[NCSA-discuss] DNS Questions

[Jeff The Riffer]

On Tue, February 21, 2006 10:27 am, Derek Featherston said:
> authoritative DNS servers moved to our ISP or some other provider.  (Again,
> if anyone has a suggestion on a DNS hosting provider I'm open to
> suggestions.)

Host it yourself. It really isn't at all hard and it can be a lifesaver in
situations where you need a quick DNS change. If the public face of your
domain only has a handful of entries than it's really trivial to maintain.

Otherwise, i'd say just use the DNS hosting service of whatever ISP or
registrar you go with.

> How do I go about making such a transition?

You need to have the DNS servers listed for your doman updated to point to the
DNS servers for whoever you end up choosing to be your provider.

> Do I need to contact AIT, or can my ISP/provider simply seize the zone?

If you want to keep the same registrar, all you need to do is follow their
procedure for updating the nameservers for the domain. Most registrars provide
a web interface for updating a domain's registration.

Your domain's registrar is listed as THE NAME IT CORPORATION DBA
NAMESERVICES.NET. However, the authoritiave whois server for that registrar is
listed as whois.aitdomains.com. I suspect AIT may have bought
NameServices.net. Attempting to bring up the nameservices.net webpage brings
up an error about a configuration problem. You probably are better off moving
to another registrar entirely if you don't like AIT.

Most ISP's will happily initialize a domain transfer request for you. Legally,
the current provider of DNS and/or registration must respond to all transfer
requests.
Otherwise, you can initialize the request yourself. Keep in mind that the
transfer request is always done from the destination registrar. In other
words, if you decide to go with GoDaddy, you'd sign up an account with them,
then use their website to initiate a transfer request for cirruspharm.com from
the current Registrar to GoDaddy.

> I'd prefer to deal as little with AIT as possible.

They have to be involved since they are both registrar and DNS provider for
your domain. However, if you have an ISP handle the transfer you can minimize
your interactin.

> Will it be necessary for us to re-register our domain name through a
> different registrar?

No. Once a domain is registered it can not be "re-registered" until it
expires. It can be transferred an unlimited number of times. Mot registrars
will honor the domain's expirey date thoug some cap it at a max of X years
from the current year.

I'd recommend GoDaddy.com myself, because they take customer privacy and
security relatively seriously. But frankly, you may well find a new registrar
will reek after a while. I wouldn't recommend making decisions based on price
though. Even at it's most expensive, domain registration is just such a
trivial business expense that it's better to judge a registrar by the
serivices offered, quality of customer service, etc...

Here's what you should do:

 a) Review the domain's current contact info and make sure it is all correct.
This will be important for any transfers. A transfer request will require
responding to one or more e-mail ssent to the domain's admin contact as based
on what is in WHOIS. In some cases, phone calls may be used but that's rare.
If the contact info for the domain is not correct and you try and do a
transfer, you'll end up having to do FAX authorization and the entire process
will take much longer. It will be easier to have the current registrar update
the contact info for the domain. You should be able to do it from some sort
of web interface, check with AIT.

(Currently, the domain lists this person for all three contact types:
Name:		Jean-Marc    Bovet
Address:	21 Davis Drive
		Research Triangle Park, NC  27709
Email Address:	*******@iname.com
Phone Number:	9193613404)

 b) Choose a new registrar to go with. One not associated with an ISP is
probably a good idea, :)

 c) Sign-up with your new registrar

 d) Get a complete copy of the DNS zone for your domain from your current DNS
hoster.

 e) Initialize a domain transfer request with your new registrar for your domain.

 f) Respond to any automated requests accordingly.

 g) Once the transfer completes, verify with your new registrar that all the
domain information is correct.

Now at this point, your DNS hoster should still be AIT. Typically a domain
transfer doesn't require changing DNS providers. Many registrars also provide
DNS hosting, though. And if you choose one of them, part of the transfer
process can also be changing DNS servers. I DO NOT recommend doing that,
simply because it increases the possibility of having downtime. A regular
transfer shouldn't impact DNS service at all.

Once your domain has changed registrars, give it a few days (at least) to make
sure everything has propogated properly. Than you can go to your new registrar
and change the DNS nameservers when you are ready to cut over to a new
provider.

Good luck!

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