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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  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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

KPN introduces broadband and mobile DNSSEC validation

Introduction follows successful Telfort rollout in December

  • Tuesday 17 March 2020

From the start of this month, Dutch telecoms giant KPN has enabled DNSSEC validation for broadband and mobile customers. In other words, the firm's DNS resolvers now check the digital signatures of signed domain names to make sure they are valid and block any invalid DNS referrals. Verification prevents hackers redirecting internet users to fake websites in order to con them out of money, access codes, personal data and other valuable information.

"KPN is already doing a lot in the field of security and privacy," says Product Manager Roeland Mighawry, "but more can still be done in the consumer market." He believes that the company's infrastructure, services and packages all offer opportunities. "We looked at DNSSEC a while back, but decided to wait, because of the complexity of our internal infrastructure. Security awareness has increased considerably since then, however. And government bodies are getting much more involved."

Impact

KPN enabled DNSSEC validation at its Telfort subsidiary back in December 2019. "Telfort's infrastructure is very similar to KPN's," continues Mighawry. "But the company has a smaller user base, so we implemented DNSSEC there first."

Fortunately, there was no discernible upturn in users seeking helpdesk support. Validation errors, where validating resolver users can't reach a domain because of a mistake in its DNSSEC configuration, are nowadays unusual. "A while ago, there was a problem with a high-traffic government domain. We dealt with that by disabling validation for that particular domain for a couple of hours. We had to dig around a bit to discover the cause of the issue, but everything was fixed inside two hours." According to Mighawry, the analysis of DNSSEC issues is quite straightforward nowadays. In contrast to most Dutch access providers, KPN's subsidiary XS4ALL, where Mighawry used to work, has been doing DNSSEC validation for some years. "XS4ALL generally caters for a more tech-savvy clientele, so it doesn't usually take long to get to the bottom of the issue on the phone, and then you contact the relevant domain's operator." SIDN also works to minimise validation errors by scanning all the domain names in the .nl zone to check the validity of DNSSEC records on a daily basis. On the back of that policy, the number of validation errors has been negligible for several years. One frustration that Mighawry has come across is that DNSSEC tools sometimes give inconsistent results for a domain name. Internet.nl may report findings that don't tally with DNSViz, while PowerDNS Recursor (used by KPN) says something different again.

Rolling out DNSSEC

Mighawry advises any company looking to roll out DNSSEC to make sure everyone at the front of the organisation understands the technology properly. "If your people don't know their stuff, they're going to get tied up in lengthy conversations with customers. There's plenty of information about DNSSEC on line, but it can be quite dense and you won't find it all in one convenient place." "We've added material about how DNSSEC works and how to recognise DNSSEC-related problems to our knowledge base and processes." So the workflows and phone scripts for KPN's helpdesks are all geared up to resolving issues quickly. "We're also going to make information available to customers on line." Enabling DNSSEC validation dovetails with a general internet upgrade that KPN is implementing soon. The company intends to make another important security and privacy-related announcement later in the year. KPN's decision to embrace validation is an important development within the internet tech community. "It's great news," says Marco Davids, Research Engineer at SIDN Labs. "At a stroke, DNSSEC validation will be enabled for 30 to 40 per cent of internet users in the Netherlands [1, 2]."