Domain Name Transfers of Registrar
can be extremely simple and will take little time when you deal with professionals.
Sun Hosting will take care of all your domain name transfer of registrar and all
the technicals details for you, such as the DNS settings.
There are a few important issues you should know about the transfer of a domain name
registrar.
At certain times, domain name management in some companies can be complex and, if done improperly,
could potentially bring disastrous results to the organization.
This section of our site provides help that will help you avoid some of the pitfalls.
Over the years, an increasing number of companies have discovered to their horror that
their websites and/or corporate e-mail systems have suddenly stopped working.
Worse, all this happened without any warning, simply because of problems related with a corporate
domain name. Even Microsoft hasn't been immune- a few years back, it was the
subject of some ridicule when it failed to renew its www.hotmail.com domain on time. Some
kind soul noticed that the domain had expired, and re-registered it on their behalf,
before it could have been scooped up by some other party with a nefarious purpose.
On that occasion, Microsoft got lucky, but we are aware of instances where companies were
victimized and their domain taken in hostage for astronomous sums of money.
Unfortunately, while we devote much time in the corporate sector to protecting our
trademarks and other intellectual property assets, we often don't devote as much
time to our corporate domain names. And this lack of ownership and
responsibility can mean that mistakes can occur — often with devastating
consequences.
For example, an organization that has multiple domain names based
on a variety of trademarks, product and other corporate brands and identities, might
not be aware that those domain names have all been registered under the names
of several different individuals throughout the organization. The result is that
domain name renewal notices could easily go astray, particularly as individuals
leave the company or move on to other departments.
Miss a renewal and you could lose your domain
You should make sure that you properly manage these critical assets, particularly as
you migrate more and more of your business processes to the Web. And the first step
in guarding against potential problems is to understand where the risks lie. If
you don't properly manage your domain name assets, you might be subject to:
Domain name slamming
Domain name blackmail
Domain name server (DNS) outage
DNS hacking
Domain name "slamming"
Sadly, this is one of the most common problems, and with a bit of foresight and
education, it is completely avoidable. It comes about innocently enough — someone in the
organization receives an official-looking domain renewal notice, fills it out and
mails it back. Except that it wasn't from your existing domain registrar — instead,
it is from another registrar. And it isn't a renewal notice; it's a transfer
authorization, allowing your domain name to be MOVED from your existing registrar to
another one! You still own the domain name, but you are now dealing with a different
company, one that might not provide the best domain name service and support as your
current registrar. Worse, some of them will even change your
domain's DNS settings to theirs,
which will totally disable both your Web site and all your corporate emails!
Sadly, there are a number of organizations in Canada who operate under this kind
of questionable business practice. They prey upon the fact that most companies don't
know who they have registered their domain names with, and often respond to
such notices without a moment of thought.
The impact can be quite annoying and costly.
Once the transfer goes into effect, it is likely that all of your Web and e-mail
configuration details will be lost completely. The result is that your Web site and
e-mail systems will suddenly stop working altogether.
Certainly this can lead to lost
business and missed opportunities, not to mention the additional aggravation, time and
effort spent by your support staff in solving the problem. Also, some of your clients,
partners or suppliers might view this in a similar way as a disconnected phone line
service that would say: "We are sorry, but the phone number you are trying to reach
has been disconnected". A domain name error has the same chilling effect on a
lot of people, especially the ones that have been using the Internet for a number
of years.
The solution you may ask? Know who your registrar is! Treat any correspondence from any
other domain name registrar that you aren't familiar with with extreme suspicion! There is a
lot of abuse in this segment of the Internet, and, as they say, it's buyer beware...
Domain name blackmail
Imagine receiving an irate call from a customer one day: they're extremely concerned,
because suddenly your Web site is full of pornography. This is one of the more
insidious risks of improper domain name management — you discover to your
horror that you failed to renew a domain name on time. A third party in another
country has immediately scooped up YOUR domain name, has linked it to a porn
site, and is now demanding a significant sum of money from you in order to get it
back. Unfortunately, these things happen for real. Far-fetched? Not at all. In 2003, even
UNESCO, a division of the United Nations, suffered from such blackmail when it
failed to renew its domain name on time.
The impact is quite devastating. Customers, suppliers and business partners
immediately question their business relationship with you. Incalculable PR damage
has been done, not to mention the fact that all your e-mail addresses are also not
working anymore. The solution? Once you've lost control and ownership of your
domain name, there isn't much that you can do short of paying the blackmail
that is being demanded of you.
You could launch a court action but that
will be costly and time consuming. In the meantime, your customers and
business partners are looking at some unseemly material. To avoid the problem,
keep your online domain name registration information current and up to date.
Check to see when your domain names are expiring, and renew them ahead of time.
Consider renewing your domain names for several years in advance.
Domain name server (DNS) outages
Even if you avoid domain name blackmail and domain name slamming, you
might still find that one day your website is no longer reachable, and people are
telling you that e-mail sent to you is coming back with a rejection notice. What has
gone wrong? Perhaps there are problems with the "DNS servers" that manage your
domain names. The company that provides you with your domain name, and
hence DNS service, has suffered an outage or a serious problem. Again, the impact
can be severe, particularly as the Internet becomes more and more critical to your
business operations.
The thing to keep in mind is that unless you provide your own DNS servers (a rare
circumstance for most companies) your website's URL and e-mail addresses are totally
reliant upon the quality of the DNS service provided by your domain name
registrar. If they do not have redundant (multiple) DNS servers, then a problem on
their system will cause your website and e-mail addresses to stop working completely.
The solution is straightforward – make sure that you choose a
DNS provider that has multiple name
servers on different networks in different locations, and has a reputation for
quality and reliability.
On all counts, Sun Hosting meets and exceeds all those criteria.
DNS hacking
Your domain name settings could be hacked if the company that hosts your DNS
has inadequate security, or if you don't have adequate security over the accounts
that are used to manage your domains. The impact can be severe, particularly if
trade secrets or confidential information is sent through e-mail, and is redirected
to a third party as a result of the hack. Not to mention the PR problem if your
website is defaced in some way or if someone has put pronographic material on your
homepage, as some companies have been victimized in the past.
It's not that hard to have this problem occur. Someone could easily gain access
to the account that is used to manage your domain names, either by guessing
the user ID and password for the account, or by accessing that information somehow from a
corporate document. Solution: Keep your domain name (s) login safe and secure,
and follow proper password selection techniques. Choose a domain name registrar
that provides ACL (Access Control Lists) capabilities so that you can restrict access
to your domain name settings to a specific Internet address only.
Corporate domain name management
Given the potential problems with your domain name assets, what should you be
doing? The answer is simple: manage your domain name assets with the same
respect that you would any other critical corporate resource. This means that you
should consider centralizing management and control of your domain names
if you have not already done so, perhaps within your legal or accounting department.
Make sure that you are using a reliable and credible DNS provider that provides
maximum uptime. Ensure that you subject your domain name management accounts to
proper security procedures. And renew all domain names on a regular and
consistent basis.
You might even consider outsourcing your corporate domain name management
to a company that specializes in corporate domain name service. After all, the
issue of domain name management and DNS can be highly specialized and unique.
Given this, it might make sense to entrust it to an expert. There are far too many
things that can go wrong, with significant consequences, to simply try and do it
yourself and hope for the best. The benefits from such a service could be impressive.
Some companies engaged in this kind of service can supply you with a domain name
management control panel that lets you easily reconfigure your domain name settings,
so that your e-mail or website can be easily redirected if ever you should have any
web server problems. A bulk "WHOIS editor" lets you establish the same registration
for all of your domain names, whether you have only a few or hundreds.
Multiple redundant DNS servers ensure that your website and e-mail addresses are all
reachable, even if portions of the Internet suffer from an outage. You should consider
undertaking an audit of your domain name resources to determine if you are at
risk from some of the problems identified in this section. You should know exactly
what you own, who the domain names are registered with, and whose people's names
they are registered under.
The bottom line is this: as your business becomes more and more reliant upon the
Internet, you've got to take the time to take care of one of the most important
aspects of your online presence. Sun Hosting is a full domain name
registrar and
transfer agent
for all Internet domain name extensions in the .com, .net, .org, .ca, .biz, .us or any
other Internet domain name in existence today or at a future date.
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