Nominet Membership/DAC/Dropcatching software

[dvs]

Hi there

I need some help and advice from people who know about the Nominet system.

I usually use 1and1 to register domain names and that works out quite well for me. It's cheap, all my domains are in one place and on the same webhosting account. I used to use deleting.co.uk to find suspended domains and then I would either find a dropcatching service or try to register manually through 1and1 (if it wasn't an obviously popular domain).

I was getting fed up with paying companies to attempt to get me domains (I grew suspicious that some of them were actually using the information themselves). So I decided to become a Nominet member and get my own tag to register domains. However, I did very little research in my rush to sign up and was not aware of the lack of an all-in-one software that could search deleting names, attempt to register them and administer them. I bought Dropmail but gave up on it when I couldn't get it to work with PGP and my email server. Several months later I worked out that it was probably my email service (which required authentication, something Dropmail cannot do). I then gave up trying as my PGP license had expired.

Fast foward over year later and I have renewed my membership to Nominet and I am just trying to work out what to do - especially as deleting.co.uk no longer offers a deleting list.

So here are my questions:

Would signing up to Nominet's DAC server give me a full list of expiring domain names or would I need to list exactly what domain names I was interested in?

What software should I used to catch the deleting domain names? After spending £299 on Dropmail I think I would prefer to get this working or find a cheaper/free alternative. I would pay if there was software that was worth it.

It doesn't seem that cost effective to register your own domain names (for general domains rather than deleting ones) compared to 1and1 - so is it really worth the hassle of having all your domain names under your own registrar? The two things I got confused with when trying to register my own domains before was PGP and DNS. I know what they both are but kept getting errors. I don't have my own webserver.

Any general advice including any suggested software or providers would be really appreciated.

 

[grantw]

There are no master lists or zone files, you have to build your own list I'm afraid.

Grant

 

[seanc]

Would signing up to Nominet's DAC server give me a full list of expiring domain names or would I need to list exactly what domain names I was interested in?

the DAC will not provide you with ready made lists, you will have to figure out how to use the DAC with scripts to produce your own lists.

What software should I used to catch the deleting domain names? After spending £299 on Dropmail I think I would prefer to get this working or find a cheaper/free alternative. I would pay if there was software that was worth it.

i doubt dropmail can compete with the 'big boys' but if your not registering premium domains and competing with anyone, dropmail might be ok for you.

It doesn't seem that cost effective to register your own domain names (for general domains rather than deleting ones) compared to 1and1 - so is it really worth the hassle of having all your domain names under your own registrar? The two things I got confused with when trying to register my own domains before was PGP and DNS. I know what they both are but kept getting errors. I don't have my own webserver.

you will still need to manage the domains if you dont run your own dns.
so you would just catch the domain on your tag and then transfer it to 1&1

Any general advice including any suggested software or providers would be really appreciated.

you would need to pay ALOT of money for software or get some custom made. i wouldnt bother with either, you wont be able to compete.

there are a few people on here who you can subscribe to and use your TAG
and DAC access on their system to catch domains (aquanuke / netserve)

 

[dvs]

Thanks for the responses. There seems very little reason to be a Nominet member.

With regards to the DAC, when you both say produce your own lists, would you need to literally list every domain you wanted to check or would it be a case of listing words within a domain such as 'pro' bringing up professional, proforma, protection, protect etc?

If I caught the domain myself and transferred it to 1&1, would I not be paying for it twice?

 

[fred]

Thanks for the responses. There seems very little reason to be a Nominet member.

Depends on your point of view and what you want to acheive by being a member.

With regards to the DAC, when you both say produce your own lists, would you need to literally list every domain you wanted to check or would it be a case of listing words within a domain such as 'pro' bringing up professional, proforma, protection, protect etc?

Put very simply, the DAC works like this:

You send it "example.co.uk"
It replies with data about that domain, such as reg date, expiry date, if its available etc.

That is all it does - what you do with the data is up to you (subject to the ts&cs!)

If I caught the domain myself and transferred it to 1&1, would I not be paying for it twice?

Depends on where you transfer it to, but normally there is no cost to transfer in (they hope that you will pay for additional services and/or renew it with them)

 

[aquanuke]

gnupg is free everyone here is as tight as a ducks ass.. so they all use that, apart from the rich ones... but they dont post here

http://www.gnupg.org/

 

[retired_member6]

Thanks for the responses. There seems very little reason to be a Nominet member.

With regards to the DAC, when you both say produce your own lists, would you need to literally list every domain you wanted to check or would it be a case of listing words within a domain such as 'pro' bringing up professional, proforma, protection, protect etc?

If I caught the domain myself and transferred it to 1&1, would I not be paying for it twice?

.co.uk is not .com

 

[woopwoop]

This is a very interesting thread. Something that I think more people will be looking into since deleting.co.uk went down.

I guess that deleting.co.uk was a regular member of nominet, and just had scripts to look for names and their status.

With DAC access being limited to 1000 queries a day, wouldn't deleting.co.uk be querying more than this amount to provide its lists? Or are they able to get the lists within this limit of queries?

Can deleting not sell their scripts

 

[fred]

With DAC access being limited to 1000 queries a day, wouldn't deleting.co.uk be querying more than this amount to provide its lists? Or are they able to get the lists within this limit of queries?

Can deleting not sell their scripts

It's not 1000 per day:

The maximum query rate is 1,000 queries per rolling 60 seconds recalculated every 5 seconds and a maximum of 432,000 per rolling 24 hours, recalculated every five minutes.

:mrgreen:

 

[woopwoop]

Ahh. Thanks Fred. That makes more sense.

I just came across a site offering DAC hosting servers that boast of being 4 hops away from the DAC and so better placed to catch.

This seems to be an advantage but I wondered how much people lag if they are, in another country for example using a mailserver to query the dac on their own computer.

Do you still think membership might be worth the payoff of grabbing a few nice domains? Or is it that even grabbing a few nice names is unlikely because of the distance and increased hops and slower hardware?

 

[seanc]

Ahh. Thanks Fred. That makes more sense.

I just came across a site offering DAC hosting servers that boast of being 4 hops away from the DAC and so better placed to catch.

they will beat you (a customer) to any premium domains

 

[woopwoop]

Yep thought they would. That's if I'm a customer with them as you say.

But as far as the other point, do you think that I can be at all competitive even though I might be a great distance from the dac, many hops I assume - at the moment I'm living in US (from UK) and am thinking about Nominet membership and everything that I need to do or have to make a go of it.

If it's impossible for me to be competitive with a simple set up then I won't bother

 

[seanc]

If it's impossible for me to be competitive with a simple set up then I won't bother

theres at least 2 users who you wont be able to compete with (1 of which "probably" owns the system your talking about), then another half dozen ready to get what they dont want.

having said that, nominet is a bit of a mess at the moment, so you might get lucky!

 

[woopwoop]

Hi Sean,

Thanks for your comments. My main question was about ignoring this system and doing it all myself with my computer, membership and script.

And about how effective I could be.

At least there would be no 3rd party involved (that is apart from my isp plus the hops!)

 

[seanc]

it may be worth knocking up a quick script to grab the domains, but i wouldnt
bother trying to compete