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Frequently asked questions

  • I am looking for a domain name registrant. Where can I look it up?

    The Whois is an easy-to-use tool for checking the availability of a .nl domain name. If the domain name is already taken, you can see who has registered it.

    On the page looking up a domain name you will find more information about what a domain name is, how the Whois works and how the privacy of personal data is protected. Alternatively, you can go straight to look for a domain name via the Whois.

  • I would like to transfer my domain name to another registrar. What is the procedure?

    To get your domain name transferred, you need the token (unique ID number) for your domain name. Your existing registrar has the token and is obliged to give it to you within five days, if you ask for it. The procedure for changing your registrar is described on the page transferring your domain name.

  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date. How can I get them updated?

    To update the contact details associated with your domain name, you need to contact your registrar. Read more about updating contact details.

  • Why is my domain name in quarantine?

    When a domain name is cancelled, we aren't told the reason, so we can't tell you. You'll need to ask your registrar. The advantage of quarantine is that, if a name's cancelled by mistake, you can always get it back.

    One common reason is that the contract between you and your registrar says you've got to renew the registration every year. If you haven't set up automatic renewal and you don't renew manually, the registration will expire.

  • Ik heb een klacht over mijn provider/registrar. Kan ik daarvoor bij SIDN terecht?

    Wanneer je een klacht hebt over of een geschil met je registrar dan zijn er verschillende mogelijkheden om tot een oplossing te komen. Hierover lees je meer op pagina klacht over registrar. SIDN heeft geen formele klachtenprocedure voor het behandelen van een klacht over jouw registrar.

  • What conditions do I have to meet as a registrar?

    Would you like to be able to register domain names for customers or for your own organisation by dealing directly with SIDN? If so, you can become a .nl registrar. Read more about the conditions and how to apply for registrar status on the page becoming a registrar.

More frequently asked questions

Growth of DANE security for mail slows down

Netherlands leads the way on DANE adoption

Red colored envelope icon on a screen
  • Thursday 7 October 2021

Over the last three years, the use of DANE for mail has taken off. The main driver has been the addition of support for the security protocol to the leading mail server software packages. This year, however, we've observed a worrying slowdown in the rate of growth. Because of our pioneering work with DNSSEC – which must be enabled for DANE to function – the .nl and other domain names hosted by Dutch service providers account for the majority of DANE-secured mail domains. And, with nearly 700,000 DANE-secured domains, the .nl zone is the world's number one TLD for DANE support.

Number of domain names

Hosting providers' name

1,219,025

one.com

152,732

TransIP

150,806

Argeweb

148,860

Infomaniak

117,833

Hostpoint

Table 1: Top five hosting providers for DANE-enabled domain names. Source: Viktor Dukhovni, September 2021.

Number of domain name

Top level domain

699,702

.nl

410,927

.com

331,972

.se

228,733

.dk

137,370

.no

133,715

.be

132,688

.de

126,812

.cz

95,068

.ch

78,216

.eu

75,666

.uk

39,681

.net

Table 2: Top twelve top-level domains for DANE-enabled domain names. Source: Viktor Dukhovni, August 2021.

Latest statistics

According to the latest statistics on DNSSEC-Tools, 2.8 million mail domains are currently DANE-enabled (as of September 2021). That's roughly 17 per cent of the 16.2 million domains with DNSSEC-signed MX records – significantly up on the 11.5 per cent of two years ago. Increasing use is clearly being made of previous investments in DNSSEC.

DNSSECtools-domainsDANEmail-20210909
DNSSECtools-domainsDS-20210909

Although our own DANE statistics for the .nl zone are compiled in a slightly different way than the DNSSEC-Tools data, they tell a similar story: that growth has plateaued (and even turned into a slight decline).

Line graph showing the evolution of the number of .nl domain names with DANE configured for email

Rapid slowdown in growth

We had previously seen exponential growth in the number of DANE-secured mail domains, accompanied by a linear increase in the number of domains that published DANE (TLSA) records for their own MX gateways. That suggests that the growth was mainly down to big mail service providers bulk-enabling DANE on the domains they hosted. However, the growth of those numbers has also tailed off rapidly over the last year.

DNSSECtools-zonesDANE-20210909

Possible causes

One possible explanation for the phenomena described above is that the big mail service providers have now enabled DANE on their MX gateways, while smaller operators have difficulty implementing DANE. Although we offer financial incentives to all .nl registrars that adopt DANE for mail, the economic case for adoption is strongest for those with large domain name portfolios. Another possibility is that the pandemic has affected uptake of DANE. For many organisations, the priority was suddenly making business networks accessible to people working from home. Less personal contact may also have led to fewer new projects getting off the ground.

Help with DANE and DNSSEC implementation

For anyone interested in securing mail domains with DANE, we've published detailed advice on configuring DANE for both Postfix and Exim. If you need to set up DNSSEC first, we also provide a series of hands-on articles for the most popular DNS servers.

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