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"Allow unregistered domains" tweak restriction not compatible with .it domains

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23 comments

  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Hey there!  I tested this on my end and I wasn't able to reproduce this problem.  I setup a cPanel version 122 server and made sure that "Allow unregistered domains" was selected in WHM >> Tweak Settings, and then I was able to use the WHM >> Create a New Account page to create testing.it with no issues.

    It may be best to create a ticket so the problem can be investigated directly on your machine since you are able to reproduce the issue.

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  • bredchic

    Hi thanks

    I maybe did not explain properly.

    •  "Allow unregistered domains" should be unselected (you do NOT want to allow unregistered domains).

    • You can try then with giulialorenzetto.it: this domain is registered but inactive as the dns nic.it name server/dns test I mentioned before did not pass, but is regularly registered.

      Domain: giulialorenzetto.it
      Status: inactive / dnsHold
      Expire Date: 2025-08-01

    In this situation, as a reseller hosting admin (no root access) I cannot add the domain to cpanel, even if the domain is actually registered.

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Thanks for the additional details.  I had no trouble creating that domain on my personal system after turning "Allow unregistered domains" back to off, as that worked well for me.

     

    It would still likely be best to create that ticket so this can be investigated.

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  • bredchic

    I see thanks. That doesn't work for me...

    As I said, I can only access as reseller, not root. Does it maybe make a difference?

    Can you try to first create a reseller panel, login as reseller and add giulialorenzetto.it ?

    Otherwise I will just refer this ticket to my web hosting provider

     

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    I would not expect the reseller status to matter for the domain creation, but it also worked under a reseller account for me.

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  • bredchic

    ok great thanks!

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    You're welcome!

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  • bredchic

    Hi. I already got an answer from the hosting provider.
    It seems that it works as primary domain, and the issue appears when the domain is added as an additional domain to an already existing cpanel. Can you try that?

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Thanks for the additional details - I did confirm the behavior and I'm looking into that now.

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    I know what the issue is behind the scenes, but I'm not sure exactly what we plan to do about it just yet.  At this point, I would recommend leaving that option "on" but I'll get back to you with more details once I have them.

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    So this ended up being very interesting.

    When you have "Allow Unregistered Domains" turned off, we perform a check for an NS record associated with the domain in question.  With most domain registrars, as soon as you purchase a domain it gets assigned a set of default nameservers that are instantly active, so our checks would validate.  This is one of the requirements from ICANN, which is the body that oversees domain name registration.

    https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-registration-process-2023-11-02-en

    "The responsibilities of the registries include accepting registration requests, maintaining a database of the necessary domain name registration data, and providing name servers to publish the zone file data (i.e., information about the location of a domain name) throughout the Internet."

    When I lookup the registrar for your domain, it was purchased through tldregistratsolutions.com, but that isn't an ICANN accredited name provider according to the lookup here:

    https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars

    This means they don't have to follow any of the official rules - they didn't assign any NS records to the domain name, which is why it is failing our validation checks.

    SUMMARY - there isn't anything we can do to fix this issue as this particular registrar isn't creating the domains in a normal fashion that are recognized on the internet.  Even a newly registered domain should respond to a basic "dig NS domain.com" but yours is not because of the registrar it is purchased through.

    The best solution for your situation would be to leave that setting On on your machine(s) to allow these to be created.

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  • bredchic

    Very interesting indeed.. Thanks again

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  • bredchic

    I just found them, the website I buy domains from is internetbs.net, that is
    https://www.icann.org/en/accredited-registrars?view-all=true&page=1&iana-number=2487

    But I noticed that with .it domains, the whois returns:
    Registrar
    Organization: TLD Registrar Solutions Ltd
    Name: TRS-REG
    Web: http://www.tldregistrarsolutions.com

    While with .com and others:
    Registrar URL: http://www.internet.bs
    Registrar: Internet Domain Service BS Corp
    Registrar IANA ID: 2487
    Registrar Abuse Contact Email: abuse@internet.bs

    I always wondered why... I'll investigate

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  • bredchic

    I am afraid that Italian domains have "official" different standards..

    https://www.godaddy.com/en-uk/help/nameserver-rules-for-it-domains-20229

    Also at the bottom of page 29 of
    https://www.nic.it/sites/default/files/documenti/2022/Synchronous_Technical_Guidelines_v3.0.pdf

    They say:

    The DNS configuration for the list of hosts mentioned in Create Domain command is checked in
    a non-simultaneous transaction. If the host configuration check fails, the EPP server of the
    Registry inserts in the polling queue of the Registrar, a notification report with all the checks
    carried out and their results. The domain name remains in inactive/dnsHold status if its DNS
    configuration is not correct. The server will periodically check whether the DNS configuration for
    the domain name in inactive/dnsHold is positive. When this occurs, the server will put in the
    Registrar polling queue a message that DNS has been successful and the domain name itself will
    go into ok status. At the same time, the Registry emails the Registrant the same communication
    above mentioned.

    After that, the doc goes more into detailes.

    What do you think? It seems to me that Italian domains require a different approach for the assessment of their registration status

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Actually, I think that GoDaddy documentation is saying the same thing I am - they expect anywhere from 2-6 nameservers to exist on each domain, and we aren't seeing any for the domain you provided as an example.

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  • bredchic

    If you read godaddy's page under the bullet list, it says:

    After you update the domain to the authoritative nameservers, the Registro.it registry must approve or reject them. This can take up to 5 business days to complete and the domain is not considered active until the registry has verified the nameservers are properly configured. If the registry can't verify proper configuration after 5 days, the nameserver update fails and the nameservers are reverted to the previous setting.

    And if you read the nic.it documentation, it explains that that the domain has to pass the dns test https://www.nic.it/en/manage-your-it/dns-check in order to be activated.

    https://www.nic.it/sites/default/files/documenti/2022/Synchronous_Technical_Guidelines_v3.0.pdf

    Anyway, if you do not agree with me of course I cannot do much.
    I think the best is to seek help from the nic.it itself. Let me see if they are willing to contribute.

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  • bredchic

    Anyway, it seems that your role here is to reject my request despite the evidence, first saying that the registrar is not accreditated while it is, and then ignoring documentation from registrar and registry.

    I've forwarded this conversation to nic.it, but of course they might well ignore the problem, as making cpanel work properly is not part of their duties.

    I will try another way. 

    Regards

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    I'm definitely the one - although we are all here to make the product better.

    I guess I'm not sure what I could improve on my end for this situation.  Are you saying we should be performing additional verification before those 5 days have passed to ensure the domain is registered?  What specifically would you like to see changed in regards to the .it domains and how we handle them?

     

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  • bredchic

    Sorry cPRex if I got nervous yesterday.

    To answer your question, I would simply like to be able to add a .it domain to an existing cpanel when that .it domain is actually registered even if not active, without having to first either create a new cpanel or check the "Allow unregistered domains" tweak in the whm settings.

    It should not matter whether the domain is active or not, it should only matter if it is registered or not.

    Even if I recon this is a minor (one ltd only) issue, for me and anybody in my situation is definitely an issue anyway, and it's caused by a misfunction of cpanel.

    I have no idea how to fix it (not my job), but yes, maybe an additional check for .it only could be added to the system? 
    Not sure about this (you can figure it out), but if the whois returns a value to any of the following, doesn't it mean that the domain is registered?

    Domain
    Status
    Signed
    Created
    Expire
    Last Update

    And anyway, if adding a .it inactive domain works when I want to create a new cpanel, couldn't the system follow the same check when I add an addon domain?
     
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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    Thanks for the additional details.  I spoke with the team about this issue and at this time we are going to keep the existing behavior.  Our domain detection relies on the existence of assigned name servers, so in this particular situation with the Italian domains we are at the mercy of the registrar.  I'm not sure it's possible for us to create an accurate check for registration for domains in this "registered-but-not-active" state across all registrars, and the Tweak Setting is to account for these inconsistencies across different registrars.

    I'm sorry for any delays this causes with your account setup process, and I'd recommend just setting the Tweak Setting to "Off" if this is frequently happening with your users.

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  • bredchic

    Ok thanks for the explanation.

    Best regards

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  • cPRex Jurassic Moderator

    You're very welcome - I know it's not the solution you were hoping for, but at least the Tweak Setting option does provide a workaround for these situations.

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