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Various nominet questions


Si

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Hi,

 

I've already raised a support ticket about this, so know the current answer but have to say I'm a bit concerned about it....

 

When .uk becomes available on the 10th June it will be supported by the Nominet module according to Matt's blog post about .uk.

 

However, .uk domains will be reserved for the registrant of a corresponding domain name (.co.uk, .org.uk etc) for the next 5 years. This means there are some checks that will need to be done to ensure the person registering the domain is the right person, I personally believe this is the right decision to prevent confusion.

 

However, the Nominet module in WHMCS order process will simply return unavailable if the domain is reserved for a user (that's any user, not just the party who has the right to register it) and it can't be ordered through the client side WHMCS. From my understanding the only way to order it is a manual order in the WHMCS admin?

 

So, enabling it as per the instructions in Matt's post will only work where an existing domain does not exist in the UK namespace giving someone else the right to register the domain being ordered. Otherwise it will just fail.

 

I'm not sure there's a good answer to this, maybe returning reserved so the order can be made, but we have to do a manual processing or something would be better? Just flat out returning unavailable isn't true and causes a headache for those of us selling .uk to existing clients?

 

Any thoughts/ideas appreciated.

Keiron

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Hmm basically it will be fairly useless then

 

I think there has to be a way of doing it, I agree that just allowing the order to go through is bad as the person might not have the right to order the new domain but just saying unavailable isn't really sensible either.

 

I'd like to see some kind of half way house, where the user can make the order but isn't presented with an invoice until their eligibility to order has been assessed. I realise this would be something very specific to the Nominet module and .uk in particular so probably isn't the total answer.

 

Does anyone else have any other views on how we might make this work?

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Going by the blog post http://blog.whmcs.com/?t=89631 it basically states you have to order the domain via the 'Admin Order page' if the domain shows an unavailable.

 

Yet on the 'Admin Order Page' you can only choose the Registrant name and type. No where to choose the contact address details for the domain name ?

 

The contact details have to be exact otherwise the register requesty will fail.

 

You have to assume the client has more than one domain name, and that their own primary contact details are set differently to the contact details of any one domain name.

 

Basically as I see it, it would be 'impossible' to register manually as an 'admin' a .uk domain name.

 

We were advised by WHMCS support ( ticket GLN-921926 ) to login as the client to place the order. But how can that work, if it shows as 'Unavailable' ?

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An update in case anyone else comes acroos this, which I know you will, email from WHMCS support:

 

'I've spoken with the developers on this matter and the only way we could think to workaround this would be to edit the /includes/whoisservers.php file and temporarily remove the .uk entry from that file.

That will make every .uk domain show as available - even in the public order form.

 

You can then place the order using the particular contact details you require.

Once the order is placed, you can then restore the original file.

 

It's a messy workaround, but it will work.'

 

A fantastic resolution LOL

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Messy? I'd say they have lost their minds. How much do they think we make on a .uk registration that we have time to be dealing with a ticket, monkeying around with source code, manually registering, changing it back, answering the ticket and what have you?

 

It's a pretty sad reflection on WHMCS that my company would be more profitable if I told clients to get lost and register their .uk domains somewhere else. Way to squander the biggest domain sales opportunity in years :mad:

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An update in case anyone else comes acroos this, which I know you will, email from WHMCS support:

 

 

 

A fantastic resolution LOL

 

Removing the .uk line in the whoisserver.php doesnt work. You then get the following error V009 Domain xx.uk cannot be requested via this automaton.

 

xx being any domain you try to register.

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Yup you cannot try it until tomorrow, however I have simply been told to make ' feature' request in order to Register .uk domain names LOL

 

It is not as though WHMCS did not have enough notice on this.

 

I was advised again that the there is no way for WHMCS to automatically verify the eligibility of a registrant's claim to a reserved .uk domain

 

I stressed again, I was not looking that far ahead ( as I would expect WHMCs would not support something as advanced as domain name registration until they had at least 36 months notice ), only the ability to actually 'Register' the domain in the first place.

 

But seriously, how WHMCS expect that this is accepetable is just amazing.

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Over time I've come to keep my expectations very low where WHMCS is concerned, so I'm not surprised to see that they have let us down yet again. My new philosophy is this.... If you want to succeed with this product, you need to start viewing WHMCS as a base that you can build upon and don't wait around for them to improve anything. If they do - its a bonus.

 

The truth is that if you want to have a properly planned, designed and developed Nominet module, you need to get a replacement module built. I don't think WHMCS have any intention of improving the current one and I doubt they've made any plans to do so.

 

The way I've come to view them now is that they have built the basic shell and each module does the absolute bare minimum you'd expect it to. If you are a very small company with only a few clients, you can put up with that and it is probably enough for you. I think the bulk of their business comes from that type of client.

 

If you've been in business a few years and have some profit to spend - spend it wisely on getting someone to improve upon the very basic infrastructure WHMCS offers - get the modules tailored to your needs. That's what I intend to do. Let's face it, It's either that, or switch to HostBill lol.

 

If anyone would like to discuss the requirements of the "perfect" Nominet module and put down in writing exactly what you want to see - perhaps we can split the cost between us and make it happen.

Edited by Chris74
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Yup you cannot try it until tomorrow, however I have simply been told to make ' feature' request in order to Register .uk domain names LOL

that just about sums WHMCS up - a joke of a company that couldn't code their way out of a paper bag.

 

if anyone catches me pointing someone towards making a feature request, feel free to give me a slap - that place is a graveyard of good ideas that get nowhere.

 

The truth is that if you want to have a properly planned, designed and developed Nominet module, you need to get a replacement module built. I don't think WHMCS have any intention of improving the current one and I doubt they've made any plans to do so.

 

The way I've come to view them now is that they have built the basic shell and each module does the absolute bare minimum you'd expect it to. If you are a very small company with only a few clients, you can put up with that and it is probably enough for you. I think the bulk of their business comes from that type of client.

one of their biggest problems is that they are shockingly poor at communication - and trust me when I say that I know that from personal experience... :mad::mad:

 

even on a more general level, they may have big plans, great plans - they just never tell us what they intend to do about something until the last minute - by which time, the ship has sailed... and even when they do tell us about their future plans, they often don't materialise!

 

Chris74 is absolutely right - you either develop your business to suit how whmcs works, or modify whmcs to how your business works... the frustration occurs when you can't do either.

 

frankly, I could go on and say a lot more, but I am conscious that i'm ranting, so I will end my remarks here. :)

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As an accredited Nominet member we too are having issues with the address verification processes. We are developing a module to confirm clients addresses, when Nominet is unable to do so, and this may be of interest to other WHMCS users. An outline of the module is here - http://forum.whmcs.com/showthread.php?89911-Address-Verification-of-Clients-useful-for-Nominet-Accredited-Resellers-Feedback-please

 

Cheers.

 

Peter

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modify the includes/additionaldomainfields.php

 

copy the single line for .net.uk and paste a line lower and change .net.uk to .uk

 

this will allow you to register them through admin

 

There is already an entry by default in there for .uk:

$additionaldomainfields[".uk"] = $additionaldomainfields[".co.uk"];

 

This still will not allow you to add contact information on the purchase of a new .uk domain name when ordering via the admin login on behalf of a client.

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This is such a mess. After 8.00am and when customers try to register their .uk domains, all they see is RESERVED - domain not available. (Of course this is correct as they own the .co.uk domain). So what do we do?

 

Tickets already being opened by clients and as i suspected, going to go elsewhere (to the bigger players). And yes, I know the domain is reserved for them for 5 years, but that doesn't appease or persuade people who want their .uk domain NOW. Business lost.

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modify the includes/additionaldomainfields.php

 

copy the single line for .net.uk and paste a line lower and change .net.uk to .uk

 

this will allow you to register them through admin

 

Thanks - this works for admin but how do we update the customer side forms/?

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I feel like I do when I collect VAT for the government. I'm now doing nominet's job and getting stuff all for doing it.

 

Customers now have to:

1) raise a support ticket to register a .uk domain they are entitled to

2) I have to raise the order in admin end

3) if their qualifying domain .co.uk is not registered with me, I have to check through a whois check the details

4) if the details are not the same (ie I just raised an order for a customer called Andrew which failed because he is listed on another registrar as Andy on the .co.uk)

5) Double checking and a pile of work I could well do without.

 

SEriously considering knocking the .uk on the head until there is a customer side solution.

Edited by Si
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I feel like I do when I collect VAT for the government. I'm now doing nominet's job and getting stuff all for doing it.

 

Customers now have to:

1) raise a support ticket to register a .uk domain they are entitled to

2) I have to raise the order in admin end

3) if their qualifying domain .co.uk is not registered with me, I have to check through a whois check the details

4) if the details are not the same (ie I just raised an order for a customer called Andrew which failed because he is listed on another registrar as Andy on the .co.uk)

5) Double checking and a pile of work I could well do without.

 

SEriously considering knocking the .uk on the head until there is a customer side solution.

 

Yep we've already decided not to make them publically available.

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Honestly Nominet - this is a nightmare.

 

Trying to manually register .uk domains on behalf of my customers is throwing up all sorts of errors.

 

V334 Your request for domain '*********.uk' has failed because the 'account-name' for the registrant does not fully match any registrant which has rights for this domain

 

Yet I forced the .co.uk to have the same account name before attempting to register. There are similar messages for email addresses not being the same etc etc etc.

 

.UK - REMOVED (Customers can go elsewhere).

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