Understanding Asynchronous Domain Registration

Starting from H-Sphere 2.4 beta 6 in addition to Enom and OpenSRS, you can offer your customers to register domains directly from their control panel even if they aren't registered in real time (e.g. regional domains such as .org.uk and .co.uk) or use your preferred registrar instead of Enom or OpenSRS.

When customers add a domain with a TLD associated with your preferred domain registrar from their control panel or at signup, they fill in the forms with all information required by the registrar, on submit an FTP directory is created for it in the user's home on the web server and domain appears in the user CP interface. However it is merely scheduled for registration and won't be accessible from the Internet until admin notified in trouble ticket completes domain registration with the registrar.

Getting Prepared

Create a reseller account with your prefered domain registrar. When prompted, enter the IP of your CP server and contorol panel DNS server names.
   * Notes: DNS server names should be registered and propagated with ICANN accredited domain registrar.
In your OpenSRS/Enom account allow to use other name servers for domain registration. Otherwise your resellers offering their end users domain registration won't be able to use nameserver aliases which will disclose parent host transparency.

Setting Up Asynchronous Registrar Connection

Requirement: agreement with your preferred registrar signed

To set up your connection with your preferred registrar:

1. Log into your admin CP.
2. Select Domain Registrar in the Settings menu.
3. In the Add New Registrar box, choose Asynchronous Registration and click the Add button:

   

   In earlier builds of 2.4 this option is called Custom Registrar.
4. You'll need to enter your preferred domain registration data:

   

   • Title: the name of your account. You can have more than one connection with your preferred domain registrar.
   • Path to scirpt for lookup: path to the scirpt that will check if a domain name user tries to create hasn't been registered in the Internet yet.
     * the script must treat parameter that H-Sphere passes to it as a domain name and stdout "0", if domain is available or "1" if it is already in use
     * the path must start with slash "/" and should be absolute to /hsphere/shared/scripts
   • Supported tld: enter all TLDs you would like to provide domain registration for with your preferred domain registrar.
   • License Agreement: the text and/or the path to the license that:
     - explains your and your preferred doamin registrar's obligations to customers, their obligations to you and the registrar;
     - proves you are a lawful registration service provider.
     This will be shown to your end customers on the signup forms and when they choose to create a new domain from their CP with your preferred domain registrar.
    
   • Warn users about domain expiration this many days in advance: the domains are usually bought for a certain period of time (one or more years). When this time expires the domain is suspended, and if the term of domain name registration is not renewed, the domain is canceled and becomes available for sale to other buyers. Here you can set the number of days before the domain expiration date to remind the user about approaching domain cancelation.
   • Renew domains this many days before domain expiration: number of days before domain expiration to automatically renew the domain registration (as opposed to manual domain name registration renewal).
5. Click Submit Query. Now your preferred domain registrar connection is created and you can proceed to configuring other registrar connections or associating top level domains with domain registrars.