I have my main hosting domain at register.com as well as my 2 nameservers. I would like to transfer them to another registrar.

Transferring the actual domain is easy, so no worries with that. What concerns me is the proper procedure for transferring the nameservers. From what I can understand, I request the transfer of the domain from, let's say, within my namecheap account. Then once the domain has been transferred, then I create 2 nameservers in my account.

The concern I have is DNS propagation and possible downtime. I would think that once register.com releases the domain, they would also delete the 2 nameservers right away. But when I then create 2 new ones in namecheap, I have to wait for propagation, don't I? Which means all sites are down until it propagates?

Or am I missing something here?

Vito

I normally transfer all my names to registerfly and normally when I do the nameservers and other details stay the same throughout the transfer process. I would assume that namecheap would do the same but I'm not sure.

If they don't then your site could be down 24hrs while the dns settings re propogate.

I guess you could add an extra step.

Create temporary name servers somewhere (tns1.yourdomain.com and tns2.yourdomain.com). Updcate your register account so that those are the new name servers used.

Wait a while for the changes to propagate, and then transfer the domain to namecheap or whatever. It will keep the current settings with the tdns name servers. Once that's done, set up the name servers @ the new registrar (that seems to be the goal) and update the nameservers infos. But don't delete the zone informations in the tdns servers for a few days.

This should allow you to do what you want and eliminate all downtime.

prime

I agree, the nameservers would stay the same, but that's when you are transferring just a domain. But I wish to transfer the nameservers as well.

Needless to say, I cannot have 24 hours downtime, let alone an hour or two. I have customers on my server aside from my own sites.

I have to believe that there is a way for a web host to transfer nameservers without downtime. :(

Vito

Originally posted by prime
I guess you could add an extra step.

Create temporary name servers somewhere (tns1.yourdomain.com and tns2.yourdomain.com). Updcate your register account so that those are the new name servers used.

Wait a while for the changes to propagate, and then transfer the domain to namecheap or whatever. It will keep the current settings with the tdns name servers. Once that's done, set up the name servers @ the new registrar (that seems to be the goal) and update the nameservers infos. But don't delete the zone informations in the tdns servers for a few days.

This should allow you to do what you want and eliminate all downtime.

prime Geez, I wish I understood DNS a little better than I do.

If a customer of mine has ns1 and ns2 of my nameservers specified in their registrar's domain account, how do I change to tns1 and tns2 and still have their sites resolving properly?

Vito

o i c .. I misread your original post and didn't realise you was changing nameservers aswell. Well, the simplest solution is to copy your site to your new host and change the dns settings at the registrar. Then once the dns settings have propogated and pointing to your new host then initiate transfer of the domain name. That should make it all seamless.

Sorry, you still don't understand. I am a host. And my main hosting site (and nameservers) are registered at register.com. But I wish to move them to namecheap.com. I am not moving my sites (or any of my customers' sites) anywhere. They are still staying on my server. What I am trying to avoid is any downtime while I transfer the domain and the nameservers to a different registrar.

Vito

Sorry, you still don't understand. I am a host. And my main hosting site (and nameservers) are registered at register.com. But I wish to move them to namecheap.com. I am not moving my sites (or any of my customers' sites) anywhere. They are still staying on my server. What I am trying to avoid is any downtime while I transfer the domain and the nameservers to a different registrar.

I see... Your initial post seemed to indicate that even tough you were a host, you were using your registrar's DNS management services, and wanted to do the same at your new registrar.

In that case, I don't think there'd be any delay involved. The main database is updated twice a day, and your infos should also be updated at that time.

But since you're not changing any IPs or names, I don't think you'd need to wait for propagation. It's already propagated.

prime

Looks like I got the wrong end of the stick completely today.

Oh, so since the IP remains the same, the moment I create the nameservers at namecheap, it resolves? No propagation required?

spacespider, no worries. I appreciate you trying to help me. ;)

Vito

Originally posted by vito
Geez, I wish I understood DNS a little better than I do.

If a customer of mine has ns1 and ns2 of my nameservers specified in their registrar's domain account, how do I change to tns1 and tns2 and still have their sites resolving properly?

Vito

As I said in my last post, my suggestion was for a different problem. You don't need to change anything.

Namecheap or register, whichever you use, won't make a difference as long as you're in the main database and so in one of the top name servers. You're not using your registrar's name servers, you're using the main ones. The registrar is just the one who updates the entry. I'm guessing that for a registrar transfer, the database won't even be touched unless there's need, and I don't see the need in your case.

The real problem with propagation is when you create a new domain or change your name servers. In the case of a domain creation, some people before the domain was registered probably tried to access it and so some nameservers cached that there was no address linked to that name. That's why you're stuck. If you change the ip or name of a name servers, the old address remains in the cache of many name servers that looked it up in the past for some time. When they do a lookup, people often end up looking for your domain in your old nameserver until it propagates or the entry in their nameserver's cache expires.

In your case, nothing changes. If the domain name/ip is cached, it's still pointing to the right spot. If it's not cached, there's a lookup that's going to be done at the top level name servers, and they'd still give the right information because it hasn't changed.

Anyways. That's the way I see and understand it.

prime

Cool. Thanks for your help.

:beer:

Vito

transfering domain from x registrar to y registrar doesn't drop the registration of the nameservers, they move along with the domain :D

Tank ya, Bashar. Good to get confirmation from a seasoned veteran. :D

Vito

I seem to recall someone posting a way to get it to resolve quicker than 24 hours does anyone remember this as I would like to add it to my handy dandy fact sheet??

What happened to me is basically what Bashar said. Although, I should mention, they won't necessarily show up in the new registrar's control panel.

I swtiched mine over to GoDaddy and I had to re-add them. They were there, and resolved fine, showed up in internic/whois fine... I just couldn't see them in my cp until I re-added them.

i moved from networksolutions to bulkregister and the nameservers was there, then from bulkregister to enom and i was able to edit them from enom.

i think its registrar case to show or not show :)