The Domain Record – An Explanation
The Domain Record
In the last article, I had mentioned a very important tip that you should ALWAYS provide valid registration details while registering your domain name. So let’s take a look at the Domain Record (the registration contact details for your domain name as maintained by the registry) and understand the significance of its various components.
Take a look at the image below. I did a WHOIS search for “tradebooster.com” at www.drwhois.com (hmm… you should know what WHOIS is by now 
). The image shows the domain record for tradebooster.com as maintained by the registry.
Now lets understand the meaning and significance of each of the components of the domain record.
Item nos. 1 and 2 give information about where your domain is registered. Item no. 1 indicates the registrar where your domain is registered and Item no. 2 indicates, most likely, the local contact / company that helped you with the domain registration. In most cases this an authorised reseller of the services of the registrar who is your local contact / company. In case you got this registered directly with the registrar, this would show the registrar information.
Item No.3 is the registrant company / person of the domain. The registrant is the legal owner of the domain. You must make sure that the registrant details is the accurate contact information for your company.
Item No.4 shows the date when the domain record was created. In simpler terms it shows the date when you first registered the domain name.
Item No.5 shows the next date of expiry of the domain name. In case you do not renew your domain before its next expiry date, the domain would expire. A detailed explanation on the process of expiry is provided in another article later in the series.
Item No. 6 is technically known as the “Name Server Information“. To put it simply, it tells the registry about the server / computer in the world actually hosts your domain. Hmmmm…’host‘, another technical term. Don’t worry, I will explain in detail in the next article what hosting is all about. As for now, let this be the explanation and a bit of grey area.
Item No.7 is the contact details for the Administrative Contact (Admin Contact) for the domain. The admin contact for the domain is the most important part of the domain record as all correspondence from the registrar / registry pertaining to the domain name is ALWAYS sent to the admin contact. You must therefore make sure that these details correctly represent the contact details of the person who would be in-charge of your domain. You should always avoid using person specific email address if the admin contact is one of your staff members. Preferably specify an email address that you are sure would exist over the next 1 year.
You must also ensure that you update the contact details of the admin contact if there is any change in the same.
Item No.8 is the billing contact of the domain. Issues pertaining to invoicing / payments regarding the domain are sent to the billing contact. These would also be sent to the Admin Contact.
Item no. 9 is the technical contact of the domain. Techinical issues regarding the domain are notified to the technical contact. As above, the admin contact would also be notified about the same.
In almost all of the cases we have seen, the admin, technical and billing contacts are usually the same. However, this is not a thumb rule and you can always specify three different contact details for these items of the domain record.
Item No.10 is status of the domain in the registry. This should always be active. If this set to anything other than active then you should consult your local contact / registry on how to set the status to active.
Now two important tips, specially when you have got your domain name registered through a local contact.
- ALWAYS, ALWAYS and ALWAYS ask the local contact to put YOUR contact details while registering the domain name. A lot of intermediaries DO NOT do so because they think that they would lose you as a customer if they are transparent. However, what they do not realise is that transparency in business transactions is the foundation of a long term relationship.
- ALWAYS ask your local contact to give you the username and password for your domain control panel. Well, in simpler terms, the domain control panel is nothing but a facility wherein you can manage the domain record i.e update the details of your domain record as and when required. Once again the intermediaries are very hesitant to reveal this information for the reason mentioned above.
You should always keep the above two tips in mind and act accordingly since they are required if you wish to change your service provider / intermediary / local contact. Remember, YOU are the customer and you hold the exclusive right of choosing your preferred web partner.
The last 4 articles have covered a lot of ground on domain names. Now that we’ve understood some bits about domain names, the next article would give you some insight on the mystic world of web hosting .
Did you find this article useful? Click here to rate the Article.
