Domain glossary
Plain-language definitions for portfolio owners. Policies vary by TLD—verify at your registrar and ICANN.
- Redemption period
- A registry phase after grace during which a deleted domain may be restored for a higher fee. Length and availability vary by TLD and registrar.
- Grace period
- Time after expiry when the registrar may allow renewal at standard rates before deletion or redemption. Not universal for every TLD.
- Registrar lock
- Transfer lock (often called clientTransferProhibited) that helps prevent unauthorized domain moves. Enable it at your registrar.
- EPP code
- Auth code required to transfer a domain between registrars. Treat it like a credential.
- WHOIS / RDAP
- Public registration data services. RDAP is the JSON successor to WHOIS; both may redact personal data under privacy rules.
- TTL
- Time-to-live on DNS records—how long resolvers cache an answer. Lower TTL speeds cutover but increases query load.
- Auto-renew
- Registrar billing setting that attempts renewal before expiry. Still verify payment method and renewal price.
- Nameserver
- DNS servers authoritative for your domain. Changing them moves DNS control.
- Zero-knowledge vault
- Encryption where the service stores ciphertext only and cannot read secrets without your vault passphrase.
- Read-only API token
- Registrar or DNS API credential scoped to read data—not change DNS or renew without separate permissions.