Does domain name have to be Hosted to stay alive?

rcly123

Hi,
Recently been told (informally) that if you register a domain name, you have to get it up and running in a couple of weeks or you loose it.

Any truth in this? If so can anyone point me to a resource to read about it?

aidan_walsh

That may depend on the rules of whoever controls the top level domain. Which TLD are you looking at in particular?

rcly123

Sorry, should have said all right.

Just a .com, .net with a view to a .ie, .co.uk (but primarly a .com/.net)

jmcc

rcly123 wrote: »

Hi,
Recently been told (informally) that if you register a domain name, you have to get it up and running in a couple of weeks or you loose it.

Well an .ie application has to have working nameservers in order to go active. Otherwise it ends up on the stalled list until the nameservers are working and is not included in the .ie zone. Some ccTLDs may have similar rules. There is no check on gTLD domains to see that the nameservers work or even exist. Approximately only 70% of domains registered in .com/net/org/biz/info are active. The rest either have not been set up on the nameservers, are on nameservers that are deleted or are on pending-delete nameservers. Some domains do not even have nameservers.

Regards...jmcc

rcly123

Thanks jmcc,

that's what I was after.

Can I assume from your answer that,

for a .com/net/info, you can register a name and no need to "put it live" so to speak, as far as your aware.

for a .ie (or some ccTLDs) you can register a name, but if you don't "put it live", it goes on a stalled list. You still own the domain name though, and can get off the stalled list by putting it live?

jmcc

rcly123 wrote: »

Can I assume from your answer that,

for a .com/net/info, you can register a name and no need to "put it live" so to speak, as far as your aware.

Essentially that's correct. For an active domain, the nameservers will return data. For an inactive domain, the nameservers will not return anything beyond a SERVFAIL message. This is because it is not set up in those nameservers.

for a .ie (or some ccTLDs) you can register a name, but if you don't "put it live", it goes on a stalled list. You still own the domain name though, and can get off the stalled list by putting it live?

From what I remember, the domain has to go live within a certain time period or the application will lapse. The IEDR test is to see that the nameserver that are suppose to answer for the domain do really answer for the domain. Most hosters have automated the process so the nameserver setup is automatic. If there is a problem with the nameservers when IEDR test the domain, the registrant will get an e-mail notifying them of the problem. You don't actually have to have anything like a website or mailserver on a domain for it to be active.

Regards...jmcc

mneylon

With IE you have 30 days for your application to be fully approved including DNS. If it isn't processed within the 30 days it drops off and someone else could register it