Slashdot Log In
Who is the Best Registrar?
Posted by
Cliff
on Sun Feb 27, 2000 02:04 PM
from the where-are-you-going-to-register-that-domain? dept.
from the where-are-you-going-to-register-that-domain? dept.
luge asks: "I've been looking around at a couple of NSI's new competitors (register.com, for example), and the information on their pages about services and pricing for them is underwhelming at best. I also haven't been able to find any good comparisons on the Web. So, in the experience of the /. community, what is the best registrar to go through for my new Web site? I'm particularly interested in interim services- i.e., I want to grab a few domains now but won't have a good connection/hosting situation for a few months yet, so I'm interested in what options there are for services like URL and e-mail forwarding. Of course, pricing is probably paramount, but ease of manageability is important too- once I get my hosting situation settled, I want to be able to switch over quickly and easily. Any suggestions?"
And the ever continuing quest to look for a decent replacement for NSI continues, and as far as I can tell via various rumors and experiences of other folks, this may not be a bad thing at all. We've handled a similar Ask Slashdot, but it's been four months since that was posted and I figure it's high time to revisit the topic since I still get a lot of these sorts of questions in the submissions bin.
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
Joker.com (Score:2)
The only drawback I have found is that CORENic [corenic.net] doesn't really seem to telly uo how to claim ownership over the DNS servers people have entered into joker and gotten handles for. As a result, my ISP doesn't get notification when I buy a domain. Does anyone know how to fix this?
Register.com (Score:2)
Also, it let's me be absolutely sure that I own the DNS, since the ISP never touches it. This may seem paranoid, but I've been burned before by these ISP's who will "manage your domain name".
--
The Selections... (Score:4)
The list of accredited ICAAN registars is at InterNic.net [internic.net]. This is just to let you know the alternatives, and if some registration company is really allowed to register domains.
Re:Register.com (Score:2)
On the other hand, register.com charges $35 a year, which is the high end of prices now.
But, I will agree that register.com does make it easy to manage DNS settings. And I also reccomend managing that yourself, if you're up to it. They also will "park" your domain, meaning that attempts to visit http://www.yourdomain.com will result in getting a "we're moving in soon" message (covered in register.com ads, to be sure).
Just because of prices, I'm not sure if I'd go with them again, but if you can afford it, the services that they offer are worth it.
~~~~~~~~~
auntfloyd
Maybe this will help (Score:2)
register.com vs. Network Solutions (Score:4)
The register.com folks have always been helpful, even calling long-distance to Canada to resolve a problem I was having with them. Also, making changes to the domain name information takes place almost immediately.
Contrast this to Network Solutions. It can take up to three days to get information changed in their database and they often seem to ignore messages requesting support.
I would definitely choose register.com over Network Solutions in the future. Of course, with the other, cheaper, companies out there, register.com may now have a run for their money.
OpenSRS (Score:5)
--
NPS Internet Solutions (Score:3)
Check them out at npsis.com [npsis.com].
Re:OpenSRS (Have you used it???) (Score:2)
Have people here used them and found that things really work and work well?
Dotster.com (Score:4)
-Julius X
Re:Other domains... (Score:3)
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine [nmsu.edu].
Re:OpenSRS (Score:2)
I just finished getting my business [duluoz.net] set up as an OpenSRS affiliate. I wouldn't recommend it if you're only going to be registering 1 or 2 domains -- for one thing, they make you prepay for at least 25. It's also a bit of work to get approved by them (they require you to take a test). But $10/year for a domain is pretty much free, and they give you (*and* your end-users) a lot more control over your domain information than NSI does.
Re:Dotster.com (Score:2)
-Julius X
opensrs.com and worldwebserver.com (Score:3)
For example, one webhost I use, WorldWebserver.com [worldwebserver.com], offers free domain registration with hosting. But if you're getting, "just domain registration" for $25/year you get one page hosting of one-page site that you can change whenever you want, a catch-all POP3 email box, http logs including http_referer and graphical stats. That's a lot better deal that having your parked domain point at an ad for the registrar!
You can actually do alot with a one-page domain. I've used a few as "storefronts" for affiliate links, or you can just use it for your "front page" and have your other pages on the web space that comes with your dial-up.
Plus the tech support at worldwebserver.com is amazing. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. Oh and they use Apache on Slackware too.
========
+++For-pay Internet distributed processing. [processtree.com]+++
Picking a registrar (Score:5)
First, a word about register.com. You may want to read through the DNSO archives [dnso.org], the IFWP [ifwp.org] list, and the DOMAIN-POLICY archives [internic.net] to see what register.com has been up to, particularly regarding the single-letter domains.
You may also want to have a look at their registration agreement [register.com], particularly the bit on information ownership. They own all your contact information, and can do whatever they want with it.
Note the section in 6d above where they explicitly say you give them the right to use your information for targeted marketing.
Others aren't any better. BulkRegister [bulkregister.com] has been phone-spamming people with completely automated unsolicited phone calls, in violation of US State and Federal law.
Joker.com [joker.com] and the other current and past CORE registrars have had significant problems in the past, and CORE is losing registrars right and left.
Most of the registrars have had significant and in some cases highly-publicised problems interacting using the SRS -- the Shared Registry System, resulting in things like aol.com's ownership being transferred to an individual (and later changed back), and other domain names not owned by big companies not being so lucky in having their ownership info corrected.
There's a problem with CORE registrars as well...several years ago, when people were once again trying to get new Top-Level Domains (TLDs), CORE managed to have a set of 7 TLD agreed upon. CORE registrars were pre-selling registrations in these 7 TLDs last year. They've now stopped, but should those & go active, it's still unknown whether or not anyone will have a fair shot at registering within them due to these pre-sells.
I'd personally recommend becoming a member of the OpenSRS project [opensrs.org], and being your own registrar.
If you can't or won't do that, then do the following: Find and take the time to READ each registrar's Domain Dispute Policy and Registration Agreement, and think of what it means to you if your domain name ownership is challenged. The challenges are mushrooming, and all signs point to corporations getting whatever they want. Go see the resolved UDRP cases [wipo.int] to get a feeling for how the wind is currently blowing.
Re:Register.com (Score:2)
On a related note, what is the deal with this new thing where you have to register your nameservers?
I don't recall ever having had to do that before.
Christmas Island - nic.cx (Score:3)
Firstly it's only £20 for the first two years, £10 a year after that.
Then they offer free domains to open source projects.
Also they will give you unlimited email forwarding rules (i.e. as many email addresses @domain.cx to forward to wherever).
Then they will give you web aliasing, that is http://www.domain.cx will display the content of, for example, http://www.geocities.com/wherever/mywebpage/
Not bad for such a low price.
Hey. Question for DNS Geek (Score:3)
--
Re:Question Regarding DNS (Score:3)
When you register a domain, youre just buying the rights to a domain, right? Or wrong? I'm trying to figure out where the DNS comes in.
DNS is a distributed database system. Everybody who owns a domain name is responsible for keeping their domain's entries in the database correct and up to date. You can do this yourself, or pay your ISP to do it. When you go to a URL, you ask your (or your ISP's) DNS for the IP address of the site. If the server knows the IP, it tells you. If it doesn't know the IP, it has to ask somebody else.
This is where the registrars come in. They maintain the "root servers" which basically keep a list of all the domains that are registered, and the DNS servers that contain the information about that domain. When you register a domain, you're paying for an entry in these "root servers".
When somebody else looks for your domain name, their DNS server asks one of the root servers where they can find the information, and the root server points it to your DNS server. Their DNS server then asks your DNS server for the information, and your DNS server gives it to them. That's why you need a DNS server.
Are we updating people's DNS servers everytime we request a page that our DNS server is unsure about and and then has to query another DNS server out there until it finds an answer?
Yes.
Re:Register.com (Score:2)
The first time I tried, their system was unable to accept the names and IP addresses of my authoritative name servers. This took several phone calls ("what's an authoritative name server?" they asked), e-mails, and well over a week to get it straightened out.
Similar problems with the friend's attempt. Changes to the authoritative name servers didn't "stick," they registered two machines on my network which were not name servers as name servers (don't ask me how/why they did this), the answer to several of my increasingly impatient responses with thier reps was "why don't you just let us handle the DNS." This took ten days before everything was working properly.
A request for a refund, "if you can't make this work, I'm sure I can find someone who can" was denied, "we don't give refunds, you'll just have to work through this with us."
I'll tell you, I won't work with with them at all any more.
myinternet.com (Score:3)
_________________
hearty agreement (Score:3)
I used it and it's good. (Score:2)
Re:Joker.com (Score:3)
But here's what I've taken to doing... check out ultradns [ultradns.net].
They're currently in beta, but you can get both a primary and secondary nameserver space from them, with a very nice, clean, secure interface, for free. (as long as it is a personal/non-commercial domain name)
You can have up to four of these, and the interface is both easy and powerful, so the advanced DNS hackers will be able to modify anything they need.
I've also found that changes go through ultradns in between 15 and 60 minutes, usually on the lower end. That's very nice, especially if you have a semi-dynamic IP.
I just registered a domain through joker.com, with dns from ultradns, and it's wonderful. My first domain was registered at register.com, and I just recently switched that domain to ultradns as well.
That, of course, brings up another problem with register.com: they don't allow zone transfers. I lost all my zone information, and had to rebuild it all. It was very icky, but it worked, and I definitely don't regret it. 95% reduction in response time is worth it for a 10 minute hassle.
Just my two cents, although it seems more like two dollars...
-Ed Fisher
Re:converting pounds to dollars-- OOPS!! (Score:2)
(note to self: always use Preview button)
Re:Question Regarding DNS (Score:5)
Here's my BIND setup. I run it with the command "named -u dns -g dns -t /home/dns named.conf". This runs it as user/group "dns", chrooted to "/home/dns" for security, and reading the configuration from "/home/dns/named.conf". Here's my named.conf:
options {
/home/dns: "dev/", "master/", "var/run/". Copy your /dev/null device into your new dev/ directory. Add "-a /home/dns/dev/log" to your syslog's command line (in one of your startup scripts). Now create a "master/mydomain.com" file:
datasize 4M;
files 100;
allow-transfer { none; };
allow-query { localhost; };
};
controls {
unix "/var/run/ndc" perm 0600 owner 0 group 0;
};
acl "granitecanyon" { 205.166.226.38; 216.17.165.20; };
acl "me" { 127.0.0.1; };
zone "mydomain.com." {
type master;
file "master/mydomain.com";
allow-transfer { granitecanyon; me; };
allow-query { any; };
};
Make the following directories UNDER
@ SOA @ my.email.address. ( :) [or any other text]"
2000022701 ; serial
8H ; refresh
2H ; retry
2W ; expire
1D ) ; minimum
NS @
NS ns1.granitecanyon.com.
NS ns2.granitecanyon.com.
MX 10 @
RP my.email.address. @
TXT "DeCSS source code goes here
A 1.2.3.4 ; your IP here
localhost A 127.0.0.1
www CNAME @
ftp CNAME @
This basic setup should work if you run your own mail, web, and DNS servers, with GraniteCanyon as your backup DNS. Replace my.email.address with your email address in dot form (i.e. "me@email.com" becomes "me.email.com.").
Re:Question Regarding DNS (Score:3)
What you are buying is a contractual right to have your domain name entered into a "zone file" for some TLD, "Top Level Domain", such as .com or .nu. As a contractual right you can do all the normal things one does with contractual rights - delegate them, use them as security, etc, subject to the limits in the registration contract.
Be forwarned: Virtually every registrar has in its registration contract a provision that allows them to take your domain name away from you pretty much at their whim.
As for DNS itself - there is a belief that there can only be a single DNS hierarchy. That is not the case. I have not used the ICANN root system for several years and am using several additional TLDs, such as .web. See my note on this at http://www.cavebear.com/cavebear/growl/issue_2.htm #multiple_roots
DNS is a hierarchially (sp) organized lookup system - it is used to map structured names into records of various types, IP address records being but one of those types. So please don't fall into the trap of equating domain names with WWW presence - DNS is used for many other thins from e-mail to voice-over-IP telephony to geographic lat/long coordinates to public key information.
Administration of DNS is organized along the lines of the hierarchy so the impact of updates is localized; there's no worldwide update protocol (although there is an update protocol between primary and secondary servers established by each administration in the hierarchy.)
As for your technical questions, you might want to check out the O'Reilly and Associates book on DNS (it may be more than you want to know.)
I also wrote up something a couple of years ago, before ICANNN, that might be helpful: http://www.cavebear.com/nsf-dns/background.htm
--karl--
DomainMonger.com is the best! (Score:3)
Take a look at DomainMonger.com [domainmonger.com]. They offer better service than NSI and register.com, but they cost only $17 to register a domain. That's right, $17 to register a domain, with no other fees. And unlike Joker and Dotster you don't have to pay for transfers, and they guarantee that they won't raise the price in the future when you have to renew your domain.
Not only that, DomainMonger.com [domainmonger.com] has a cool web-based management interface that allows you to make modifications to multiple domains at one time. The manangment system uses newer and better technology, unlike other registrars who are tied to the badly implemented systems that were put in place years ago.. Check them out!
http://DomainMonger.com [domainmonger.com]
Re:Simplest Registrar? (Score:2)
$15 registration!! (Score:3)
No DNS (Score:3)
They let you create your own A, CNAME, and MX records, so you can register through any registrar you want, and if you're without DNS, have them point at the granitecanyon set up for DNS resolution. This has saved me many a time.
Re:possibility of violations by small registrars (Score:2)
Hmm, I just might have a new patent application... After all, someone patented teasing a cat [ibm.com] with a laser pointer.
Re:How does domain registration work? (Score:2)
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine [nmsu.edu].
DNS registrar (Score:2)
CENSORSHIP AT REGISTER.COM (Score:3)
Do we really want to do business with a company that limits what we can say? I suggest going with a smaller company that doesn't consider itself a guardian of our morality.
Re:OpenSRS (Score:3)
Note: OpenSRS domains take about 2 days to propagate through to whois and other registrars. If you think it isn't working, just give it one more day. It has never failed for me.
Re:Free DNS service (Score:2)
Sendy
Re:CENSORSHIP AT REGISTER.COM (Score:2)
I think they all do, man. I'm pretty sure that the words "fuck" "shit" "cock" "ass" and maybe a few others are prohibited from domain names. I also think that's the policy of NSI, not of the registrars. Of course, I could be wrong...
--
TotalNIC (Score:3)
Now I get mail to my linux router box via qmail. Everything works great.
-d9
Re:Renewing a domain (Score:2)
I am sure they all do this! The registrar that I used to register my domain (TotalNIC.net) [totalnic.net] will do it. This is what they have said in their FAQ:
Q: Is it possible to transfer my domain(s) from Network Solutions to TotalNIC?
A: You will need to fill out the transfer domain form online here [totalnic.net].
Please be aware that NSI processes each transfer request on a case-by-case basis and therefore TotalNIC cannot provide any service guarantees for transfers.
Your card will not be billed unless the transfer is successful.
--
Hope that helps.
-d9
Dotster.com (Score:2)
#----------------------------
$mrp=~s/mrp/elite god/g;
$17 registration (and free DNS parking to boot!) (Score:2)
Trivialization of Free Speech (Score:2)
And now the best we can do for censorship is a few words that only crepuscular fools use anyway in our domain names. I'm not sure whether that means that there is hardly any censorship, or whether it means that we have so thouroughly censored our own intellects that we are no longer dangerous anyway.
--
UK Registrars (Score:2)
I`ve had some difficulty recently with easyspace.co.uk [easyspace.co.uk]: registering is nice and cheap, but it`s only after you`ve forked out that you discover that if you`re not hosting your site on their servers, they don`t want to know. I`ve had no reply to several emails asking them about changing the DNS to point to my computer, and a friend was forced to pay for a mailbox service he didn`t want.
However, I can`t seem to find any other registrars in the UK that are at all decent. Either they`re incredibly pricey, or they`re entirely geared around website hosting and don`t even mention the possibility that a domain name can point to your own computer (or even have anything other than www. on the front of it). As it happens, I want the domain name for more than just a website, so even if I could afford it, a web hosting package is no good to me.
Still, I registered the domain name with easyspace, and now I can`t figure out how to get my hands on it at all. Which is more than slightly annoying.
Re:Question Regarding DNS (Score:2)
But that doesn't answer the actual question (Score:2)
But the vastly more useful question is in the general sense. What happens if I register with [Reg Company X] and [Reg Company X] goes belly up?
ie: if Joker goes under, then you say CORE takes over. So what happens if CORE goes under? Does someone else take over? So what happens if you follow it up the chain to the point where there's no-one to take it over?
Or, assume you're with a company (not Joker, obviously) that doesn't do it "through" anyone else? What happens if they go kaput?
It's a fine line between trolling and karma-whoring... and I think you just crossed it.
--
- Sean
Re:Trivialization of Free Speech (Score:2)
Don't get me wrong. I think NSI and other registrars limiting this is silly and a waste of time. But I also think it is silly to argue about it.
--
Re:Question Regarding DNS (Score:2)
Everyone's favourite daemon-revamper Dan Bernstein has an excellent DNS suite of tools called DNSCache which you can obtain from http://cr.yp.to/dnscache.html [cr.yp.to]. This looks pretty much ultrasecure (as most of his stuff is), and also very robust and modular. In addition, you don't need to muck around with zone files and so on, and the interface for adding information is ridiculously simple thanks to some scripts in the package.
For example, to add a new alias to an already existing domain, all I have to do is :
./add-alias new.recoil.org 1.2.3.4
make
and thats it! Serial numbers etc all taken care of automatically for you.
I've been running and playing with DNSCache and can recommend to anyone looking for an alternative to BIND.
Anil
Re:CENSORSHIP AT REGISTER.COM (Score:2)
I believe the registrars should be forced to tell you up front whether they censor or not. I found the fact that register.com won't disclose its policy very disturbing. Corporate censorship is a bigger problem than government censorship these days; look at how the PMRC and other hate mongers have shoe-horned the record industry in years past. We can't allow that to happen on the internet.
BulkRegister (Score:2)
So, looking for a registrar? Don't use Tucows. Instead, put your energies into making a telephone RBL.