In another Knowledgebase Article, I touched briefly on the things needed to accomplish a transfer of a domain name registration between registries.
(http://billing.inet2000.com/billing/knowledgebase.php?action=displayarticle&id=2)
Now I'll answer one of the most common questions we get, with a bit more detail.
Q: "I want to transfer my hosting to your servers. Can I do this automatically through your online ordering area, or do you need to do this for us, or how it is accomplished?"
The short answer is: Yes, this is designed to be something that the end user can do, and and all this can be accomplished through our automatic system at http://hosting.inet2000.com.
The longer answer is: There are a bunch of descrete steps that have to be done in order. They are not all that complicated, but all the steps do need to be done and the registry itself has rules and restrictions on how and why these steps all need to be completed. Basically, these steps are for everyone's protection - so that no one can steal domain names or transfer them from owner to owner without all the proper people knowing an approving it.
So - in order to move your hosting from 'Company A' to 'Company B', these are the things we are going to want to accomplish:
1) Transfer the Domain Name.
2) Create a Hosting Account with us.
3) Transfer the Existing Website Data/Content.
So, transferring a domain name takes the following steps below. In addition, there are some restrictions that the Reistry itself puts on transfers - so for example, you can't register a domain with XYZ Company today, and then try to transfer it to us tomorrow. If you try, there's a date-time restriction which will reject that type of transfer. However, for a normal website transfer and move, those types of thigns are not normally an issue. So, in order to transfer the domain name itself, this is what you need to accomplish.
a) The domain contacts (particularly the email addresses on the domain record) need to be accurate. If the Domain's email addresses are not correct, then the transfer will ultimately fail because no one will be able to fetch the EPP Transfer key, and no one will be able to see or read or respond to the transfer confirmation. If the domain email address is not correct, you will need to log into your account at the current resitrar and update that information first.
b) You will need to unlock the domain. Domains can be 'locked' in order to have protection against unauthorized or accidental changes. A locked domain can't not be transfered, so they need to be unlocked. Locked state is the default, so this most likely will have to be done. In order to do this, you'll have to log into your account at the current registrar and unlock the domain.
c) You will need to fetch the EPP Transfer Key, sometimes called the EPP Key, or the Transfer Key, or the Transfer Password. In order to do this, the domain needs to be unlocked (Step B) and also the EPP Key will be emailed to the contact email on the domain (as per Step A) so you need to ensure that Step A and Step B are completed before trying to fetch the EPP Key. Once Step A and Step B are taken care of, then Step C (Fetching the EPP Key) can be completed. In order to do that, you will need to log into your account at the current registrar, and find the place to 'Send EPP Key' or 'Email me the Transfer Key' or whatever they call it there.
d) Once you have Steps A, B and C completed, you will log into the email address for the domain contact, and watch for the EPP key. It normally is emailed to the domain contact, and you'll need to retrieve it from there.
e) Once you have the EPP key, you are finally ready to initiate the transfer. This part can be accomplished at http://hosting.inet2000.com by doing a transfer. A Transfer will ask you what the EPP key is as part of the transfer process, so that's why you need to do those other steps first and in order.
f) Once you have initiated the transfer in our system, and paid for the transfer invoice, our system will send that information to the registry. If it is all correct, and if there are no other transfer restriction reasons, then the registry will email the domain contact's email requesting a confirmation. Again, this is just a safetly precaution so that no one is trying to tamper and transfer a domain that they are not authorized to do so. It is imperrative that the domain contact is watching their email, reads and understands the transfer request, and follows the instructions in that email to confirm the transfer. If you don't, the transfer will not proceed.
g) If that is all completed properly, and domain name transfer can take anywhere from a couple hours, to a few days after you properly confirm the email confirmation process. We recommend that you give yourself at least a 5 day window, and ideally as much as 2 weeks if the domain is nearing expiry/renewal date. Even though many transfers are completed in an hour or two, many transfers also take up to 5 days, and it is important to have enough time for any unforseen issues.
Now - once the domain is transferred, we can make a hosting account and can proceed to move the content over. There are lots of variables, but if you have a FTP or CPanel username and password on the existing server, then that greatly simplifies the process of moving the data over, so please talk to us about that. Again, if your domain/hosting is expiring, please give plenty of time to accomplish this without bumping into deadlines.
