.2.1.2
Updates
............................................................................................................................................................
13
7.2.1.3
Restoring
Domains
on
pendingDelete
status
...................................................................................................
13
7.3
The
EPP
Message
Queue
........................................................................................................................................
14
7.4. EPP Extensions ...................................................................................................................................................... 16 8. The Domain Name Life Cycle ................................................................................................................................ 17
1.
About
CentralNic
One
of
the
world's
pioneering
domain
registries,
CentralNic
provides
registry
services
and
strategic
consultancy
for
new
TLDs,
ccTLDs
and
its
own
portfolio
of
27
global
domain
extensions.
Our
domains
including
.US.COM
(USA),
.UK.COM
(UK),
.COM.DE
(Germany),
.CN.COM
(China),
.JP.NET
(Japan)
and
the
world's
first
city
TLD,
.LA
for
Los
Angeles
are
sold
via
an
integrated
global
network
of
1,500
registrars
and
100,000
resellers
in
over
100
countries.
2.
Introduction
This
document
has
been
written
with
the
intention
of
providing
new
and
existing
registrars
with
all
the
information
they
will
need
to
successfully
integrate
with
the
CentralNic
Registry.
This
document
covers
technical,
financial
and
policy
considerations
involved
with
integration.
All
registrars
are
strongly
advised
to
read
this
document
thoroughly.
If
you
have
any
questions
regarding
this
document,
please
get
in
touch
and
we
will
be
very
happy
to
assist
you.
Telephone:
+44
(0)8700
170
900
between
08:30
and
17:30
(UK
office
hours)
E-mail:
registrars@centralnic.com
3.
Accreditation
To
be
granted
access
to
the
CentralNic
registry
system,
all
registrars
must
sign
the
CentralNic
Registrar
Agreement.
You
are
not
required
to
deposit
funds
with
CentralNic
in
advance,
or
complete
an
OT&E
evaluation.
Certain
domain
extensions
such
as
.PW
require
a
separate
accreditation
agreement.
You
can
sign
the
agreement
and
complete
the
accreditation
for
these
extensions
on
the
Registrar
Console.
4.
Access
Registrars
can
interact
with
the
CentralNic
registry
system
using
the
following
interfaces:
l Registrar
Console
l EPP
Server
l HTTP
Toolkit
4.4
Access
While
access
to
the
Registrar
Console
is
not
restricted,
connections
to
the
Toolkit
and
EPP
server
are
restricted
by
IP
address.
Registrars
must
provide
a
list
of
IP
addresses
(or
networks)
from
which
they
will
make
connections.
This
list
can
be
managed
online
via
the
Registrar
Console.
5.
Registry
Operations
5.1
DNS
CentralNic
operates
a
network
of
DNS
servers
at
many
locations
around
the
world.
We
are
proud
to
be
able
to
claim
100%
availability
of
DNS
services
since
we
began
operating
in
1995.
Our
DNS
zones
are
updated
continually,
and
changes
to
domain
names
will
become
visible
on
our
DNS
servers
after
no
more
than
10-15
minutes.
The SPF specification (see RFC 4408) explicitly states that SPF records do not propagate down to lower nodes in the DNS, so the use of the SPF record above will have no effect on domain names registered under .UK.COM. Wildcard will not be used with TLDs such as .LA and .PW.
5.1.3
DNSSEC
All
our
zones
are
signed
using
DNSSEC.
For
further
information
please
see:
https://www.centralnic.com/support/dnssec
have no effect on the resolution of domains already registered. Registrars will receive notification via e-mail well in advance of any planned outage (registrars must specify an operations email address for their account in order to receive these notifications). Additionally, we will notify registrars at the beginning and end of any planned maintenance window, so that registrars are aware when planned maintenance has been completed. Registrars will also be notified of any unscheduled outages.
5.5.2
Renewals
CentralNic
operates
two
models
for
domain
name
renewals.
1.
Auto-delete.
All
domains
that
are
not
explicitly
renewed
by
the
registrar
are
automatically
placed
on
"Pending
Deletion"
when
they
expire.
A
domain
on
"Pending
Deletion"
can
be
restored
via
the
Registrar
Console,
the
Toolkit,
or
EPP
within
30
days
of
its
expiration.
After
35
days
on
"Pending
Deletion",
the
domain
is
deleted
and
made
available
for
registration.
2.
Auto-renew.
All
domain
names
are
automatically
renewed.
For
debit
model
registrars,
payment
is
processed
after
the
45
day
auto-renew
grace
period.
For
credit
model
registrars,
our
system
issues
a
renewal
invoice.
If
payment
has
not
been
received
after
68
days,
the
domain
goes
"On
Hold",
and
if
no
payment
has
been
received
after
a
further
35
days
(103
days
total),
the
domain
is
deleted.
By
default,
all
new
registrar
accounts
are
set
to
the
auto-delete
model.
5.5.3
Invoicing
Regardless
of
which
billing
model
you
choose,
our
system
will
generate
a
regular
invoice
for
registrations
and
renewals.
By
default,
we
will
generate
a
new
invoice
every
week
(on
Monday)
for
all
registrations
and
renewals
that
have
taken
place
since
the
previous
invoice.
However,
this
billing
interval
can
be
changed
to
be
daily
or
monthly
(on
the
first
day
of
each
month)
as
required,
via
the
Registrar
Console.
6.1.1
Registration
In
order
to
be
successfully
registered
in
the
system,
a
domain
name:
l l l l l
MUST have a prefix (the label to the left of the TLD) of between three and sixty-four characters MAY ONLY contain characters from the set A-Z, 0-9 and . and - (case insensitive) MUST have a Registrant Contact MUST have an Administrative Contact MUST have a Technical Contact
Domain names may also: l have an additional billing contact l have any number of authoritative DNS servers DNS delegation information is not required for a successful registration. However, please note that domains that are registered without any DNS delegation may resolve to an advertising page due to the presence of a wild-card in the zone (see 5.1.1.). This will not apply to domains under ccTLDs such as .LA and .PW.
6.1.2
Transfers
Domain
names
may
be
transferred
between
registrars.
The
procedure
for
domain
name
transfers
is
as
follows:
1. The
registrant
acquires
the
authInfo
code
for
the
domain
name
from
the
losing
registrar.
2. The
registrant
supplies
the
authInfo
code
to
the
gaining
registrar.
3. The
gaining
registrar
submits
a
transfer
request
to
the
registry,
using
the
authInfo
code
received
from
the
registrant.
4. The
registry
notifies
the
losing
registrar
of
the
transfer
request.
The
losing
registrar
has
five
calendar
days
to
explicitly
approve
or
reject
the
transfer,
after
which
the
transfer
is
automatically
approved.
5. Once
the
transfer
is
approved,
the
gaining
registrar
is
notified
by
the
registry,
and
the
domain
name
is
transferred
within
60
seconds.
The
gaining
registrar
may
add
renewal
years
when
requesting
a
transfer,
to
specify
the
number
of
years
to
add
to
the
domain's
registration
period
upon
successful
transfer.
This
may
be
any
integer
between
0
(zero)
and
10,
or
it
may
be
omitted
entirely.
Notifications
are
sent
to
both
the
gaining
and
losing
registrar.
Registrars
are
required
to
provide
the
authInfo
code
for
domain
names
to
registrants
upon
request.
When
a
domain
transfer
is
approved
and
processed
by
our
system,
any
subordinate
host
objects
will
also
be
transferred
to
the
gaining
registrar.
Note
on
billing:
if
a
domain
name
has
any
unpaid
line-items
against
it
(ie.
for
registration
or
renewal),
we
will
automatically
reject
any
transfer
request
until
payment
is
received.
6.1.3
Deletion
Registrars
may
delete
domain
names
at
any
time.
l
if the domain name is newly registered, that is, we have not received payment for initial registration, (for debit model registrars, this is the add grace period), then it is immediately deleted upon receipt of a deletion request, and may be immediately re-registered. if the domain name is not newly registered, it is marked as pendingDelete and, if not restored during the Redemption Grace Period, will be deleted after 35 days.
Name: Company: Street Address: City State/Province Postcode: Country: Phone: Fax: E-mail:
The full name of the person the contact refers to, or an organisational name (ie "Hostmaster") The full name of the organisation, if appropriate 1-3 text fields representing the postal address The city or town The state, province or geographic region The postal or ZIP code of the contact The two letter ISO-3166 country code for the contact. "UK" is used in place of "GB" (our systems will convert). The telephone number of the contact, ideally in e164a format. The fax number of the contact, ideally in e164a format. The e-mail address of the contact.
Of the above, the fields that are mandatory for all contact objects are: Name, Country, Email. All other fields are optional.
6.2.1
Transfers
Contact
objects
may
be
transferred
between
registrars
in
the
same
way
as
domain
names.
Registrars
may
find
it
easier
to
simply
recreate
new
contacts
objects
for
recently
transferred
domain
names,
since
this
avoids
the
delay
associated
with
contact
transfers.
6.2.2
Privacy
CentralNic
offers
a
WHOIS
privacy
mechanism
on
a
per-contact
basis.
Registrars
may
enable
or
disable
privacy
for
contact
objects.
When
privacy
is
enabled,
contact
information
is
excluded
from
WHOIS
records.
We
provide
mechanisms
to
enable
or
disable
WHOIS
privacy
on
the
Registrar
Console,
Toolkit
and
EPP
systems.
10
https://www.centralnic.com/names/domains/idn/tables
the "A-label" must be valid according to the IDNA2008 rules. We will test this by decoding the A- label to a UTF-8 string, and then re-encoding. If the re-encoded string matches the original string, this test is passed. the "U-label" must contain at least the minimum number of characters. The minimum number varies depending on the domain extension and the registrar, but is normally 3.
11
the A-label must be a valid domain name in its own right (ie length and composition rules for ASCII domain names must also sucessfully be passed). the U-label must not contain more than the maximum number of characters. This is 63 characters but may vary depending on the domain extension and the registrar. the U-label must be wholly composed of characters from one of the IDN tables associated with the domain extension.
6.7
Renewal
Registrars
may
renew
domain
names
for
any
whole
period
of
years
between
1
and
10,
up
until
the
year
2037
(to
avoid
potential
32-bit
integer
overflows
support
for
64-bit
dates
is
under
development).
CentralNic
may
withhold
access
to
domain
renewal
functions
if
a
registrar's
current
outstanding
balance
exceeds
the
credit
limit
specified
for
their
account.
12
7.2.1.2
Updates
EPP
Registrars
may
add
or
remove
the
following
EPP
status
codes
to
domain
names:
l l l l
clientHold NS records will not be entered into the zone for the domain name while this status code is applied. clientTransferProhibited transfer requests for this domain name will be automatically rejected while this status code is applied. clientRenewProhibited when this status code is applied, all requests by the sponsoring client to renew the domain are rejected. clientUpdateProhibited when this status code is applied, all requests by the sponsoring client to update the domain name are rejected (except if the request includes removing this status from the domain name). clientDeleteProhibited when this status code is applied, all requests by the sponsoring client to delete the domain name are rejected.
To enable or disable WHOIS privacy on a contact object, registrars must submit an <update> command, with a <contact:chg> element containing a <contact:disclose> element. The flag attribute of this element should be 1 to disable WHOIS privacy (ie contact information will be disclosed in WHOIS records), and 0 to
13
14
notification of approved inbound transfer notification of rejected inbound transfer notification of new outbound transfer notification of cancelled outbound transfer
These all have the same format for the contents of the <resData> element in the <poll> server response:
<domain:trnData xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"> <domain:name><!-- domain ie example.uk.com --></domain:name> <domain:trStatus><!-- one of pending, approved, rejected, cancelled --></domain:trStatus> <domain:reID><!-- gaining registrar ID (you or the other registrar) --></domain:reID> <domain:reDate><!-- datetime --></domain:reDate> <domain:acID><!-- losing registrar ID (you or the other registrar) --></domain:acID> <domain:acDate><!-- datetime (reDate plus 5 days) --></domain:acDate> </domain:trnData>
For example, the full server response for an approved transfer will look like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?> <epp xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0"> <response> <result code="1301"> <msg>Command completed successfully; ack to dequeue.</msg> </result> <msgQ count="1" id="12345" /> <resData> <domain:trnData xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"> <domain:name>example.uk.com</domain:name> <domain:trStatus>clientApproved</domain:trStatus><!-- may also be serverApproved --> <domain:reID>H12345</domain:reID> <domain:reDate>2011-01-27T23:50:00.0Z</domain:reDate> <domain:acID>H54321</domain:acID> <domain:acDate>2011-02-01T23:50:00.0Z</domain:acDate> </domain:trnData> </resData> <trID> <clTRID>abc123</clTRID> <svTRID>321cba</svTRID> </trID> </response> </epp>
15
7.4.3.
ConsoliDate
The ConsoliDate extension was developed by VeriSign for the .COM and .NET registries. It permits registrars to alter the expiry date of a domain by less than a year. This extension is only available to prepayment registrars. For documentation, please see https://registrar-console.centralnic.com/doc/consolidate-mapping.txt.
16
17
T+0: T+1d (max): T+37d: T+44d: T+61d: T+68d: the domain is registered into the CentralNic database. The system issues an invoice to the Registrar for the registration of the domain name. after 37 days of non-payment, we e-mail a reminder to the Registrar. after 44 days of non-payment, another reminder is e-mailed to the Registrar. after 61 days of non-payment, we notify the Registrant that the domain remains unpaid, and advise them to contact the Registrar. after 68 days of non-payment, we e-mail a final reminder to the Registrar. The domain is placed "On Hold". DNS server records are removed from the parent zone. after 103 days of non-payment, the domain is deleted and made available for registration.
T+103d:
Renewals When a domain reaches its expiry date, it is re-inserted into the life cycle and so the policy for managing unpaid renewals is identical to that for unpaid registrations. Our system will issue an invoice line item to the registrar, who then must remit payment to prevent the domain name from being deleted. Special cases There are a few special cases which may alter the way the life cycle works: As seen in the flowchart, if a registrar account is set to auto-delete domain names upon expiry, no renewal item is raised for the domain name and it is placed into the Pending Delete status. The domain may be redeemed (and subsequently renewed) at any time before it is deleted, subject to approval by an administrator. There is a five day grace period between expiry and being placed into Pending Delete. Our system normally issues invoices every week. However, many registrars opt for a daily or monthly invoice instead. If the domain is renewed in advance of its expiry date, the life cycle measures time from the original expiry date rather than the renewal date our system will not delete domain names before the previous expiry date. Our administrators can apply a discretionary stall period that can slow the life cycle for a certain number of days this is so that registrars who are unable to immediately remit payment for overdue domains can have a few days to do so. Once the stall period is up, the life cycle will catch up if payment is not received. If a registrar has a serious technical or administrative problem that prevents them from remitting payment, we can temporarily prevent overdue domain names from being placed on hold or deleted.
18