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  • The details registered about me/my company are incorrect or out of date.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

Nearly a million new .nl domain names registered in 2020

Growing use of modern standards means the .nl domain is more secure than ever

Detail shot of a calculator showing one million on it´s display
  • Thursday 14 January 2021

Last year saw the registration of 995,000 new .nl domain names. That's 20 per cent up on 2019, when 827,000 new .nls were created. Thanks to the registration surge, the total number of .nl domain names stood at 6.1 million on 1 January 2021, according to analysis by SIDN, the company behind .nl. Use of internet security standards also rose significantly in 2020.

Malicious websites taken down sooner

Against the backdrop of growth, SIDN managed to detect malicious websites sooner and work with partner organisations to get them taken down more quickly in 2020. The average life of a phishing, malware or web shell site was just twenty-two hours last year, down from thirty hours in 2019.

Bar graph average availability of phishing and malware websites 2015-2020

Figure 1 - Average availability in hours of phishing, malware and web shell sites.

Milestone

.nl now has 6 million registered domain names

For SIDN, the most significant milestone of 2020 was registration of the six-millionth .nl domain name on 18 June. The rush of registrations that took .nl past the six-million mark was driven by the Netherlands' first lockdown, but the upward line continued when restrictions eased. Although cancellations went up as well, the 5 per cent rise lagged behind the increase in registrations, resulting in net growth of 206,441 over the year. The corresponding figure for 2019 was a net growth of 73,830.

Year

Netto growth

2020

206,441

2019

73,830

2018

37,997

2017

109,706

2016

80,529

2015

72,619

2014

142,822

2013

272,712

2012

315,933

2011

607,265

2010

514,230

Table 1 - Net growth of the .nl domain since 2010.

More use of standards

In 2020, the number of .nl domain names protected using DNSSEC rose by 200,000 to 3.4 million. What's more, a total of 2.1 million .nl domain names – 34.3 per cent of the entire domain – are now IPv6-enabled. That translates to an increase of 20 per cent on 2019. Adoption of e-mail security standards increased as well last year. Use of DMARC went from 16 to 22.3 per cent, and use of StartTLS/DANE from 7.5 to 12 per cent.

Year

% DNSSEC

% IPv6

2020

55.93

34.33

2019

54.80

29.91

2018

53.49

29.12

2017

49.27

26.66

2016

45.48

11.67

2015

44.33

2014

40.71

2013

31.14

2012

26.62

Table 2 - Growth of DNSSEC and IPv6 support in the .nl domain since 2012 Figures shown are percentages on 31 December each year, except for the percentage of .nl domain names that supported IPv6 in 2016 (*). That figure comes from the first official IPv6 survey in June 2017.

Eventful year

Reflecting on an extraordinary and dynamic twelve months, SIDN's CEO Roelof Meijer commented, "It's an understatement to say that, in many ways, 2020 was unlike any year we've known. The lockdowns fuelled above-average growth of the .nl domain, while the hyper-digitisation of society made cybersecurity more vital than ever. Against that landscape, it's pleasing to see that use of the various internet standards is growing, because broadly speaking that's good for internet security. Rapid detection of malicious websites has a positive influence on security as well."

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