C u s t o m e r
S u p p o r t
www.fasthosts.co.uk
Transferring Domains
This guide will show you:                         
• How to transfer .uk, .eu and international domain names
• Tips and tricks for making the process as smooth as possible
Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Table of contents
Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts................................................................................................................1
Table of contents ......................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................2
Transfer an international domain name ...................................................................................................................2
Step 1: Prepare your domain for transfer .................................................................................................................3
Step 2: Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control panel. .................................................................................3
Step 3: Provide your authorisation code. .................................................................................................................5
Step 4: Wait for the transfer to complete..................................................................................................................5
Transferring a UK domain..........................................................................................................................................6
Transfer an EU domain name ....................................................................................................................................7
Step 1: Prepare your domain for transfer .................................................................................................................7
Step 2: Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control panel. .................................................................................8
Step 3: Provide your authorisation code. ...............................................................................................................10
Step 4: Wait for the transfer to complete................................................................................................................10
Point your domain to Fasthosts..............................................................................................................................10
Glossary of terms .....................................................................................................................................................11
Alias .....................................................................................................................................................................11
Domain / Domain Name ......................................................................................................................................12
DNS – Short for Domain Name System ..............................................................................................................12
Email with web forwarding...................................................................................................................................12
Hosting.................................................................................................................................................................12
IP address............................................................................................................................................................12
Nameserver .........................................................................................................................................................12
Propagation .........................................................................................................................................................13
Registrant ............................................................................................................................................................13
Registrants Agent / Registrar ..............................................................................................................................13
Registration period ..............................................................................................................................................13
Registry................................................................................................................................................................13
Registry settings ..................................................................................................................................................13
Transfer ...............................................................................................................................................................13
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Introduction
It is useful to remember that your hosting and your domain name are two separate things.
By moving your domain name you will not affect where your website is, and by moving
your website your domain name will be unaffected.
A domain will be registered by an agent, (also known as a registrar), where your domain
name is registered will not affect where your website should be hosted. However, for
convenience you may want to transfer your domain name to Fasthosts, so you can control
your domain name and website within one control panel.
Important: There are certain restrictions in transferring a domain name,
before you attempt the transfer you must ensure that:
•
The domain has been registered for more than 60 days.
•
The domain is not “on hold” with the current registrar (because of
payment or renewal issues).
.
Depending upon the type of domain name the process can differ slightly. This guide is
organised into 3 chapters, each dealing with a domain name type. There is a fourth
chapter which deals with pointing your domain name to Fasthosts, if you are also
transferring your web and email hosting.
Transfer an international domain name
(.com,
.net, .org, .biz, .mobi, .info)
The transfer process for international domain names can be split into four steps. This
guide will explain each of these steps in detail and ensure your transfer is successful.
Step 1
Contact your current registration provider and prepare your domain for transfer.
Step 2
Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control panel.
Step 3
Provide your authorisation code.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Step 4
Wait for the transfer to complete.
Step 1: Prepare your domain for transfer
Your current registration provider needs to prepare your domain for transfer before you
can start the transfer process with Fasthosts. You need to contact the company you are
moving your domain name away from and request the following:
Remove any Whois privacy from the domain name.
Certain details regarding your domain name are available to any user of the internet
through a “whois” search. To complete the transfer we need to contact the details shown
in the “whois”. Some providers will hide the details shown in a whois search. If your
provider hides these details we will not be able to contact you to confirm the transfer.
Check that the Admin contact for your domain name is valid and you can reply to
emails received at this address.
We will contact the administrative contact of the domain name to confirm the transfer
request. You must ensure that you are able to receive email addressed to the admin
contact of your domain name. Of all the transfer requests that fail, over 90% fail because
the Admin contact has not replied to the confirmation email.
Unlock the domain name ready for transfer.
To ensure that no unauthorised transfers can take place, domain names are “locked” with
their current provider. Before you can transfer the domain name, you should contact your
current provider and ask them to “unlock” the domain name.
Ask for a transfer authorisation code.
Once you unlock your domain name your registration agent will be able to provide you
with an authorisation code. Keep this code safe as it will be needed later to confirm the
transfer request.
Step 2: Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control
panel.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Once you have prepared your domain, you can begin the process of transferring the
domain name across to Fasthosts.
Note: The transfer itself is completely free. However, when you transfer a
domain to us, we will renew the domain registration for an additional year at
our current rate. This is a requirement for all international domains, and is
imposed by the domain registry.
Step 1
Login to your Fasthosts control panel and click Domain Registration.
Step 2
Enter your domain name into the text box (without the extension), then select the domain
type from the drop down list and click Transfer.
Step 3
Ensure your domain meets the requirements, and tick each box to confirm you have
access to the admin email address, the domain has been registered for at least 60 days,
and your current registration provider has unlocked the domain.
Enter the authorisation code your current registration provider gave you, and click
Proceed with Transfer.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Step 4
Choose the hosting package, if any, you want to install on this domain.
Step 5
Choose a contact from your registration contacts. These contact details will be applied to
your domain upon successful completion of the transfer.
If the contact details you wish to use are not already in your registration contacts list,
select Use new contact details and type in the contact details. Click Continue.
Your domain transfer will be initiated.
Step 3: Provide your authorisation code.
Tucows/OpenSRS (our international domain registration partners) will send an email to the
domains registered administrative contact.
The administration contact must follow the instructions given within the email within five
days, to confirm that they are happy for the transfer to go ahead. If prompted they should
quote the authorisation code obtained earlier.
Step 4: Wait for the transfer to complete
Once the transfer has been confirmed by the admin contact, Tucows/OpenSRS will email
the domain names current registrar to request the transfer. Provided you have followed
your current registrars transfer process, they should release the domain name and you will
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
be able to administer it in your control panel.
From start to finish the transfer process can take around nine days to complete. Once the
transfer process is complete the expiry date within your control panel will be updated and
you will be able to administer your domain name through your control panel.
Transferring a UK domain
(.co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .ltd.uk, .plc.uk)
The process for transferring .uk domain names is quick, easy and only takes a short time
to complete.
Step 1
Contact your domains current registration provider and ask them to change its IPS tag to
LIVEDOMAINS (all capitals).
It is important that you do this first, you won’t be able to transfer the domain into your
Fasthosts account until the IPS tag has been changed.
Step 2
Login to your Fasthosts account and click Domain Registration.
Step 3
Enter your domain name into the text box (without the extension), then select the domain
type from the drop down list and click Transfer.
Step 4
Ensure your domain meets the requirements, and tick each box to confirm you have
access to the admin email address, the domain has been registered for at least 60 days,
and your current registration provider has unlocked the domain. Click Proceed with
Transfer to continue.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Step 5
Choose the hosting package, if any, you want to install on this domain.
Step 6
Choose a contact from your registration contacts. These contact details will be applied to
your domain upon successful completion of the transfer.
If the contact details you wish to use are not already in your registration contacts list,
select Use new contact details and type in the contact details. Click Continue.
Your domain will be instantly transferred in to your account.
Transfer an EU domain name
(.eu)
The transfer process for .eu can be split into four steps. This guide will explain each of
these steps in detail and ensure your transfer is successful.
Step 1
Contact your current registration provider and prepare your domain for transfer.
Step 2
Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control panel.
Step 3
Provide your authorisation code.
Step 4
Wait for the transfer to complete.
Step 1: Prepare your domain for transfer
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Your current registration provider needs to prepare your domain for transfer before you
can start the transfer process with Fasthosts. You need to contact the company you are
moving your domain name away from and request the following:
Remove any Whois privacy from the domain name.
Certain details regarding your domain name are available to any user of the internet
through a “whois” search. To complete the transfer we need to contact the details shown
in the “whois”. Some providers will hide the details shown in a whois search. If your
provider hides these details we will not be able to contact you to confirm the transfer.
Check that the Owner contact for your domain name is valid and you can reply to
emails received at this address.
We will contact the owner contact of the domain name to confirm the transfer request. You
must ensure that you are able to receive email addressed to the owner contact of your
domain name.
Ask for a transfer authorisation code.
Once you unlock your domain name your registration agent will be able to provide you
with an authorisation code. Keep this code safe as it will be needed later to confirm the
transfer request.
Step 2: Request the transfer in your Fasthosts control
panel.
Once you have prepared your domain, you can begin the process of transferring the
domain name across to Fasthosts.
Note: The transfer itself is completely free. However, when you transfer a
domain to us, we will renew the domain registration for an additional year at
our current rate. This is a requirement for all international domains, and is
imposed by the domain registry.
Step 1
Login to your Fasthosts control panel and click Domain Registration.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Step 2
Enter your domain name into the text box (without the extension), then select the domain
type from the drop down list and click Transfer.
Step 3
Ensure your domain meets the requirements, and tick each box to confirm you have
access to the admin email address, the domain has been registered for at least 60 days,
and your current registration provider has unlocked the domain.
Enter the authorisation code your current registration provider gave you, and click
Proceed with Transfer.
Step 4
Choose the hosting package, if any, you want to install on this domain.
Step 5
Choose a contact from your registration contacts. These contact details will be applied to
your domain upon successful completion of the transfer.
If the contact details you wish to use are not already in your registration contacts list,
select Use new contact details and type in the contact details. Click Continue.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Your domain transfer will be initiated.
Step 3: Provide your authorisation code.
Tucows/OpenSRS (our international domain registration partners) will send an email to the
domains registered owner contact.
The owner contact must follow the instructions given within the email within five days, to
confirm that they are happy for the transfer to go ahead. If prompted they should quote the
authorisation code obtained earlier.
Step 4: Wait for the transfer to complete
Once the transfer has been confirmed by the owner contact, Tucows/OpenSRS will email
the domain names current registrar to request the transfer. Provided you have followed
your current registrars transfer process, they should release the domain name and you will
be able to administer it in your control panel.
From start to finish the transfer process can take around nine days to complete. Once the
transfer process is complete the expiry date within your control panel will be updated and
you will be able to administer your domain name through your control panel.
Point your domain to Fasthosts
If you are planning to host your website and/or email with Fasthosts, you will need to point
your domain name to your account once it has successfully completed it’s transfer. You
can do this by changing the nameservers.
Step 1
Login to your Fasthosts control panel and click Domain Registration.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Step 2
Locate your domain name in the list and click on it.
Step 3
Click on the Nameservers icon.
Step 4
Select the option to use Default Nameservers and click Save.
You will receive on-screen confirmation that the nameserver change has been applied.
Important: This It can take up to 72 hours for all ISP’s around the internet
to see the nameserver change.
Glossary of terms
While setting up your hosting or transferring your domain, you may come across a few
terms that you are unfamiliar with. This glossary describes some of these terms, with the
aim of making the process a little clearer.
Alias
Emails and website requests sent to the alias will be forwarded to the parent domain and
any changes made to the parent domain will be mirrored in the alias.
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
Domain / Domain Name
A domain name is essentially a signpost on the Internet. Almost every website you've ever
been to, and every email you've ever composed, has used a domain name in its address.
People register domain names in order to 'stake a claim' to a particular name -- whether
for business or personal reasons. Once a domain name is registered to a person or
company, it is that person's to use exclusively as long as they continue to pay the yearly
renewal fee and abide by the terms of use.
DNS – Short for Domain Name System
DNS is a method for resolving human friendly domain names to numerical IP addresses.
DNS uses a database to map a host name, such as www.yourdomain.co.uk, to the IP
address of the machine that hosts the site. DNS is built on the notion that some of the
server’s are “authoritative” for certain domains. There is a distributed name server
hierarchy, beginning with the A Root Server and ending at the thousands of nameservers
active on the internet. This ensures that the naming and directing system will work the
same from anywhere. For example www.google.com will translate to 209.85.171.100.
Email with web forwarding
Space on a server where you can store email content, including email accounts and the
space to store emails. The website records (A Records) will point to another destination of
your choice. There is no FTP space associated with this type of account.
Hosting
Space on a server specifically for website or email content.
IP address
Numerical address of the server on the internet.
Nameserver
Nameservers will resolve a human friendly address into a numerical IP address and will
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Transfer your domain name to Fasthosts
guide browsing machines to the server hosting your website using DNS.
Propagation
Propagation is the time for all outdated DNS information to be cleared from all hosts and
ISP’s across the internet. This can take up to 72 hours for all content across the internet to
be updated.
Registrant
The person or company who registers a domain name. The domain name is legally
registered to the registrant.
Registrants Agent / Registrar
The agent of a registry that can make changes to the record of a domain name. The
company through whom you registered the domain name is the registrar.
Registration period
The length of time you are able to register a domain name for. The registration period
varies for different domain types. You are able to register top level domain names such as
.com, .net and .org for between 1 and 10 years.
Registry
The company responsible for the administration of the top-level domain database. Any
changes the registrar requests to the domain name are made by its registry.
Registry settings
Any changes to your domain name (such as changing the DNS, or contact details for a
domain) will result in a change being made at the registry.
Transfer
Move the records of a domain name to another registration provider.
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