| Reseller Help: Domain Help by TLD : .CA | |
| How do I transfer a .CA from one registrar to OpenSRS? | |
| What is the grace period for expired .CA domains? | |
| Are there any registration restrictions with .CA domains? | |
| What is the registration process for .CA domains? | |
| How do I renew .CA domains? | |
| How do I register a .CA domain in the "TBR" state? | |
| What does "Error: 400 Command failed" mean? | |
| Can I lookup or order a .CA domain in the test system? | |
| How does my client update their admin contact email address? | |
| What is the "blocker resolution process"? | |
| My client has lost their CIRA password, what do I do? | |
| How do I modify the Organization Name for a .CA | |
| How does my client update their admin contact email address? | |
| How do I transfer a .ca from one OpenSRS Reseller to another? | |
| How do I enable my OpenSRS account for .ca registrations? | |
| How do I register a municipal .ca domain? | |
| Why are there no IP addresses listed for my name servers? | |
| Can I modify the registration details on a .CA order I just processed? | |
| My client just confirmed their registration with CIRA, when will they be able to manage their domain? | |
| Why is the .CA transfer stuck at Pending Registry Approval? | |
Q:How do I transfer a .CA from one registrar to OpenSRS? | |
A:Transfers for .CA names are similar to gTLD Transfers with a few exceptions. The contact information and nameserver information does not and can not be changed during the course of the transfer. As well, the admin contact listed for the domain will receive a confirmation email from CIRA with directions on how to approve the transfer. Registrar transfers for .CA names can be placed either through the OpenSRS client code or through the resellers interface. Please see the OpenSRS New User Guide for more details. A domain year is automatically charged to the Reseller, and the domains registration period is extended for one domain year. | |
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Q:What is the grace period for expired .CA domains? | |
A:We hold expired .CA domain names for a 30 day grace period. If a renewal is not made within 30 days of the expiry date, the domain will be sent to CIRA for deletion. | |
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Q:Are there any registration restrictions with .CA domains? | |
A:Yes there are. CIRA has determined that the .CA name space should be developed as a key public resource for the social and economic development of all Canadians. Accordingly, persons who wish to register a .CA domain name or sub-domain name on and after November 8, 2000 must meet certain Canadian Presence Requirements For Registrants. | |
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Q:What is the registration process for .CA domains? | |
A:Once the order is processed, the admin contact listed for the domain will receive a confirmation email from CIRA requiring them to visit a URL to confirm the registration. If the admin contact fails to confirm the registration within 168 hours (7 days) of the order date, the order will automatically time out and the registration will be cancelled. If the registrant has an existing .CA registration and would like to add the .CA name to their Registrant Profile at CIRA, they must recall the original order information using the same OpenSRS userid/password, and ensure that the same userid/password is carried through to the new registration (which it is, by default). Using this process, the admin contact won't have to approve the new registration and the domain will just get added to the existing registrant profile at CIRA. If the domain is a blocked .CA domain, you will have to follow the Blocker resolution process outlined below. | |
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Q:How do I renew .CA domains? | |
A:Renewals for .CA domains are handled in the same way as gTLD domains. Renewals can be made through the resellers interface under the "Renewal Management" section or through the OpenSRS client code's renew.cgi script | |
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Q:How do I register a .CA domain in the "TBR" state? | |
A:CIRA is making expired .ca names available for re-registration in a special 15 minute window (referred to as the 'To Be Released' or 'TBR' window) prior to making the name available in the general pool for anyone to register using normal registration mechanisms. During this window, resellers can attempt to register the name and add it to an EXISTING CIRA registrant profile (see Note 3 below). The daily TBR session will operate between 14:00 and 15:00, Ottawa time, 31 days after the domain expires. The Process Resellers will be able to attempt to register TBR names only through our batch processing machine, batch.opensrs.net. Direct client connections to batch.opensrs.net, and/or access the Reseller Web Interface at http://batch.opensrs.net/resellers Important Notes 1) CIRA is limiting access to this service. We expect that attempts to secure TBR names will often return "CIRA registry busy" errors. We can only advise you to keep trying in order to secure TBR names. 2) ONLY TBR name registrations should be attempted from batch.opensrs.net. Names in the TBR state can ONLY be registered through batch.opensrs.net - if you try to registers a TBR name through our normal systems, your attempt will fail. 3) You MUST use the "Place Order Manually for .ca" option in the Reseller Web Interface on the Batch system. 4) In order to register a TBR name, you MUST select "Add domain to existing CIRA profile" and associate it with an existing .ca name already registered through OpenSRS. This means that all orders for TBR names processed through batch.opensrs.net MUST include the domain, username and password of an existing OpenSRS .ca domain. Any contact information you submit with these TBR orders will be ignored in favour of the contact information associated with the existing OpenSRS .ca domain that you provide. There is currently no alternative to this. 5) A list of TBR names is published (and will be updated daily at http://ro.cira.ca/tbrlist_p | |
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Q:What does "Error: 400 Command failed. The registrant status does not allow the type of manual verification requested." mean? | |
A:Usually this means that the Registrant has yet to approve a Critical Change in their CIRA profile (or even approve the creation of it). Have the Registrant login to CIRA with their account number/password and see if there are any Critical Changes to approve. | |
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Q:Can I lookup or order a .CA domain in the test system? | |
A:Unfortunately CIRA has temporarily disabled their test environment. As a result, lookups and registrations placed on horizon.opensrs.net will not work. You will receive a "Unexpected response received from the Registry: [400] [Wrong XML envelop from CIRA] " error message. | |
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Q:How does my client update their admin contact email address? | |
A:CIRA deems admin contact changes to be a "Critical Change" and thus, all changes must be confirmed with CIRA. If the registrant has their username and password for their domain AND the admin contact email address current listed for the domain is STILL valid, they can simply log into the manage interface and make the required changes. CIRA will then send a confirmation email to the OLD address requesting that they visit CIRA's web site to confirm the changes. They will need their CIRA username/password in order to confirm the changes. Please see Question 5 for details on how to have their CIRA login information sent to them. If the registrant does NOT have access to the current admin contact email address listed, the domain owner must visit http://www.adminchange.com in order to have this address updated using a fax-based process. | |
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Q:What is the "blocker resolution process"? | |
A:In Canada, there are provincial second level domains for each .ca domain. If registrants own "domain.ca" or "domain.pv.ca" (where .pv is the provincial code), the CIRA system automatically "reserves" all variants of the name. For example, if I have joey.on.ca and no other joey.pv.ca (or joey.ca) names exist, I have the "first" right to register any other joey.pv.ca names. For example: joey.ab.ca (for Alberta) or joey.bc.ca (for British Columbia) etc. If the domain being registered has a second, third or fourth level match of an already registered .ca domain, it is considered a conflicting domain and enters into the blocker resolution process. For more information on the blocker resolution process, please see the Tucows Tribune article "What Are CA Blockers". You can find it at http://rrc.tucows.com/wholesale_services/domain_names/ca/ca_blockers | |
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Q:My client has lost their CIRA password, what do I do? | |
A:Resellers can send both the CIRA and Manage Interface username and password to the admin contact listed for the domain by logging into the Resellers Web interface and entering the domain name into the view domain field. Near the top of the screen there will be 2 links to email the CIRA and Manage login information to the admin contact listed. | |
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Q:How do I modify the Organization Name for a .CA | |
A:The organization name (also called the Registrant Name) for a .CA domain name is not a modifiable field and thus cannot be changed through the Manage Interface. Generally it’s a very lengthy, manual process and should be avoided if possible. To change the Organization field for a .CA name, a "registrant transfer" must occur. This transfer is not like a "registrar transfer", and involves some manual work. The standard yearly charge applies for a registrant transfer, as it does renew the domain name for a one year period. If the Registrant is not planning to allow the domain to expire, this gets rid of a renewal ahead of time. The registrant transfer is a complex process requiring numerous confirmations from both the old and new registrant! Many people do not reply to the required confirmations and the request then times out, so please be certain to follow the instructions carefully! Use “Submit .ca Registrant Transfer Request” in the Reseller Web Interface to either create a new CIRA profile that the domain will transfer into, or submit a transfer to an existing CIRA profile number. You can find the CIRA profile number associated with an existing domain by doing a WHOIS lookup on that domain at www.cira.ca Tucows goes to the CIRA special registrar system and initiates transfer of domain from the OLD registrant profile to the NEW registrant profile. CIRA sends a confirmation email to admin contact of the OLD registrant profile regarding the transfer. The admin contact of the OLD registrant must follow the directions in CIRA's email to approve of the changes/transfer. They must also have access to their CIRA username/password to confirm these changes. This information can be sent to the OLD admin contact through the resellers interface using the "View Domain" section. Once the OLD registrant has confirmed/approved of the transfer CIRA then sends a email to the registrar (ie Tucows) regarding transfer. Tucows must go to CIRA's site to approve transfer. Once Tucows confirms the transfer, CIRA sends a confirmation email to the admin contact listed for the NEW registrant profile regarding the transfer. The admin contact of the NEW registrant profile must agree to transfer by following the directions in CIRA's confirmation email (using their new CIRA username/password). | |
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Q:How does my client update their admin contact email address? | |
A:CIRA deems admin contact changes to be a "Critical Change" and thus, all changes must be confirmed with CIRA. If the registrant has their username and password for their domain AND the admin contact email address current listed for the domain is STILL valid, they can simply log into the manage interface and make the required changes. CIRA will then send a confirmation email to the OLD address requesting that they visit CIRA's web site to confirm the changes. They will need their CIRA username/password in order to confirm the changes. Please see Question 5 for details on how to have their CIRA login information sent to them. If the registrant does NOT have access to the current admin contact email address listed, the domain owner must visit http://www.adminchange.com in order to have this address updated using a fax-based process. | |
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Q:How do I transfer a .ca from one OpenSRS Reseller to another? | |
A:Transferring .ca names between OpenSRS resellers follows a similar process to .ca registrar transfers; however, since everything is local to OpenSRS, there is no confirmation with CIRA required. Reseller transfer orders are entered into the RWI and RCL in exactly the same way as Registrar transfer orders; a domain year is still charged to the Reseller, and the domains registration period is extended for one domain year. | |
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Q:How do I enable my OpenSRS account for .ca registrations? | |
A:In order to enable your OpenSRS reseller account for .ca registrations, you must first sign and fax us the .ca RSP Registration Agreement located on our equire that you also post the CIRA Exhibit A on your server | |
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Q:How do I register a municipal .ca domain? | |
A:In order to process a municipal registration for a .ca domain, the registrant must first have authorisation from the municipality. Once authorization has been granted, simply place the order either through the resellers web interface or the OpenSRS client code and ensure that the validation process below is followed. CIRA requires that the registrant complete and sign a "Certificate of Authorization to Apply for Registration of a Municipal Name" form. This form must be printed on the Municipality's Letterhead. The forms (and more details) can be found at http://www.camunicipalforms.com Please note that CIRA recently lifted the requirement that municipal .CA names must begin with the prefix that best describes the municipality (ie. city, town, ville, etc.) Under the old system, the city of Vancouver could only register city.vancouver.bc.ca however under the new policy they can now register vancouver.ca if they wish. Unfortunately they cannot register vancouver.bc.ca | |
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Q:Why are there no IP addresses listed for my name servers? | |
A:CIRA does not require the IP addresses to be listed. This of course does not affect the operation of the domain name. | |
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Q:Can I modify the registration details on a .CA order I just processed? | |
A:Unfortunately once an order has been submitted and is in progress there is no way to update the registration details. If there is a spelling mistake in the contact information etc, everything except for the organization name can be updated post-registration through the manage interface. If the admin contact email address listed is invalid you will have to wait for the order to time out (7 days) and then resubmit the registration with the correct information. | |
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Q:My client just confirmed their registration with CIRA, when will they be able to manage their domain? | |
A:Once the registrant confirms the registration with CIRA it will generally take our system 12-24 hours to mark the order as completed. During this time period the registrant will not be able to manage their domain. | |
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Q:Why is the .CA transfer stuck at Pending Registry Approval? | |
A:You can always see the status of a transfer using "View Orders in Progress" on http://resellers.opensrs.net . When a .ca registrar transfer is Pending Registry Approval, CIRA (the .ca registry) is waiting for the Admin contact to respond. If no response is received after one week from the registry request date, the transfer will be declined by CIRA. Unfortunately, CIRA does not work in real-time so there may be some delay. All the details are included in the Email sent to the Admin contact by CIRA. The Account Number and Password must be obtained from the current registration provider. | |
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