domain/hosting about to expire.

Need advice badly

[Birdman]

Hello,
I handle a site for my mother, who originally paid a firm to design her site and host it. They quit working on the before it was done so I took it over.

I have been considering moving the site to a new host because I don't care for MS/asp combo. So I do a ns lookup and see that the domain has under 2 days to live and the hosting has 45 minutes to live!

This couldn't happen at a worse time, with the Google deepcrawl starting.

Question: What are your recomendations at this point? I do not want to pay another year of hosting through them(expensive). I also don't want the site to go down. She relies on the site for about 80% of her biz.

I hope someone has some positive feedback for me.

Thanks,
Birdman

[Nick_W]

Renew the domain NOW

Register with someone like pair.com for a host and transfer the domwin NOW

The site will go down, but if you're lucky only for 24/36hrs or so. The deep crawl is done as far as I can see so no worries there...

Good luck!

Nick

[Birdman]

Thanks for replying, Nick! The domain was purchased by the hosting company through Tucows(open/srs).

Are you saying that I can just go to a new registrar and renew/transfer the domain without the hosting company's involvement?

<added>By the wqay, how is it up there in Mod_World? :)

[Nick_W]

Who owns the domain?

By the way, how is it up there in Mod_World?

Don't yuo mean down there.... ;)

Nick

[Birdman]

My mother owns the domain and she is listed as administrative contact also.

>>> down there

I'll bet you don't have any problems finding something to do in your spare time, now;)

[Nick_W]

Spare time? Ohhh... I remember that!

Right, if she owns it, it's just a matter of contacting the registrar and renewing... surely?

Nick

[sem4u]

Like Nick says, surely just renew the domain name.

[Birdman]

That's the problem for me, I think. The registrar is Tucows, who don't deal directly with end users. They have reseller accounts. They do, however, have a page where an end user could manage their domain but you need username/password.

These people are terrible. You would think they would notify clients when their accounts were about to expire so they could renew. Their own site has been under construction for the past year and has no client login or accouont info available.

Can I go to a new registrar and transfer the domain?

[Shakil]

Birdman,

not sure if this helps,

but go to a Tucows reseller (123reg in UK is very good)

Open an account and request transfer of domain to your new account, becuase your mother is admin contact, she should get a confirmation email allowing this.

approve and its all done, ownership is under your control at new registrar.

Shak

[Nick_W]

Can I go to a new registrar and transfer the domain?

Not sure, but I think that unwise/problematic.

Here's what I'd do:

• Contact hosting company tommorrow and explain the need to renew the domain and then get them to give you whatever details you need to manage it yourself.
  
• Sort out the hosting beforehand and then transfer..
  

Nick

[Birdman]

Okay. Thanks Nick, sem4u, and shakil for the great advice. I'll check into another Tucows reseller now and see if I can go that route. If not I'll go with Nick's advice.

Thanks for calming me down,
Birdman(Marty)

[Marcia]

A Tucows reseller I use helped me get my domain name away from Netsol, who refused at first. They also helped transfer a client's domain away from another OpenSRC reseller that HAD no interface to change nameservers away from them.

Easy as pie, it went perfectly smooth. It's very easy to switch from one of the resellers to another.

For this type of situation, get hosting with a unique IP number, just to be on the safe side. You do the transfer by paying for another year and just put in the new nameserver information, which is what I did with the OpenSRC switch. www.000domains.com has a very easy interface, it all takes about 5 minutes.

[edited by: Marcia at 12:41 pm (utc) on Jan. 5, 2003]

[web_india]

I find it a bit strange that the domain has two days left but hosting is 45 mins. Are you sure this is the way? In most of the cases, it is the other way round.

Anyways, it is important to get it resolved asap. So a better option is if your host allows it - to go for a monthly plan with your current host, pay for one month. so your immediate hosting problem is solved, then go ONLY to a tucows reseller and get the domain renewed. Later on you can shift your host.

[Birdman]

Thanks for jumping in Marcia and Web_india.

Marcia,
I tried the site you referred to and when I get to the renew/transfer page I get a login box. I don't have the correct username and pswd to get in:(

web_india,
I'm pretty sure that was the info I saw. The lookup page keeps hanging now. As for monthly, they don't offer it. I'll sure be glad to get out from under them!

[web_india]

Birdman, What's the status with host as it is more than 45 minutes? Is the site down or working?

[Birdman]

web_india, The site is still there. I'm not sure what is going on, but I'm getting ready to start calling them(I may get lucky).

I just hope I get this through without too many snags. Mom will be heartbroken if the site goes down:(

[jmccormac]

I have been considering moving the site to a new host because I don't care for MS/asp combo. So I do a ns lookup and see that the domain has under 2 days to live and the hosting has 45 minutes to live!

These are the timings associated with the domain name's nameserver record rather than the domain name. Basically this is data for other nameservers telling them how often to recheck the information or to cache the information for the particular domain.

The command that you use to check how long your domain has to live is the whois command. Use the whois /check domain owner option on any webhosting site or even Tucows and you should see the full record for your domain. It will tellyou the date it was registered and the date that it expires.

Use the Generic whois lookup option on this page to check the data:

[demon.net...]

You can also check your namserver data from the same page

Regards...jmcc

[Birdman]

Whois shows "record expires 1-07-03". I think I may have it worked out. I'll post back when I know.

[web_india]

you can also have a look at the SRS enduser faqs which might be of some help regarding getting the domain's username and password

[web_india]

RSP Transfers:

An RSP Transfer or Reseller-to-Reseller transfer, or occurs when a registrant notifies an OpenSRS RSP that they wish to use them as their reseller for a domain name they own that already exists under Tucows/OpenSRS.

RSP Transfers for gTLDs are processed by either placing a "ManualTransfer" in the RWI, or by calling register_sys.cgi. This process requires an available RSP credit balance large enough to cover the costs of transferring the domain, and approval by the Admin Contact for the domain to be transferred. The approval is done via an URL contained in an e-mail automatically sent to them at the currently listed Admin contact information.

Upon approval, the held funds are taken from the gaining RSPs account and used to add an additional year onto the registration period. The domain is then marked as "deleted-transferred" in the losing RSPs account. As a final step, the system notifies all of the parties involved that the transfer was successful.

If the Admin Contact declines the transfer, or fails to respond to the confirmation request within seven days, the held funds are released, and all three parties are notified of the failure. This type of transfer will also fail if the domain has been with the losing RSP for less than 60 days, in order to allow sufficient time for the first RSP to secure payment for their services (or to contact the Tucows Compliance Dept. regarding a non-payment). It is important to note that names which have expired, but that have not passed the 40-day period before actual deletion, can be transferred between RSPs, and renewed in the process.

This is from the transfer faqs of SRS. I think you would be ok with the domain. Just need to work out the hosting part.

[Birdman]

Thanks for all of the help, web_india! So far the site is still up. The hosting part shouldn't be a problem for if I could just get full control of name server information so I can change it.

Marcia hooked me up with a page that I can do the transfer/renew. Now I'm trying to get up with my mother(at a bridal show) to get cc # so I can do the deal and her cell is turned off :(

If the site goes down for a day or two, it won't be the end of the world. Just as long as it isn't during a crawl. Thanks again, everyone

[Birdman]

Here is the result of my transfer:

Transfer Approval/Rejection Results

Domain
Exp.Date
Status

Approved Transfers (1 Domains)

site.com
Jan 07, 2003
552 Domain status does not allow for operation Please contact TUCOWS, INC. to remove the lock. After the lock is removed (within 7 days) you can use this tool to submit the transfer.

Rejected Transfers (0 Domains)

None

Not Processed Transfers (0 Domains)

None

So they've locked me out, huh?

[Birdman]

Okay, just got an email reply from current domain name reseller stating that the domain is locked for our safety(right!). I'll be calling them this morning.

Should I just have them unlock the domain or should I renew through them? I have already paid $13.50(Sunday) to transfer the domain to another tucows reseller(results in last post).

I'd like to get a little more input before I make the calls this morning. Thanks!

[Marcia]

I'd email the new registrar right away, forwarding the correspondence you received, and see what they say.

[Birdman]

Marcia,
I was thinking of calling Tucows this morning before calling our current reseller. You are saying I should contact the new reseller you refered me too, also?

[Birdman]

Update:

Got in touch with old host/domain reseller and got the domain unlocked.

Went to new reseller and got the transfer through successfully.

Uploaded files to new host.

Currently waiting for dns changes to propogate.

:):):):):):):):):)

[web_india]

Nice to know that you got it through :)