Domain transfer functionality...

[4uh]

I notice the original thread was deleted. I was just in the process of adding some constructive comments to it and I'd like to continue if thats ok!

 

I think Matt listens to all feature requests and I think he probably has a very specific road map in his mind for WHMCS. I'm also pretty sure it will eventually become the best hosting billing system available. I understand that it takes time to develop these things but I'm alarmed that so little functionality exists in the registrar modules.

 

I'm not being arrogant when I say that I couldnt possibly use a system that doesnt update the expiry dates or that doesnt update the transfer status of domains. We simply have too many domains to do this manually.

 

I dont know the mechanics of the automatied processing in WHMCS. In nearly all the other systems I have seen, they are run from a "job queue" which is processed by a cron job every few minutes.

 

So using a domains expiry date as an example....

 

1. Customer places an order for a new domain - when the order is approved, the registration process is added to the job queue and run on the cron schedule.

 

2. When the API returns that the registration was successful - this simply triggers a second API call which is added to the queue - "update expiry date". That job is run via the cron and the database is updated with the correct expiry date.

 

To me, that seems incredibly easy to do, what do you think ?

 

For the update of transfers, a script would be required to run daily via cron. Presuming there is a simple API call provided by each registrar that allows you to check the transfer status of a domain. The domain would need to have a status field in the WHMCS system so that the script being used to update the status only ran against domains with the status "proccessing" or whatever.....

 

1. Customer places a transfer order. When the API returns that the transfer has been submitted - the domain gets the status "processing" in WHMCS or maybe "transfer submitted".

2. Overnight, the transfer update script runs for all domains with the above status. It checks the status with the registrar (or registrars)....

 

I would guess that each registrar will have an API call to check for the status of a transfer and that there will always be a number of states like...

 

Submitted / Processing

Failed / error (with reason)

Complete

 

So whatever is returned by the registrar will update the status of the domain according to what you want WHMCS to display. If there is an error or the transfer failed then the domain's transfer status in WHMCS will simply state "Error". This would dispatch an email to the customer asking them to contact you for support.

 

If the API returns that the transfer was successful then the domain will be updated in WHMCS with the transfer status "successful". An email is despatched to tell the customer that the transfer was successful ( and also tell them to change their nameservers) and a "update expiry date" job added to the queue so the new expiry date can be updated if neccessary.

 

I'm sure its fine for me to say how easy this all looks and in practice maybe its not so easy but certainly I think talking about it and making suggestions is a good start to helping the WHMCS guys get this functionality into the system.

 

I'd be interested in your comments.

[Matt]

Hi Chris,

 

Thanks for your feedback. I'd first just like to apologise to users who had posted in the other thread - in an attempt to move it to another forum category I hit the delete option. Oops!

 

I'd just like to pick up on the point of registrar modules having "so little functionality". At this time I think you will find only AWBS beats us in terms of domain management functionality and they were initially a domain only system so one would expect that. I'm not aware of another billing system that offers nameserver viewing and updates, whois contact info viewing and updates, dns management and email forwarding (enom only) and id protection features like WHMCS.

 

Our V3.6.1 update already has added support for registering and managing nameservers for a domain and requesting the epp code for a domain. So developments are continually being made and like you say, it's only a matter of time until all the features you want will be present.

 

And for new registrations, the expiry date is already set automatically. It's only transfers where that isn't the case as it's an unknown without querying the registrar for it which can't be done immediately.

 

Matt

[4uh]

It's only transfers where that isn't the case as it's an unknown without querying the registrar for it which can't be done immediately.

 

Your system doesnt update the transfer status anyway - you'd only update the domain's expiry date once the domain had been successfully transferred.

 

Once the domain has been transferred, the query can be sent to the regsitar as in my example above. Do you see my example as a possible way of doing it - or do you see problems with that ?

[mm1250]

I think that would be my thread that got deleted

 

Anyways, I'm happy that there is improvements being worked on. I think we all can agree the registration part of the domain management is pretty straight forward and doesn't really need any improvement.

 

It only seems the transfers are what causes some manual work. I'll give an example here of how we run into PROBLEMS.

 

Customer signs up and requests for domain transfer to our registry.

 

We accept order in WHMCS and also submit transfer request to Enom or DirectI via WHMCS. Right after order is approved, domain goes to active. expiry date is 00/00/00 (I believe this is fixed with 3.6.1) and due date is set to 1year later. Client never replies to registrar email to approve transfer so transfer 7 days later fails. But WHMCS is still active. Other ways of failure could be bad EPP code also or Domain locked etc.

 

So, here is what we do NOW in the meantime.

 

1. Client submits transfer request

2. We approve order via WHMCS and have WHMCS submit transfer request.

3. we immediately go into domain settings and set it BACK to "pending"

4. wait for registrar email of successful or failure of transfer.

4a. If domain transfer ok - Go in and update domain status to active and update both due date and expry date to the NEW ACTUAL expry date.

4b. If domain transfer fails - keep domain in pending and email client of transfer failed and have them fix any issues such as locking, correct EPP, correct contact emails and than re-submit transfer request.

 

Now, the ideal way we'd like WHMCS to handle transfers.

 

1. We approve order via WHMCS, and WHMCS submits transfer to registrar.

2. Puts domain in "Pending-Transfer" status.

3. Runs cron daily to check if status of transfer is failed or success.

3a. If success, change domain status to active and update expry date and due date to the ACTUAL expry date. send email to client saying domain transfer success.

3b. If failed, change domain status to "Transfer-Failed" and email client of failed transfer. Once client fixes issues, give them option in control panel to re-submit transfer.

 

That is the ideal way. IF anyone wants to add to this please let feel free.

[chickendippers]

1. We approve order via WHMCS, and WHMCS submits transfer to registrar.

2. Puts domain in "Pending-Transfer" status.

3. Runs cron daily to check if status of transfer is failed or success.

3a. If success, change domain status to active and update expry date and due date to the ACTUAL expry date. send email to client saying domain transfer success.

3b. If failed, change domain status to "Transfer-Failed" and email client of failed transfer. Once client fixes issues, give them option in control panel to re-submit transfer.

That would be perfect!