Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

Privacy Protection becoming chargeable

As previously discussed we will start charging for the privacy protection service, the date for this has been set for Monday 6th October 2014 at 1200 hours (midday BST / 1100 UTC).

We had initially advised that the cost should be around $1.50 per year, this was amended in ticket responses for further information to between $1.50 and $2.00. After careful deliberation from continued involvement in the ICANN working group surrounding PP service providers, the service we offer and the future work that will be involved and standards being created the cost will be $1.75 per year for gTLDs that can have the service enabled.

The following information determines when the charge will apply :

Domain has already enabled PP service protection BEFORE 1200BST on Monday 6th October 2014.

This will remain free until either:
A) Service is disabled, on being re-enabled a charge will occur
B) Domain renewal with the PP service still enabled, charge will occur

Domain has PP service protection disabled after 1200 BST on Monday 6th October 2014:
A) Enabling the service will result in a charge.

Once the PP service has been charged, turning on or off the service throughout the term of the PP service period (part year (if enabled in middle of domain year), year or how many years that have been requested – UNTIL renewal of domain) can be completed at no charge.

Lastly, where the PP service has been requested, any new Registration / Transfer in or Renewal from 1200 BST, Monday 6th October 2014 will result in a charge.

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

LogicBoxes : The Express Cart

We have received a new feature – bear in mind the feature was enabled before we were told about it.  But LB’s PR hype :

 

Designed especially for you, this new power tool is for power users who place orders for their customers frequently. If you frequently place orders on behalf of your customers, you don’t need to navigate through multiple pages and dismiss upsells on the SuperSite while placing orders anymore. The SuperSite Express encapsulates the purchase process on a single page in 3 simple steps:

  1. Choose a product and plan
  2. Enter your Customer’s email address (or Create a new Customer Account)
  3. Choose an Invoice option for your Customers

Once placed, every order will be activated automatically.

This feature was launched today23rd September 2014 and there are no changes on your existing SuperSite or API. This tool is specially designed for you and your Sub-Resellers only. Your Customers will continue to be directed to your SuperSite or custom storefront, as per your specifications.

For now, the SuperSite Express supports all Products except IDNs, Nexus TLDs, Premium Names, Bulk actions, Dedicated and Managed Servers and SiteLock. But we’ll keep building on this tool to introduce faster flows for your most common tasks and actions.

We’re excited to be releasing this new tool and hope it makes your work easier and faster.

 

Categories
Changes on the LB platform Downime notice NetEarth One

System Maintenance for Database Upgrades.

Maintenance Notice:

A constructive maintenance has been scheduled for the OrderBox infrastructure on the 24th of August 2014. The exact details of the maintenance are as follows.

Reason:

System Maintenance for Database Upgrades.

Maintenance Window:

Date:  24th August 2014 (Sunday)
Start Time:  07:30 AM UTC (01:00 PM IST)
Estimated Duration:  1 Hour


Affected Services:

  •     Order Addition/Modification/Suspension and Unsuspension actions will not work for our web hosting orders.
  •     Enable SSL actions and IP addition request will not function.
  •     WHMCS license purchase requests will be affected
  •     Dedicated server control panel won’t be accessible during the downtime.

 

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

LB :- Changes to the dns-records API call

LB will soon be making minor changes to the “Get DNS records” API call. This will specially be beneficial for PHP developers using the “json_decode” function to parse JSON responses.

Previously, while passing the dns-records API call through a script, the MX and CNAME records used to display only the latest entries; in other words, the rest of the entries used to get overwritten.

We have now rectified this, and the API call will parse all the MX and CNAME records in the form of an array.

We will be implementing this change sometime next week.

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

LB stopping signups of US embargo’s countries

LogicBoxes will shortly remove from the countries list of the signup forms the following US embargo’s countries.

Iran
Burma
Cuba
Sudan
North Korea
Syria

Therefore we will not be able to provide services to those countries.

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

ICANN ERRP Update, platform updates, RGP system changes and Privacy Protection Service update.

ICANN ERRP Update, platform updates, RGP system changes and Privacy Protection Service update.

 

Further to our blog posting of July 9th, regarding the ICANN ERRP mandatory policy requirements, we are re-iterating these requirements here, and in our blog posting of today.

 

ICANNs ERRP Policy:

 

http://www.icann.org/en/resources/registrars/consensus-policies/errp

 

 

  • Registrars must ensure that at least 2 mandatory expiration reminders are sent to the Registrant at Expiry (RAE), approximately a month before, and a week before the expiration of a domain name. Additionally, at least one more reminder must be sent to the RAE within 5 days of domain expiration. This communication has to be in the language of the registration agreement
  • The renewal fee and restoration fee have to be made available to the Registrant at the time of domain registration. These fees have to be updated on the Reseller’s websites and a URL of the same has to be included in the registration agreement
  • The communication channel to be used for notifications must be displayed on the Reseller’s website and a link for the same has to be included in the registration agreement

 

The platform is having the following amendments completed shortly to assist with the mandatory policy requirements:

 

  • 2 new e-mails templates will be introduced in the system for the pre as well as post expiry notifications mandated by ICANN, 30 and 7 days before expiry and immediately after expiry. These mails shall be sent out for gTLDs only, the platform (once it has been updated) will allow for modification of the emails which will come from the “Sales” address you have set within the platform.
  • The default registration agreement will also be updated to include the new points mandated by ICANN.
  • The Supersite will be updated to incorporate the display of pricing details and the communication channels being used to notify Registrants.

 

VERY IMPORTANT: If you have customized the supersite pricing pages (manually edited them for example) you will need to go into the supersite admin section and check/update your custom page.  The same can be said for the legal agreements if you have made any modification to those on the OrderBox.  Please check on the 31st August 2013.

 

 

I do not use the supersite or the platform selling tools, I use the API, what do I have to do:

 

If you do NOT use the supersite for your sales tool, for example you use a billing application such as Blesta, WHMCS, AWBS, HostBillAPP or an internal “home grown” system using the OrderBox API, you are required to display as per the ICANN Policy update the items listed in this mandatory policy by ICANN. You should cover on your own sites the following mandatory points:

 

  • Renewal and Restoration pricing is clearly displayed in all terms and conditions, or a link to a page on your site showing the renewal and restoration pricing.
  • Display instructions describing the manner in which Registrants will be notified about domain name expiry and renewal (ie your billing app sends out renewal reminders)

 

If you link to the OrderBox Legal Agreements on your own site ( a nice easy way of getting all agreements “RAA” and compliance solved in one go when your customer clicks “accept Terms and conditions” in your billing app ) then please update ALL pricing on your NEO interface for customers as this will be linked within the legal agreements, namely renewal, registration and restoration pricing.

 

If you need help or further explanation, please contact support.

 

 

Platform updates:

 

LogicBoxes were trying to introduce the option to customize the mandatory renewal email templates on the 15th, then the 19th, 20th and 21st of August, as of this moment they are ironing out a bug, we will tweet or blog as soon as we are aware it is completed, please follow us on twitter #netearthone or our blog http://80.251.17.48/~netearthgr/blog

 

Once the above is live, you will see it under “Settings >> System Notifications >> Email”

 

The legal agreements and supersite are also being updated for the ERRP requirements above and will be completed by the end of August.

 

 

Renewal Grace Period updates:

 

Partners reselling the following TLDs through us, the Renew Grace Period will be revised from 30 to 16 days for all .COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO and .BIZ domain names.

 

The following TLDs will be changed from 40 to 36 days for .NAME, .CO, .PRO, .MOBI, .US, .ME and .TV domain names. Additionally, keeping in line with partner requests, the Renew Grace Period for .IN domain names will be revised to 36 days from the current 15 days.

 

After the 16th/36th day from expiry (depending on tld as listed above), the domain names will be queued for deletion by the system, and no modifications would be possible unless restored.

 

The change to the 30 > 16 days (.COM, .NET, .ORG, .INFO and .BIZ) will take effect from 15th September 2013, the change from 40 to 36 days (.NAME, .CO, .PRO, .MOBI, .US, .ME and .TV) will be with immediate effect as well as .IN.

 

 

Privacy Protection service update:

 

LogicBoxes are in the process of making the “PrivacyProtect.org” privacy service chargeable, we have been made aware that ResellerClub (owned by DI/LB) are looking to charge $3 per year for the service.  We are in negotiation to get this pricing down with LB, and, also looking to implement our own privacy service, albeit this will be chargeable it should not be anywhere near as expensive.  We are also adding extra features to the privacy service, for example contact can be made via email to the domain owner and by contact type as well.  Our service will also have a proper UK address.  We will send out a further update to this once it is complete via our blog and twitter.

 

We have been waiting for LB to fix one of their API calls that allows us to gain the contact information for a given domain, this call was fixed earlier this week.  .

 

 

If you should need ANY assistance, please do not hesitate to email support@netearthone.com or pop onto live chat when available.

 

Categories
Changes on the LB platform Downime notice NetEarth One

LB OrderBox Downtime notice

Maintenance is scheduled for the OrderBox infrastructure on the 18th of August 2013 (Sunday).

The exact details of the maintenance are as follows:

Date: Sunday, 18th August 2013.
Timing : 02:30 AM – 03.00 AM (0230 – 0300 hrs) GMT
Maintenance window : 30 minutes

 

Affected services: Control Panel, Supersite, Partnersite, API and whois services.

 

Reason: LB are undertaking this maintenance to improve on our alert systems and various other upgrades.

 

LB regret the inconvenience caused during the interim and thank you for your patience and co-operation.

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

ERRP – Update from ICANN

ICANN has announced the implementation of the Expired Registration Recovery Policy (ERRP). Through this mandatory policy, all Registrars and Resellers are obligated to comply with the following guidelines –

  • Registrars must ensure that at least 2 mandatory expiration reminders are sent to the Registrant at Expiry (RAE), approximately a month before, and a week before the expiration of a domain name. Additionally, at least one more reminder must be sent to the RAE within 5 days of domain expiration. This communication has to be in the language of the registration agreement
  • The renewal fee and restoration fee have to be made available to the Registrant at the time of domain registration. These fees have to be updated on the Reseller’s websites and a URL of the same has to be included in the registration agreement
  • The communication channel to be used for notifications must be displayed on the Reseller’s website and a link for the same has to be included in the registration agreement

Steps we’re taking to comply with this program:

  • We will introduce 2 new e-mails in the system for the pre as well as post expiry notifications mandated by ICANN. These mails shall be sent out only for gTLDs
  • These emails are fully customizable and you can edit the entire content of the mail except the list of expiring domain names
  • The default registration agreement will also be updated to include the new points mandated by ICANN
  • The Supersite will be updated to incorporate the display of pricing details and the communication channels being used to notify Registrants. If you are not using Supersite, you will have to manually make the changes in order to be compliant with this policy.
  • If you are not using Supersite, you will have to make the above mentioned changes on your own website in order to be compliant with this policy

When will these changes come into effect?

We plan to implement these changes on Monday, August 8th, 2013. Please circulate these mandates to your sub resellers and customers so that they are prepared well in time for the effective date.

 

If you require any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact support and we will get your questions answered 🙂

 

Categories
Changes on the LB platform Downime notice EMERGENCY downtime NetEarth One

EMERGENCY LB database maintenance on NEO account – Thursday 11th July

LogicBoxes are performing some maintenance on our Registrar within their database this coming Thursday, 11th July 2013 at 0500UTC/GMT.

It will mean that the parent key in the OrderBox will change, this is only an issue for anyone who is still running the SOAP api, which must by now be few and far between.  No changes or new orders can be created whilst this maintenance window is taking place.

The expected downtime will be circa 1hour 30 mins, but, we are allowing 2 hours just to make sure.

So to recap :

Maintenance Window : Thursday, 11th July 2013 at 0500UTC  – 0700UTC

Duration : 2 hours

Affected Systens : Supersite / Partnersite / Control Panel, Resellers will not be able to login whilst this is happening.

Domains, DNS and any LB hosting will continue to work without issue.

 

Categories
Changes on the LB platform NetEarth One

LogicBoxes SuperSite 1 – To Be Depreciated Soon

It has been more than six months since LB launched SuperSite 2, a Free Web 2.0 Storefront for you to sell all LB products. Effective, March 31st 2013, LB will be discontinuing product support and feature releases for their old Storefront, SuperSite 1. If you have not yet moved your business to SuperSite 2, we request you to kindly do so as quickly as possible before the above date un case of any issues 🙂

LB will be deprecating all SuperSite 1 services on the 30th of April, 2013.