New Ideas For New Generation: What is Domain Life cycle

Thursday 29 March 2012

What is Domain Life cycle

In Our previous post Top Level Domains you know about TLDs. Today I am going to post very informative article about Domains "Domain Life Cycle". For each webmaster who owns a domain, it is important to understand the Life cycle of a domain. It is necessary to know that when you register and pay for a domain, you do not actually buy it, in fact you are actually paying for the rights for using the domain name for a particular span of time. There is much flexibility for the amount of time you can use it, as at a time you can book the rights from 1 to 10 years. Once this period runs out, the registration would get expired. Before this happens, you'd need to repay for the desired span of time.

The table should help you understand the steps involved in the life of a domain.

*Registration (1-10 years)*	A domain name can be registered for a span of 1 year to 10 years time in one go. Whereas a domain with .uk tld can be registered for a maximum of two years at a time. As the domain approaches the date of expiry, renewal notices would start to flood into your registered email inbox. Users can either renew it manually or set an auto renew.
*Expiration Grace Period* *(1-45 Days)*	This is the date when the registration period is over. Many individuals have a mis-conception that a domain would become available after that date, which definitely isn't the fact. Once the domain reaches the expiration stage, there are few other stages before it can be re-registered. Upon expiration, the site that used to be running this long would be deactivated. Though the webmaster can still renew it without the need to paying any extra charges other than the normal renewal charges. The domain would still stay there in your domain control panel. This stage of the domain life cycle is termed as the grace period which would usually be anywhere in between 1 to 45 days. This period might vary between registrars.
*Redemption* *(up to 30 days)*	Next comes the redemption stage ie. when a domain isn't renewed by the owner during the grace period, it enters into redemption. Though, the webmaster who owns the domain can still back-order it, but at a much higher price. A domain resides in the Redemption for 30 days before moving onto the next stage. During this stage, the registrars have the right to auction it and handover the domain to any new individual if there aren't any claims done by you. Many individuals are usually interested and on a look-out for such domains due to certain related factors. The precise span of the redemption period and corresponding charges, varies depending on the registrar.
*Pending Delete*	At this stage, there isn't any possibility for you to renew it. The registrar sends a command to the Registry for deleting the domain, the domain now enters the last phase of the life-cycle called Pending Delete command. The domain stays in this stage for 5 days. But, if you still wish to have it back, you can try and place a reorder request. Here, what the registrar would do is, they will try to re-register it for you, as and when the domain is made available to the public. There are no fixed costs for back-ordering a domain nor can anybody guarantee you about it.
*Available to All*	As it suggests, the domain becomes available to all and there isn't any control of anyone. If you intend to have it back, you must keep a track and register it as soon as it is made available.