[sf-lug] sf-lug website?

Mon Jul 14 23:12:29 PDT 2014

Quoting Jim Stockford (jim at well.com):

> JS: http://208.96.15.252 might help with the tutorial

Hi, Jim!  Sorry to hear about the domain woes.  Here's something I just
created that you're welcome to use, if & whenever you wish:

  linuxmafia:~# grep sf-lug /etc/bind/linuxmafia.com.zone 
  sf-lug          IN      A       208.96.15.252
  linuxmafia:~# rndc reload linuxmafia.com
  zone reload queued
  linuxmafia:~# dig sf-lug.linuxmafia.com @ns1.linuxmafia.com +short
  208.96.15.252
  linuxmafia:~# 

That is:  FQDN 'sf-lug.linuxmafia.com' now points to SF-LUG's Web server
IP at ServePath - for your convenience if/when you wish to use it.

Some opinions and information about registrars:

1.  IIRC, every registrar prohibits transferring a domain at certain
times.  I think those include the first 60 days after initial
registration and the 60 days immediately following a transfer.

2.  Even though I no of no rule prohibiting transferring a domain away
from an undesired registrar shortly before scheduled expiration, in my
experience registrars become curiously accident-prone when you tell them
you're taking your business elsewhere.  The last few weeks before a
renewal/expiration date is the worst possible time for your incumbent
registrar to get motivated to become clumsy and indifferent to your
well-being.  Think about it.

Therefore, I urge _never_ attempting anything in the final month of a
domain you wish to keep other than paying The Man.  Carry out anything
else _after_ your renewal goes through.

3.  I'm betting you don't know this, as I keep encountering domain
owners who don't know:  _Every_ registrar I've ever encountered grants
domain-duration credit equal to time remaining on domains you seek to
transfer in.

This means you lose nothing by submitting your transfer request whenever
convenient, including 24 hours after renewal at your incumbent
registrar.

Let's say, for example, tomorrow you pay NetSol 2 * $35 to renew the two
expired domains.[1]  Ka-ching!  Renewal goes through and
sf-lug.{com|org} now show a new 2015-07-15 expiration date, with you as
the registrant and the correct authoritative nameservers again.  Now,
you might think:  'Damn, I've just prepaid 12 months, so now I have to
wait almost a year again to get my money's worth before attempting
transfer.

No, not so at all.  If you initiate transfer to a different registrar
immediately, paying for one year per domain at the new registrar, the
new registrar will let you carry over your NetSol 12 months plus the 
year you paid for at the new registrar.  

I hear people making the error of thinking they have an incentive to
wait after renewal 'to get your money's worth' all the time, and it's
always simply wrong.

FWIW, commodity pricing for com/org is US $12-15 per domain.  My
opinion:  NetSol prices are ridiculous, and you're paying a premium for
worse than average service.  I transferred away from NetSol ASAP back in
1998, and never looked back.

[1] Upthread, I said you can renew a domain in the first 40 days after
expiration for no more than the regular cost of renewal, but that's not
necessarily true for all registrars.  It's certainly true at the
overwhelming majority of them, but I can't exclude the possibility that
NetSol is an exception.

> >For any Web site to function and be reachable at a fully-qualified [DNS]
> >domain name (aka 'FQDN') URL, the following constituent parts must all be
> >working, and can be checked in order.
> >
> >1.  Domain must be registered.  Check using 'whois'.*
> >2.  Authoritative nameservers must exist.  Check using 'whois'.
> >3.  Authoritative nameservers must resolve the domain, and in
> >     particular the Web server's FQDN.  Check using 'dig'.
> >4.  Routing to the server must exist.  Check using 'ping', 'traceroute',
> >     'tcptraceroute'.  (Each gives slightly different information.)
> >5.  Connectivity to the target server's TCP port 80**, the standard
> >     server for HTTP, must work.  Check using dig or curl.
> >6.  If connected to validly and asked for the Web page, the Web
> >     server must return the site HTML (as opposed to, say, a 404
> >     Not Found response, 302 Permanently Moved response, etc.).
> >     Check using - obviously - a Web browser, or a variety of other
> >     things that can act like an HTTP client, including /usr/bin/telnet.
> >
> >If any of those items doesn't work, then the ones that follow don't
> >matter because of fundamental failure at a lower level.
> >
> >
> >Let's apply that list to sf-lug.com, then to sf-lug.org:
> >
> >
> >sf-lug.org:
> >-----------
> >1.  Registration.
> >
> >rmoen at borgia:~$ whois sf-lug.com
> >[...]
> >Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
> >    Updated Date: 04-jul-2014
> >    Creation Date: 02-jul-2004
> >    Expiration Date: 02-jul-2015
> >
> >In recent years registrars have been playing games with the vital
> >'Updated Date', 'Domain Status', and 'Expiration Date' field - among
> >others.  Reading the rest of the whois entry attentively, it's obvious
> >what happened.  July 2, 2014 was the expiration date - and the owner did
> >_not_ renew.
> >
> >On July 2nd, the domain expired, and registrar Network Solutions
> >promptly added a (bogus) additional year.  They also changed the
> >displayed Registrant (owner) to omit the erstwhile owner - Jim
> >Stockford, if memory serves - and show themselves in that role, and they
> >changed the authoritatives nameservers from those of the erstwhile owner
> >to their 'domain parking' nameservers at NS1.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM
> >and NS2.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM.
> >
> >So:  Domain is currently 12 days past expiration.  Recovery prospects?
> >See footnote http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/preventing-expiration.html#1
> >Quoting:
> >
> >   In the first 40 days, the domain can still be renewed by just paying
> >   the normal renewal. Some registrars will accept renewal money from
> >   anyone; others won't.
> >
> >As noted, steps 2-6 are academic at present, since the domain's in
> >limbo.  But y'all have until Monday, August 11, 2014 to recover at no
> >more than the cost of regular renewal.  (That's 40 days from expiration.)
> >
> >
> >
> >sf-lug.org:
> >
> >1.  Registration.
> >
> >rmoen at borgia:~$ whois sf-lug.org
> >[...]
> >Creation Date: 2004-07-02T21:17:47Z
> >Updated Date: 2014-07-04T10:15:26Z
> >Registry Expiry Date: 2015-07-02T21:17:47Z
> >Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
> >Domain Status: autoRenewPeriod
> >
> >
> >Gosh, same story.  Steps 2-6 omitted, ditto.
> >
> >
> >
> >Ancillary comment:  Network Solutions sucks.  (GoDaddy blows.)
> >Lots of reasons, omitted here.
> >
> >
> >
> >* MS-Windows lacks this tool along with the equally essential DNS tools
> >host and dig.  There's an open-source set of the three from Cygwin.
> >MS-Windows people really ought to routinely install and use those
> >instead of using Web-based whois and using the extremely buggy and
> >antique nslookup tool instead of dig/host.
> >
> >8* Rarely, a Web server may be configured to be reachable on a different
> >port, most often 8080, thus the URL pattern http://www.example.com:8080/ .
> >
> 
> 
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