Available

The first step is to register a domain name. You need to choose a domain name and if it is public available for registration to proceed with its registration. A domain is available to the public registration for a period not to exceed a maximum term of 10 years.

Registered Domain (Active)

A domain name is registered and in active state.After 60 days, the domain can be transferred to another registrar, if desired. Most registrars start sending renewal notices one month before expiration.

Expired – Registrar Hold

Within a 24 hour period of a domain name going past its expiration date the domain name will be deactivated.

In case the renewal of the domain name is not processed on time the domain expired. Most registrars will HOLD the domain, which means your website and email will no longer work. You can still renew your domain name for the regular price; you can no longer transfer the domain unless you renew first. In short expired domain names cannot be managed.

Redemption Period

After 40 days, if the renewal of the domain name is not submitted the domain name will enter a 30 day Redemption period. Most registrars delete the domain.Whois information(name,address,telephone numbers, etc) will be deleted.The domain name will still be inactive. In order to get the domain back after this point you have to restore it which usually costs a lot .

Pending Delete

After 30 more days, the domain can no longer be restored.The only way to get the domain back is to wait until it is dropped from the registry. At that time the domain name is public available for registration and can be registered by anyone else.

If you want to keep your domain name, the best policy is to renew early. You do not lose any time by renewing early. Always keep an eye on your domain names and never let them expire.

In order to review the lifecyle of a domain name, here it is a really comprehensive image that describes the process in details:

We will explain below the two registry protocols that are used to determine the domain name status code:

Registry Registrar Protocol (RRP)

This protocol is developed by NSI/Verisign and it includes eight different status codes. It is used by the two largest registries – .COM and .NET and by some county specific Top Level Domains.

1. ACTIVE – This status is set by the official Registry. Domain names in this status can be modified and renewed by the registrar. The domain will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server. This is the most common status.

2. REGISTRY-LOCK – This status is set by the official Registry. Domain names in this status can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. In order to make these operations, the LOCK status must be removed. Additionally, the domain name can be renewed. The domain name will be included in the zone if the domain has been delegated to at least one name server. This status is not so common and sometimes it is used in disputes or during redemption period.

3. REGISTRAR-LOCK – This status is set by the sponsoring registrar. Domain names in this status can not be modified, deleted or transferred. This status should be removed by the registrar in order to modify the domain. Most registrars allow this status to be changed from your registrar’s account management panel. The domain can be renewed and will be included in the zone. This is also a very common status and it is used to prevent unauthorized transfers. It is often enabled by default.

4. REGISTRY-HOLD – This status is set by the official Registry. Domain names in this status can not be modified or deleted by the registrar. This status should be removed by the registrar in order to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone. This status is not so common and it is used before a domain name is set for deletion or when the domain is subject to a legal dispute.

5. REGISTRAR-HOLD – This status is set by the sponsoring registrar. Domain names in this status can not be modified or deleted. The status should be removed by the registrar in order to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain will not be included in the zone. This status is commonly used for non-payment, expiration or when the domain is subject to a legal dispute.

6. REDEMPTIONPERIOD – This status is set be the Registry when a registrar requests the deletion of the domain name and the last has been registered for more than 5 days. If the deletion request is received within 5 days of initial registration the domain will ve deleted immediately. The domain will not be included in the zone. The domain name can not be modified or purged – it can only be restored. A domain will be held in this status for a maximum of 30 days.

7. PENDINGRESTORE – This status is set by the Registry after a registrar requests restoration of a domain name in REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain will be included in the zone. Any registrar requests to modify the domain name will be rejected. The domain will be held in this status until the registrar provides the needed restoration documentation. If this information is not provided within 7 days, the domain will be revert to REDEMPTIONPERIOD status. The domain name will be set to ACTIVE if the registrar provides the needed documentation to confirm the restoration request within 7 days.

8. PENDINGDELETE – This status is set by the Registry after a domain name has been set to REDEMPTIONPERIOD and the domain has not been restored by the registrar. The domain will not be included in the zone. While in this status, all registrar requests to modify the domain name will be rejected. The domain will be purged and dropped from the registry database after being in this status for 5 calendar days. After that the domain name is available for registration by anyone.

Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP)

The Extensible Provisioning Protocol is used by the .ORG, .BIZ, .INFO and .NAME registries. There are multiple domain status values that are unique for each registry. EPP status codes are much more easier to understand than the RRP codes. There are about 22 different EPP status codes and they are all easy to interpret without further explanation.

The normal operating status of domain names in EPP Registries is “OK” or “Active“. All other status codes show pending operations and restrictions regarding the domain. In EPP, the word CLIENT refers to registrar in the RRP system while the absence of CLIENT or the use of the word SERVER refers to Registry. In addition, you should know that sometimes several EPP statuses can be used to describe a single status from the RRP system. The most common such situation is when a domain name is in locked status.

Here is a list of the EPP status codes:

OK
INACTIVE
Status: INACTIVE
Status: TRANSFER PROHIBITED / CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status: CLIENT RENEW PROHIBITED
Status: PENDING TRANSFER
Status: PENDING UPDATE
Status: PENDING RENEW
Status: PENDING DELETE
Status: HOLD / SERVER HOLD
Status: CLIENT HOLD
Status: DELETE PROHIBITED / SERVER DELETE PROHIBITED
Status: UPDATE PROHIBITED / SERVER UPDATE PROHIBITED
Status: TRANSFER PROHIBITED / SERVER TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status: RENEW PROHIBITED / SERVER RENEW PROHIBITED
Status: LOCK / SERVER LOCK
Status: CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status: CLIENT UPDATE PROHIBITED
Status: CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status: CLIENT LOCK
Status: REDEMPTION PERIOD
Status: PENDING RESTORE

This information covers all possible status codes for the domain names. Whenever you have doubts what the status of your domain names means, you can easily double check it here. We hope that it will be useful for all domain name owners to understand how to manage their domain names easily.