Layman’s guide to the CO.ZA EPP System

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The CO.ZA EPP system developed by the ZA Central Registry is in our opinion the best thing since sliced cheese.
For years web hosting providers, domain registrars, web developers and even end users struggled to find ways of simplifying and automating domain name management for their CO.ZA Domain names which were registered and administered by Uniforum SA.

The CO.ZA EPP System allows for real time updates to domains and streamlines management of your CO.ZA Domains, how ever it does present a few teething problems hence we have put together the Layman’s guide to the CO.ZA EPP System

CO.ZA EPP domain management requires no software to be installed on your computer, requires no development on your behalf and won’t cost you a fortune if you use ZA Domains as your EPP Domain management provider.

Presented within the CO.ZA EPP System are a new set of rules which apply to domain transfers, these apply depending on the current status of the domain name and which / if any updates were recently applied to the domain itself.
In addition to domain transfers, certain rules apply to how domains are renewed, or if not renewed, what happens to the domain thereafter.

To start off lets take a look at CO.ZA Domain transfers as this seems to generate the highest amount of queries.

Legacy Transfers

The most common error returned when attempting a Domain transfer from Uniforum SA’s legacy system is the dreaded 2106 Domain not eligible for transfer according to the co.za transfer policy

The 2106 EPP error may include three possible reasons why the domain transfer failed, and its up to the Reseller or Registrar to investigate which of the reasons apply to the error.

  1. A CO.ZA domain may not be transferred during its Anniversary Period. The period is 3 days prior to its expiration and up to the 6th of the following month.
  2. A CO.ZA domain may not be transferred during the first month of registration.
  3. One of the contacts listed on the Legacy WHOIS system denied the transfer request sent through by ticketman.

When transferring a domain from legacy to CO.ZA EPP the transfer takes 24 hours to complete from the time of transfer request – provided that the transfer is accepted.

When transferring a domain from legacy to CO.ZA EPP, the transfer ticket which is sent through to all contacts on the legacy WHOIS page doesn’t contain the information relating to who the domain has been assigned to during the EPP transfer. The reason for this is that there is no direct method of linking Uniforum SA’s whois information with ZACR’s CO.ZA EPP system. To facilitate the transfer process, the existing whois content is applied to the transfer request and only once the domain has moved out of the legacy system and into EPP are the correct details applied to a transfer – these details are part of the “clean up process”

Legacy domains which have not been renewed with Uniforum SA cannot be transferred until all outstanding amounts are duly paid. You may say “duh, thats a no brainer” – but you would be surprised at the amount of queries we receive regarding this one.

CO.ZA EPP to CO.ZA EPP Transfers

Domains transferred via the EPP are instant provided that the current registrant accepts the transfer.

If the registrant is unable to accept the transfer or ignores it, and the Registrar has accepted it the transfer will only take place  after 5 days. So if you find yourself in a situation where your transfer hasn’t taken place then you need to confirm that the domain transfer has been accepted.

Any update to the registrant information will lock a domain from future updates for a period of 5 days, meaning that no further updates take place until the pending timer has elapsed. In emergency situations you can cancel the pending update and start over.

General EPP information.

Domains which are not renewed on the renewal date enter into a pending suspension state, then into a pending deletion state and finally closed redemption. No updates can occur whilst any of the pending states exist, except for RAR transfers. Take a look at our domain life cycle graph which explains the various cycles in greater detail.

Domains which enter into a redemption state cost substantially more to renew in comparison to a standard renewal – get in to the habit of billing your clients and having them pay prior to the renewal date else you may be in for a nasty surprise.

Updates to a domain, such as name server changes are instant, transfers are instant, domain info (polling) happens in real time.

Registrant is King

In the past, many of South Africa’s ISP’s were guilty of substituting their information with the legal owner’s details. This included the registrants first name, surname and e-mail address.

ZACR have now made it policy and law that the registrant information published on the WHOIS pages must contain the actual registrant’s information and not the Registrars. This is good news for Registrants and bad news for RAR’s who have adopted this method of domain registration. If you find out that your domain is registered to the registrar or does not have your contact details, lodge a complaint with ZACR.

The registrant’s vote on a domain update always overwrites the registrars vote. IE if the registrar denies a transfer request and the registrant accepts, the transfer takes place.