Ask HN: Best registrar only and why
I am in need to park 30 or so domains ( now, much more later ) all in various forms of expiration, some just renewed at places like the top 5 ( GoDaddy etc. ) and others are at obscure registrars as I inherited them that way from a client or other source.
I have about 6 that are up for 30 day renewal right now. One is the domains where I have domains@example.com so I want this to be as smooth as possible.
I have managed DNS/bind/named for years, though it has been years since I have. Now it is just troubleshooting with dig and other tools.
What is your favorite registrar only, or colo/shared/hosting/ISP and why?
How are they with SSL certs, changing, and keeping up on keeping TLS secure and doing it all right.
I do need good DNS on their end, though I can't say I have ever had issues with an SOA case, it's always at the DNS level on some remote server somewhere. Though these days I find managing DNS in most registrars browser control panels sufficient. GoDaddy is stupidly convoluted. I am not making mass changes of 1000 domain files at a time. Just one off, add an MX, add DKIM, etc.
If they make setting up any of the above simpler, note that too.
Which ones to stay away from and why.
Thanks for any pointers.
Oh, any that will take current registration time plus what you buy is going to work better for me. I just renewed a large batch with a terrible registrar, and want to move them, but don't want to lose out on those 11 months I just paid for. Some registrars offer "rollover" like that, where you get 11 months plus your year or more you just signed up for.
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[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 42.2 ms ] threadAnd yes, they let you keep your paid term for transfers.
Why them? Simple. Read the terms of service you are agreeing to. At the time a lot of them were very very biased against the consumer. Melbourne IT was different, they were one of the few who had a reasonable policy.
Note that these terms are different for each registrar. I'm not talking about the common ICANN rules which all registrars also require consumers to agree to.
I don't know the current situation, for all I know Melbourne IT now has the worst terms of service in the world! Simple inertia has kept my accounts from moving.
Just something to think about when picking a registrar.
I was lucky enough to buy a ton of EMD's before the dot com bubble. Have let a lot of them go, held on to dome. My portfolio is huge, thousands of domains personally owned, clients, former clients, projects, etc (like you)
That said I do stand behind Namecheap. I've never had an issue with them and any issue that comes up are promptly squashed.
Gandi is a no-nonsense service:
* Seems very security-minded, and overall serious and professional. Nothing like GoDaddy.
* Their UI is conservative and well-organized; not as modern as iwantmyname.com, but not as antiquated as EasyDNS and Namecheap (and not a jumble of different, conflicting, confusing UI styles like the latter is).
* Supports (in fact, requires) zone versioning so you can always undo.
* Supports raw "BIND"-format zone files so you can quickly edit in your favourite text editor, rather than a cumbersome web form.
* Lets you share the same zone file across multiple domains. If you need more automation (eg., lots of very similar domains with a slight tweak here and there), just use the APIs.
* Great APIs.
* 2FA account security.
* Also provides SSL (cheap, toplevel CA) and very good, reasonably priced virtual hosting (US and Europe).
iwantmyname.com has a more minimalistic, modern UI, but lacks things like zone versioning, raw editing, and they're still working on an API. Also, their 2FA is apparently SMS-based, won't work with a standard authenticator app.
We previously used Namecheap and EasyDNS. No significant complaints, but their UIs are horrible.