The co.za domain name registration nightmare
Posted on December 22nd, 2008 by Richard Catto 4,406 views
For anyone wishing to own their own Internet domain name, owning and managing a co.za domain could not be harder if the co.za registrar, Uniforum SA, tried.
There are several major problems all caused by the lack of a modern system to register and manage and pay for co.za domains.
To register a Top Level Domain (TLD) such as a dot com or dot net or dot org, the procedure is straight forward. You can choose between a large number of competing online registrars who regularly offer promotions and discounts which allows you to get the best possible deal. I use godaddy myself, so I’ll use them as my example.
To register a new TLD domain, you open godaddy’s web site and register an account with them. Then you search for the domain name you want. If it’s available you add it to your cart and proceed to checkout. You pay for your domain with a credit card or with your PayPal account. As soon as you have paid for the domain, it is registered and you can then proceed to activate hosting for it. That is accomplished by entering the nameserver information. You can even create custom nameservers for your new domain simply by adding them and assigning to them the IP addresses that your web hoster supplied to you.
For most TLD domains, your domain will come online either immediately or within a few hours. No checks are enforced on your domain. If you enter the wrong information, it obviously won’t work, but it won’t require you to have any pre-existing DNS records on a pre-existing web hosting account.
If you want to switch your domain to a new server, you simply login to your online control panel, that your registrar provides, and edit the nameserver fields. Updates either reflect immediately or within a few hours. Again no checks are made for pre-existing DNS records on your new server (or web hosting account) – whatever you type in is simply accepted.
The system is easy and quick. Getting your domain set up on a new server takes a few minutes and the changeover happens either immediately or within a few hours.
This is, however, not the case with a co.za Second Level Domain (SLD). Frankly it is a nightmare. Registering a co.za domain is a technical challenge. For starters, unlike with a dot com, you cannot register a co.za domain without first setting up an existing DNS SOA (Start of Authority) record for it on TWO nameservers. This means that before you can register a co.za you have to host it, which is an additional expense, especially for someone who simply wants to own a co.za domain but does not necessarily wish to use it right away.
To register a co.za one must fill out a text form and then email it to a special email address which automatically processes domain registrations, updates and deletes. For a new domain, registration is usually accomplished within minutes IF the name servers specified on the registration form contain correctly formatted SOA entries for the domain name being registered. If Uniforum SA’s script finds an error in them, it rejects the application. The same applies to updates, but not to deletes.
Updating a co.za domain involves a frustrating delay of 24 hours in which voting tickets are sent out to the email address specified in your current registration. If the email addresses are no longer valid, you have to fill in a form, take a copy of your ID, get them certified and then fax them to Uniforum SA. The only online method of updating involves responding to emailed out tickets. If after 24 hours, the votes all accepted the update, then Uniforum SA updates the domain registration and a further delay is involved while you wait for the DNS to propagate. This can take 8 hours.
All this pales in comparison to the technical challenge involved in setting up custom name servers for your co.za domain. It is used to be popular for many co.za domains to have name servers at the same domain, like this:
ns1.domain.co.za
ns2.domain.co.za
However, this all changed in May 2005 when Uniforum SA adopted a very strict regime for registering custom name servers for a co.za domain. Unlike with a dot com, you cannot simply add them yourself and be merrily on your way.
To register custom name servers for a co.za now requires you to have two static IP addresses assigned solely to your domain. They cannot also be used as custom name servers for any other co.za domain, which used to be the case.
The reason is because each IP must now reverse resolve to its respective name server name. Uniforum SA’s domain update script checks that each IP address has correctly formatted SOA records, that it contains no “bad” data, is not missing any data and that each IP reverse resolves. None of these things are essential for your custom name servers to work. All that is required is that your domain registrar add A and NS records to its DNS database for your domain name – no checking of external DNS entries is needed.
So why does Uniforum SA check for all these things? Because some guy (Matt Tagg) discovered a theoretical exploit for adding A records to third party domains during the domain update process. An exploit that had never actually ever been used. An exploit that potentially only exists because of the way that Uniforum SA updates domains – via unauthenticated emails instead of through an authenticated online control panel that only allows you to make changes to your own domains.
So the bottom line for any owner of a co.za domain is that you have no choice as to what you will pay for one, since there is only one registrar for them and they decide the price as they see fit. co.za domains now cost R50 to register, but due to all the technical challenges involved, most people prefer to pay their ISP or a web hoster (like myself) to do it for them at around R250 per annum.
They also have the added expense of having to pay for a web hosting account since without one, it is not possible to register a co.za domain. And when it comes to switching web hosts, it takes over 24 hours instead of a few hours. And if they want custom name servers, it costs extra to have two dedicated static IPs assigned to your account, and then there is the additional technical hurdle of making sure that all the required DNS records are all sailing in a row.
Did I mention that if something goes wrong and your update is rejected that you have to wait at least another 24 hours to try again? If the domain update has a few errors, it may not reject it outright but instead will sleep for 8 hours at a time, without any ability to tell it to recheck again now.
I have yet to register or update a co.za domain with custom name servers that did not fail at least once. Reason for that? Uniforum SA provides no online tool for you to use to verify that everything is good to go. Nope. Nothing useful like that. You submit your update application and take your chances. And fail and fail and fail, each time waiting either 24 hours to try again or, if you’re lucky, only 8 hours between tries.
Great system.
Score: 0 out of 10.
Tags: co.za, Uniforum SA
Filed under Domain registration | 15 Comments »
Uniforum SA’s non benign rule of the co.za SLD
Posted on December 12th, 2008 by Richard Catto 10,679 views
Yesterday, I sent a FaceBook message to Arthur Goldstuck, a highly respected South African Internet research analyst and journalist about my troubles with Uniforum SA.
This is what I sent him:
Hi Arthur
I added you as a FaceBook friend because I’d like to draw to your attention a serious problem I’m having with Uniforum SA’s heavy handed manner in which they are dealing with me.
On November 28 a domain of mine, postmaster.co.za was deleted because I failed to pay the renewal fee of R50 in time.
I subsequently re-registered it with my email address of rrcatto@gmail.com (which is the address I use to manage my domains) with the intention of paying it that same day. However before I could do that, Uniforum SA’s system deleted it and then blocked my rrcatto @ gmail address from further registrations.
I managed to re-register postmaster.co.za with another address (ctneditor@gmail.com) and immediately paid the R50 fee, which was accepted and the domain reflects as paid.
I then requested that they unblock my rrcatto@gmail.com address. Louis Bezuidenhout responded and referred me to Form 5 – http://www.coza.net.za/legal/form_05.pdf – and demanded that I fill in this form to get my email address unblocked.
The standoff is that I am refusing to do this because I feel it is unnecessary red tape.
The email I received from Bezuidenhout on Nov 28 2008 is as follows:
“You have been banned from further CO.ZA domain registrations for attempting to circumvent CO.ZA domain re-registration policies.
You are required to complete a form5 available at
http://www.coza.net.za/legal/form_05.pdf and fax it to +2711 314-0088 along with a copy of your ID to ensure further CO.ZA registrations can take place.”I feel that I have proved my good faith by making payment for the domain (postmaster.co.za) and further demonstrations are unnecessary and a waste of my time.
Calvin Browne, also of Uniforum SA, wrote the following to me 15 minutes ago:
“If you want that block removed, you must fill in the form 5 as per the instructions on the form. This will be my final correspondence in this regard, and I will not be addressing this issue any further with yourself – I will be happy to take it up with your lawyers.”
How’s that for customer service? These people have blocked my email address for something I am not guilty of and are refusing to unblock it unless I jump through their hoops. That is how Uniforum SA deals with its captive audience.
His prompt reply blew me away because he shared with me that Uniforum SA had done the exact same thing to him previously. Uniforum SA blocked one of the most respected Internet consultants in South Africa and forced him to sign affidavits, as if his word alone could not be trusted.
It was clear from his reply that he was deeply upset and offended at the way they had handled him and I asked his permission to quote him whereupon he sent me the following message with his permission to publish it:
“This is hardly a unique experience, and I’ve been there too. This is probably one of the very few countries in the world where you can’t register your own lapsed domain, but anyone else is allowed to do so. The policy is simply stupid, but because it is Policy, with a capital P, nobody is willing to think it through. There is a deeper implication: Uniforum’s systems (not upgraded in a decade) and policies are symptomatic of a monopoly supplier of a service. They’re not doing themselves any favours, even if they have convinced themselves they have the moral high ground.” – Arthur Goldstuck, December 11 2008
Clearly, if this is the way Uniforum SA handles a man of Mr Goldstuck’s calibre, there is zero chance of me being handled with more respect. So I will have to resign myself to doing whatever Uniforum SA demands of me. If they tell me to stand on my head and twirl around before they will unblock my email address, then that is what I will have to do.
All hail Uniforum SA, dictator of the South African Internet!
Tags: Arthur Goldstuck, Uniforum SA
Filed under Admin | 4 Comments »
