Last updated by christefano on Mon, 2011-05-02 00:00
Wiki spec initiated by this discussion.
Potential Names:
domaincheck, domainregister, domainAPI, HostAPI
General Purpose:
To interface with a domain registrar/host to check availability of domain names, register a domain, transfer a domain from another registrar and perform other basic domain functions
1) Check the availability of one or more domain names
Known services:
* namecheap.domains.check - Response is an XML document with results for one or more domains
*
This is basic domain availability. A little googling might turn up several web services / widgets that do this, you could do it on the command line, etc.
Interface: Implemented in a block and/or a page with a textfield and a submit button.
Optionally, like WhoIs, make the the results page linkable (e.g. domainapi/check/example -- which would check example.com, example.net, etc. etc. and see what is available.
Input: A string of one or more domain names
Results: Like WhoIs, return results in the web page or as a PHP object
2) Register one or more domains through my site
This is done in several steps
a) Execute part one again and validate that domain is available.
b) Take payment - A few options for this:
* One is with a PayPal-like redirect where you "check out" remotely.
* Second is where you actually take money locally, and register it using your own "account".
Needed: a bit more research. For the former, this might also be done with a widget / affiliate program of some kind. In which case, this whole thing would/is be doable just with some widgets.
c) Actually complete the domain registration through the underlying registrar/host
Registering it yourself is likely only interesting if you turn around and do something interesting with the registered domain.
Aegir Mass Hosting would likely be very interested in adding this type of functionality at a deeper level, which tied into creating new sites. That gets into hosting your DNS and some big funkiness.
3) Display the nameservers for a domain
how
4) Display the WhoIs information for a domain
Embed the WhoIs Module functionality
5) Change the nameservers for a domain, so that the site/email can be hosted elsewhere
how
6) Create a custom DNS record, for instance, to have mail hosted by Google
how
7) Display the DNS records for a given domain
how
8) Delete a custom DNS record
how
9) Request the transfer of a domain name from another registrar
how
10) Check/report on the status of domain name transfer
how