Many agents logging into RPData.com today have had trouble and it appears it may have been caused by a $15 domain renewal issue.
This is the page that many people seen although others had their browser time out and show unable to connect messages.
Network Solutions is a domain registrar and the domain rpdata.com is registered through them.
A quick whois brought up the following information:-
Domain Name: RPDATA.COM
Registry Domain ID:
Registrar WHOIS Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Registrar URL: http://www.networksolutions.com/en_US/
Updated Date: 2014-05-25T00:00:00Z
Creation Date: 1997-05-21T00:00:00Z
Registrar Registration Expiration Date: 2019-05-22T00:00:00Z
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Registrar IANA ID: 2
Registrar Abuse Contact Email: [email protected]
Registrar Abuse Contact Phone: 800-333-7680
Reseller:
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registry Registrant ID:
Registrant Name: RPData Pty Ltd
Registrant Organization: RPData Pty Ltd
Registrant Street: 6 Eagleview Pl
Registrant City: Eagle Farm
Registrant State/Province: Qld
Registrant Postal Code: 4009
Registrant Country: AU
Registrant Phone: +61-7-3114-9999
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +61-7-3114-9900
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email: [email protected]
Registry Admin ID:
Admin Name: Latter, Ian
Admin Organization: null
Admin Street: Cnr Bonney Ave and Junction Rds Clayfield
Admin City: Brisbane Qld 4011
Admin State/Province: **
Admin Postal Code: **
Admin Country: AU
Admin Phone: +61-7-3857-4411
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +61-7-3857-4896
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email: [email protected]
Registry Tech ID:
Tech Name: Latter, Ian
Tech Organization: null
Tech Street: Cnr Bonney Ave and Junction Rds Clayfield
Tech City: Brisbane Qld 4011
Tech State/Province: **
Tech Postal Code: **
Tech Country: AU
Tech Phone: +61-7-3857-4411
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +61-7-3857-4896
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email: [email protected]
Name Server: NS2.CONEXIM.COM.AU
Name Server: NS.CONEXIM.COM.AU
DNSSEC: not signed
URL of the ICANN WHOIS Data Problem Reporting System: http://wdprs.internic.net/
>>> Last update of whois database: Sun, 25 May 2014 20:41:43 UTC <<<
And on the page it asked me if I wanted to renew the domain !!!
If I am correct, and I believe I am according to the whois from Network Solutions it appears that the domain was due for renewal on the 22/05/14 and they have missed paying the renewal and on the 25th it automatically changed the dns settings and it no longer pointed to the rpdata.com.
Whether you got effected, how you got effected and for how long was determined by what dns server your network used.
I rang RPData support who confirmed that they have been getting lots of calls and they told me it was a caching issue with my isp and it was being update and would be online soon. Well I guess that was sort of the truth of it. Once they paid the renewal then the dns has to populate out to the world..
Very embarrassing but they are not the first large company to forget to pay a $15 domain renewal!
Were you effected ??
6 Comments
Ryan O'Grady
It’s amazing that large corporations can make the same basic mistakes small business owners do. I’ve seen this happen on numerous occasions to clients. I also heard a similar issue happened to REA in the past, I can’t confirm whether it was 100% but DNS did change in that case.
Glenn Rogers
Web Central took Commercialrealestate.com.au off line once because they missed a $50 bill or something similar.
They no longer host the site …of course.
Glenn Batten
The time spent on support lines and the lost opportunity costs for those agents and salespeople effected would be far in excess of the $15 domain registration fee. Somebody messed up.. and as Ryan indicated, this would normally be a small business sort of thing and not what I would expect of someone like RPData.,
I know agents should not expect any sort of discount or refund but I wonder if there large corporate clients have SLA’s that they have to pay out on. If they do I bet its more than the $15.
Now that the cat is out of the bag I just hope the person responsible did not bullshit to his boss using all that caching nonsense. Techs have a habit of blaming the other guy when the fault really lies with them..
Glenn Rogers
Renewal of domain names should be the responsibility of senior execs, accountants or the financial sector with systems in place.
I haven’t been able to register http://www.realestate.com.au ………yet,…….. they’re too efficient.
Simon_Strauss
Glenn,
I agree with you up to a point that senior execs et al should bear the responsibility for their domain real estate. However to leave it up to them to actually carry out the domain name renewal is fraught with hazard. There are domain sharks out there that continually cruise for easy meat and they have automated systems that tell them when a valuable domain is about to expire.
As a long term domain name owner with over 600 domain names, mostly acquired way back in 1998, I can honestly say that you really need someone with tons of experience to navigate the shifting sands of domain name renewals.
An accountant or senior business executive would be out of their depth as quickly as if they were caught in a Bell’s Beach rip and with the added peril of domain name sharks swimming around the soon to expire domain name morsel it is a risk that no shareholder should be happy with.
Glenn Rogers
Simon, I use CSC Global, if they happen to miss something , which is never, they have the power to go in and take it back…..literally.
Same power as Melbourne IT had.