For members who want an advance preview into the new system, what follows are step-by-step instructions on how to move a domain from the current easyDNS interface to the new management platform.
The new platform has been live since mid-2009, many of the staff here have been running their personal domains off of here and we've had numerous beta users on board as well. Additionally, I've been running one of my personal email accounts through the new easyMAIL platform since last summer, and I felt confident enough to switch my mom's email to it a few weeks ago.
There are few things we are still smoothing out and filling in like some of the help docs and some of the new features.
But here it is, the shape of things to come for easyDNS.
Until you get the hang of the new platform, we strongly suggest that you start with a non-critical domain. Something that won't ruin your life if the unexpected happens.
There is also this introductory document which outlines the new features and what changes on the new platform. It is strongly recommended that you review that document first.
So without further adieu, here's how to move a domain to the new system….
Please take note
For the sake of caution, please start with one domain, preferably one that is non-critical to your operations, and carefully inspect your DNS, URL forwarding and mail forwarding settings on the new system before activation.
Step 1
On the current member interface, look for the "port" link in your utilities module (if you do not have a "utilities" module visible, click on the "personalize" link in the left hand side menu.
Click on the "port" link and you'll get a list of domains that are eligible to be ported to the new system. A domain will not appear in this list if:
- It has an outstanding invoice – this is to avoid conflicts in the billing cycle
- It's already expired
Step 2
Pick the domain(s) you want to port and click "next".
Hopefully, you will see something like this:
If you get an error, contact support and include the error message.
Once the domain settings have been ported, they will not become active until you activate the domain on the new system side.
Once you click on "next" you'll see a list of domains under your account, when you click on the "manage" link for a domain, it brings you to the Domain Overview module.
Step 3
After you've reviewed your DNS settings and any mailmaps, you can "activate" the domain on the new system. There will be a one-time delay as the nameserver cluster updates to load from the new system. (As an aside, you may be happy to note that new domains added directly to the new system via registration or transfer will be activated on the nameserver cluster instantly, which is handy).
You will also see some other interesting items under the Domain Overview module, such as
- IPv6 AAAA type records
- a "renew" link for renewing a domain at any time (no more opening a ticket with support when you want to renew early)
- the "import" link lets you upload a bind style zonefile into your DNS settings
- a "portfolio" setting, which lets you sort your domains into logical groupings called "portfolios" (and optionally share portfolios by giving specific access rights to other users on the system)
And for DNS Pro (formerly DNS Plus) domains:
- host monitoring and failover DNS is out of beta
- easyMAIL – IMAP hosting
That's probably enough to digest for now. We'll be posting more info about new features and services over the next few weeks.
I have to admit, I'm disappointed with the new interface. Sure, users always hate change, but as a developer, and a happy easyDNS customer, I personally expected something user friendly, intuitive and visually appealing.
Had problems porting some domains too. It also seems like updates on the old system take longer to sync now?
Other folks who I've recommended easyDNS to are struggling with the new interface as well.
Hi Don, feel free to let us know what doesn't work for you on the new interface. One of the advantages of rolling this out is that we can actually make changes fairly quickly, and even push more
functionality back to the user level (like make a particular aspect subject to a user preference).
The new system and the old system push their data to the same array of nameservers, there is nothing in the new system that would slow down the old one, if the legacy interface is slow to sync, then it's some other issue. Can you open a support ticket with the details around that if you haven't already so we can take a look?
thx.
You can also email your thoughts on the interface directly, my email is markjr [at] you_know_what . com
Thanks for the reply Mark, I'll drop you a line.
The porting problems were strange, eventually switched back to the old interface. Will give it a try again soon.
The way things should have worked:
On a simpler way, i.e., domains should have been migrated automatically to the new interface.
This was debated for a long time internally over the years (yes, years) leading up to this. As a company that deals primarily in providing continuity of infrastructure – mass cutovers like that are potential disasters. Combine that with the fact that most people don't like forced, flash cuts we decided the best way to do this was incrementally and in the most non-disruptive way possible.
mass cutovers are something Rogers does and it creates headaches for users and admins (does anyone know anymore how/where to login to their "rogers online account"?). So *thank you* for using a sane and simple approach and continuing to put into practice the solid network engineering principles which drew me to easyDNS in the first place.
I use the old interface a bit because it seems the new web UI has more javascript buglets with the strange old browsers I use and there are still a few broken links (search seems sporadic, a few missing help pages). Thanks for pushing out the new pages and leaving the old sold system in place so you and we can work out the bugs over the next few months.
You've fixed DNS for me for years and now you are starting to fix SMTP too so one thing I'd like a bit more information on is easySMTP. Why does the enable mailout option even appear in non DNS+Plus accounts. Is it included in DNS+Pro? Is there a charge if we turn it on? Can we pay to have our quota raised from 250 mails a day? Can we forward suggestions or "user documentation" for easySMTP (a wiki would be nice)? I am trying to build out postfix servers that use DKIM/SPF/SASL/SMTP-AUTH and whatever other features I can put together (pgp signing/openssl encryption) to make e-mail an enterprise grade service like it was in the 1990s
I'd like to help easyDNS help me to do that.
Thanks a lot and cheers,
ps: ipv6!! thanks!
pps: I'm pretty good with mediawiki if you want help with that.