Okay. So, today’s lesson is, don’t wait until the day before your domain expires before trying to renew it.
In theory, that shouldn’t be a problem. The process is completely automated; you just log on at any time of the day or night, feed your credit card to your registrar and your record is updated with a shiny new expiry date.
But there’s many a slip twixt cup and IP. Say, for instance, your registrar doesn’t answer its phone or e-mail on the weekends, as was the case with me.
And say some critical part of their system goes down, with no way to alert them to it, as was the case with me.
Then, amigo, you’re screwed. Also the case with me. Anyone who tried to visit my site over the last 36 hours or so couldn’t; anyone who tried e-mail me had their message bounced back to them.
This morning, my registrar’s server was back up and running, and happily processed my payment. My domain is alive again, and spam — the true indicator of life on the net — is starting to trickle back to me.
But there are lessons here beyond the virtues of not procrastinating. If you’re buying an online service that’s critical to your operation, be sure they have a clearly-indicated after-hours contact point. (And if you run such a service, be sure to provide one.) If they don’t, shop elsewhere.
I know I plan to.
P.S. — For anyone who’s interested, I’m waiting to hear back from CanReg.com, the registrar in question, as to whether they have any plans to change things in the aftermath of this weekend’s fiasco. I’ll let you know what I learn.
