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The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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.
Originally, the internet was conceived as a way of enabling a few university scientists to share expensive equipment. They created a network, initially called the Arpanet, which for fifty years has proved remarkably capable of absorbing extraordinary growth, load peaks and technical developments. Last week, the internet demonstrated its resilience again, when the introduction of coronavirus response measures led to a significant shift in capacity demand patterns. The number of domain name lookups handled by SIDN went up by 250 million a day.
The additional lookups -- or 'queries' as they're known – represent a 10 per cent rise on the two billion-plus that SIDN normally handles daily. Fortunately, our infrastructure is dimensioned to absorb sudden traffic surges, so it can take big DDoS attacks and other major upturns in its stride.
Chart 1: domain name lookups (DNS queries) handled by SIDN per day (source: SIDN Labs, ENTRADA)
Query pattern has changed as well
It wasn't just the number of queries that changed last week: so did the pattern. Traffic from some networks dropped sharply. The number of queries received from one particular educational institution fell by 17 per cent, for example. Meanwhile, one consumer-oriented internet access provider sent 25 per cent more queries than usual. Although we haven't investigated how typical those numbers are, they give a pointer to what's been happening.
Chart 2: anonymised domain name queries from one educational institution (source: SIDN Labs, ENTRADA)
Registrars, hosting service providers & ISPs
In terms of internet hierarchy, SIDN is .nl's top-level domain operator, but certainly not the zone's only domain operator. We keep .nl operational in partnership with more than 1,100 registrars and thousands of resellers. Many of those operators are connected to hosting service providers, data centres and internet service providers (ISPs). The sector is very well developed in the Netherlands. Indeed, it's one of the best in the world. Against that background, we sought the view from ISPConnect, the organisation that speaks for ISPs.
ISPConnect's CEO Simon Besteman said, "Here in the Netherlands, we're fortunate to have a very diverse and well organised sector. There's a huge number of ISPs to choose from, and the competition drives service quality. Over the last week, the sector's shown itself to be more than able to cope with a massive switch to working from home. Nevertheless, some applications, such as Microsoft Teams, have experience overload issues. Data centres, hosters and ISPs are in constant contact with one another to address any problems that might arise."
New registrations
Of course, it's also interesting to see whether the coronavirus crisis might affect new domain name registrations. However, it turns out that the total number of registrations hasn't changed. Demand for new domain names has remained at the pre-crisis level. A daily average of about 2,500 new .nl domain names are still being registered. The registrant profile is pretty much the same as well: businesses, particularly startups, continue to account for most new .nl registrations.
Chart 3: .nl domain name registrations per day (source: SIDN)
Monitoring for abuse of corona-related domain names
Look closely at the numbers and you'll see a sub-trend: the number of corona-related domain names. By 19 March, a total of 1,832 had been registered. That's domain names that incorporate the word 'corona' and/or associated words, such as 'COVID' and 'facemask'. We're watching all those domain names closely, so as to clamp down on any abuses that might come to light. We'll intervene promptly if, for example, we detect a fake webshop offering facemasks (see also this article). In this critical period, we're more determined than ever to keep .nl secure and trustworthy.
Downloads
SIDN Labs wrote a technical paper on the impact of the coronavirus on .nl's DNS traffic.
