This FAQ tries to answer the questions which are specific to .com/.net/.org domains.

Please remember that domain registration passwords have nothing to do with BareMetal or FTP. (See What is all this talk about passwords?)

General Questions:

General Questions:

How much $$?

Please see the domain rates page. With dollar fluctuation and monthly specials it is difficult to keep multiple references up to date :-) :-(.

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How do I pay?

You have two choices: pay online with a credit card and get an immediate registration, or do a "pay later" registration and send us a cheque, but your domain will not be registered until we get the cheque, so someone else might take your name!

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How does BareMetal do this?

BareMetal is acting as a Value Added Reseller (an RSP in their terms) for OpenSRS (a division of TuCows International). We provide billing, sales, marketing, and end user support -- they provide the registrar functionality and most of the software.

In case you are concerned, OpenSRS would give you a choice of new RSPs to deal with if there was ever a reason why BareMetal couldn't continue handling your domain registration needs. ICANN has documented the procedures should OpenSRS go out of business.

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Who is OpenSRS?

OpenSRS is a division of TuCows which specializes in providing wholesale domain registration services. They are an ICANN accredited registrar. TuCows has been a leading distributor of software on the Internet since 1993 (in short, they are a well established, respectable company). I believe they are the 3rd biggest registrar of .com/.net/.org domain names.

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Can I see an example domain registered here?

Of course! BareMetal.Net was registered at OpenSRS, and BareMetal.com has been transferred from NetworkSolutions.

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Where are the legal documents?

Here are the registration agreement and the dispute policy. (Basically, we'll try to do our best, but liability is strictly limited.)

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The Registration System:

How do I register a domain?

Go to the registration page. The rest is meant to be self explanatory!

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How do I transfer a domain from Network Solutions (or another registrar)?

This is basically the same process as registering a name (see the previous item), the system will recognize that the domain has already been registered and ask you if you want to transfer it.

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Can we register 63 character domain names?

Yes, we can register domains longer than the old 26 (?) character limit. Domain names can now be up to 63 characters long including the ".com".

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What is all this talk about passwords?

The OpenSRS system uses the combination of your userid and domain name, plus a password to control your domain and keep other people from making changes to your domain. (See How do I make changes to my domain?)

This password lives on the OpenSRS servers, and has nothing to do with any passwords issued by BareMetal.

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How do I make changes to my domain?

Select one of the 'Manage Domain' link from the 'Domains' menu. Enter your domain name, your userid, and your password.

From the resulting page you can change the information for all the contacts, and change the DNS servers. The "manage profile" link lets you change your password, move the domain to another userid-domain/password profile, and create an additional "sub-userid" to which you can grant the ability to change any of the contacts or DNS information (this is useful if you have to give a service provider the ability to change your DNS servers).

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Who can make changes to your domain.

Anyone with the your userid and password can change anything about your domain, so keep that information secret. Basically, whomever has the password owns the domain!

That said, you can create sub-userids (see How do I make changes to my domain?) that are only allowed to change certain items and can not transfer the domain to another userid/password pair.

One more point. By default BareMetal will be the technical contact, this does _not_ allow us to make changes.

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How do I let my service provider change my DNS settings?

You have two secure choices. The simplest is to make the changes yourself (see How do I make changes to my domain?) The second is to create a sub-userid that only has authority to change the DNS servers and give that userid and password to your service provider (see the same link).

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Changing your password.

The link for changing your password is under the "Manage Profile" link in the domain management area (see How do I make changes to my domain?).

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I forgot my password.

YIKES! Please don't do that!

Send a note to support@baremetal.com, if your admin contact information is current, they can have your password e-mailed to you.

If the e-mail address for you admin contact is not correct then a fax to opensrs will be needed. As of April 2010 the form is here: http://tucowsdomains.com/domain-name-administrative-email-address-change-fax-form/ . But that is a deep link into their site. If it doesn't work please start from: http://www.adminchange.com/ .

Contact support@baremetal.com if you need help!

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What is my NIC handle?

A good old-style question :-). The OpenSRS system has no visible concept of NIC handles. NIC handles were used by network solutions to make it easier to keep contact information up to date. The OpenSRS system does this by allowing you to make changes to all the domains under your profile at once. Still, it makes life simpler if you use information that isn't going to change (e.g. use an address at your domain instead of an address at your local ISP).

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Other Items:

What is the 45 day rule? (Registrar Transfers)

The 45 day rule is a nasty one, that is especially important when transferring domains from network solutions, but can be applicable in any .com/net/org transfer.

There is a rule in the registrar <-> registry agreement that expiring domains are automatically renewed on their expiry date, and this renewal is automatically billed to the registrar. This charge is automatically refunded if the domain is deleted by the registrar within 45 days OR IF THE DOMAIN IS TRANSFERED TO ANOTHER REGISTRAR WITHIN 45 DAYS.

Note: this only applies to domains which actually expired. If you renewed the domain before the expiry date, it does not apply.

This is particularly nasty when transferring names away from network solutions (and probably some other registrars), since they will not allow an expired domain to be transferred after it has expired. The problem is that if you pay them for the renewal, and then transfer the domain, you lose the renewal! There are lots of ways to avoid this, but they basically come down to one of two things: either renew and/or transfer your domain before it expires, or renew it and then WAIT 2 months after the expiry date before transferring it (2 months because the math is easier than counting 45 days).

Expiration / What is "Redemption Period"?

NOTE: The following text is ONLY intended as a guide. Our wholesaler is in charge of domain expiration procedures and consequently the text below may be inaccurate or out of date. Please renew your domains BEFORE they expire!

Domain registrations last for a limited amount of time measured in years. Registrations can (obviously) be renewed to add extra years to their duration. The notable limit is that no registration is allowed to be valid for more than 10 years into the future (which means that you can register a domain for 10 years, but can not renew it for 10 years unless it has actually expired).

So what happens when a registration expires? For domains registered through us, the domains "quit working" the day after they expire. Technically, the DNS servers are no longer listed in the .com/net/org zone file. This means that e-mail, web, and any other services with the domain quit working on the Internet. To make things complicated, a few days later our wholesaler points the domain at website of their own which reminds visitors that the domain is expired, and displays advertisements. This continues up to about 40 days after the registration has expired. The domain owner can renew the registration at any time up to this point (and the domain will fairly quickly go back to normal service).

At 40 days, the domain gets deleted. At this point the domain goes into a state known as "Redemption Period". This state provides a "last chance" to get the domain registration back. The registry charges a significant chunk of $$ for getting a domain back from "redemption period", and consequently so do we. (As of early 2009 our cost is $80 US, so we charge $90 US to cover the credit card discount, invoicing and admin. I believe our wholesaler sends $60 US of that to the registry.) The Redemption period lasts for 30 days. If the domain is not redeemed, it goes into a "pending delete" state for 7 days, and is released for re-registration at the end of that.

This ICANN document describes some of the rational leading up to the creation of the Redemption Period: http://www.icann.org/en/registrars/redemption-proposal-14feb02.htm

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