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Hosting-StammtischPractical knowledge for website owners

As of:

Translated from German. In case of discrepancies, the German version applies.

Moving a domain

Your task: A domain is to move to another provider – because you are changing host, consolidating contracts or taking over a domain from an agency. Website and email should keep running throughout.

What a domain actually is and how it differs from web hosting is explained under What is a domain?.

Moving a domain is not rocket science, but it consists of two things that are often confused:

  1. Changing the registrar – the company through which the domain is managed at the registry.
  2. Switching the DNS – the records that determine where website and email point to.

Both can happen at the same time, but they do not have to. Keeping them separate means less risk.

Before the move

  • Check who holds the domain. Who is named as the domain holder in the contract? That should be you or your organisation, not the agency.
  • Back up all DNS records. Note down or export all records of the zone: A/AAAA, MX, TXT (e.g. for SPF, DKIM, DMARC and verifications), CNAME. Missing TXT records are often only noticed when emails end up in spam or a service loses its verification.
  • Lower the TTL in good time. Reduce the TTL of the records that will change a few days beforehand. Changes on moving day then take effect faster.
  • Plan the email move. If the mailboxes are with the old provider, they must be ready at the new location before the MX record is switched.
  • Check for locks. With generic endings such as .com, a transfer lock may be active; for newly registered or recently transferred domains, the current registrar may refuse a transfer within 60 days (ICANN Transfer Policy, section I.A.3.7).

The transfer itself

.de domains

For .de domains – Germany’s country-code top-level domain – the registry is DENIC. The change of provider works with the AuthInfo code – many providers also call it the auth code or authcode:

  1. You have the current provider generate an AuthInfo.
  2. You give it to the new provider, who uses it to trigger the transfer at DENIC.
  3. If the AuthInfo is correct, the domain is transferred immediately, according to DENIC.

The AuthInfo expires automatically after 30 days and then has to be requested again. So only request it once the new provider is ready. If the current provider can no longer be reached, the new provider can request the AuthInfo directly from DENIC; DENIC then sends it by post to the domain holder.

Generic domains (.com, .net, .org …)

For generic top-level domains, the rules of ICANN apply. Here, too, the code is called “AuthInfo”. The current registrar must hand it over and, under the ICANN Transfer Policy, may not refuse to do so solely because of a dispute over payment. The registrar may, however, deny the transfer itself if a previous registration period – or, before the expiry date, the current one – has not been paid; it must first place the domain on “Registrar Hold” (section I.A.3.7.3). It may not use the transfer process for future registration periods or as leverage in any other payment dispute (I.A.3.9.1 and I.A.3.10). If you change the domain holder before the move, a 60-day transfer lock may follow – so do not plan a change of holder and a change of registrar at the same time.

Other country-code endings

Every country-code ending has its own rules. Which body is responsible is listed in the IANA Root Zone Database.

After the move

  • Compare all DNS records with your backup.
  • Test the website, HTTPS certificate and email (receiving and sending).
  • Check the holder details with the new provider. They are often not publicly available: for .de domains of private individuals, the DENIC lookup – via whois or via RDAP, the successor to WHOIS – does not show the holder.
  • Set the TTL back to its normal value.
  • Only cancel the old contract once everything is working – and limit the cancellation to the domain that has actually moved.

Common pitfalls

  • The agency is the holder. Then a change of holder is needed first – with the consent of both sides.
  • The DNS is hosted by a third party. Then changing registrar may not change anything in the DNS at all. Check which name servers are entered.
  • The old provider deletes on cancellation. Never cancel before the transfer is complete.

Next

General information, not legal advice. Date of the rules: see the sources below.