Automating domain operations.
WHAT THEY PROVIDE
Availability checks Registration and renewal Transfers Nameserver and contact changes Retrieving authorisation codes
WHAT MAKES THEM DIFFERENT
Operations cost money immediately Some are irreversible Registry rules vary by extension
WHAT TO BE CAREFUL WITH
Registration, which cannot be undone beyond a short grace period Transfers, which take days and can fail Contact changes, which may trigger lock periods
WHAT TO CHECK BEFORE REGISTERING
Availability, immediately before, since it changes constantly.
WHAT TO HANDLE
A registration that times out with unknown outcome.
WHAT TO DO THEN
Query the domain's status before retrying.
WHY
Retrying blindly may register a second domain, or fail confusingly.
WHAT TO RECONCILE
Your records against the registrar's, regularly.
WHY
Divergence means customers charged for domains you do not hold, or the reverse.
WHAT TO MONITOR
Expiry dates, from the registrar rather than your own records.
WHY
Your record may be wrong, and expiry is unrecoverable after a point.
WHAT TO BUILD
Alerting well before expiry.
WHAT TO TEST
With a test environment where the registrar provides one.
WHAT TO BE AWARE OF LOCALLY
Extensions with additional requirements or manual approval Pricing and settlement in foreign currency
WHAT TO RECORD
Every operation, with its cost.
