Domains Admin

Domain statuses

Status	What it means
Pending Registration	Registration requested; waiting for the registrar to confirm
Pending Transfer	Transfer initiated; waiting for the registrar to complete it
Active	Registered and resolving normally
Expired	Registration period ended; domain is no longer resolving
Redemption	In the registrar's redemption grace period; recoverable with a fee
Transferred	Transferred out to another registrar
Cancelled	Registration was cancelled before it became Active

Customers see Pending Registration, Active, Expired and Cancelled in their client portal. See Client portal guide for the customer view.

Domain registration

When a client orders and pays for a domain:

1. Hostpanel sends a registration request to the registrar.
2. The domain moves to Pending Registration.
3. Most registrars confirm immediately and the domain becomes Active. Some confirm later; a background job checks all pending domains every 15 minutes and activates them once the registrar confirms.

When registration succeeds, the customer receives domain-registered. If registration fails, the customer receives domain-registration-failed, staff receive domain-registration-failed-admin, and the order line is refunded automatically. The domain record stays Cancelled.

Domain transfer in

When a client transfers a domain in:

1. The client provides the domain name and its authorization code (EPP code) during the order.
2. The domain moves to Pending Transfer.
3. When the registrar confirms the transfer, the domain moves to Active and the customer receives domain-transferred.

There is no cancel transfer button in the admin interface. Contact the registrar directly to cancel a pending transfer if needed.

The domain page

Open a client, go to their Domains tab and click a domain to open its detail page.

Cards on the page:

Card	Contents
Domain Info	Order, order type, domain name, registrar, first payment amount, recurring amount
Nameservers	Nameserver 1–5; saved to the registrar on change (NAMESERVERS_UPSTREAM_FAILED if the registrar refuses)
Registrar Commands	Register, Renew, Modify Contact Details, Get EPP Code, Enable / Disable ID Protection
Dates & Billing	Registration period, expiry date, renewal price, subscription ID
Management Tools	DNS Management, Email Forwarding, ID Protection, Auto Renew, Registrar Lock
Admin Notes	Staff-only notes
DNS Records	DNS record table (add, edit, delete; DNS_RECORD_UPSTREAM_FAILED if the registrar refuses)
Email Forwarding	Forwarding rule table
Domain Reminder History	Table of reminder emails sent for this domain

Management Tools toggles:

• DNS Management — enables the DNS record table.
• Email Forwarding — enables the email forwarding table.
• ID Protection / WHOIS Privacy — hides registrant contact details in WHOIS (WHOIS_PRIVACY_UPSTREAM_FAILED if refused; REGISTRAR_WHOIS_PRIVACY_UNAVAILABLE if the registrar does not support it).
• Auto Renew — controls whether a renewal invoice is raised automatically before expiry.
• Registrar Lock — prevents unauthorised transfers out (REGISTRAR_LOCK_UPSTREAM_FAILED if the registrar refuses).

A domain that has no registrar reference returns DOMAIN_NO_REGISTRAR_REF when a registrar command is attempted. Cancelling a domain that cannot be cancelled returns DOMAIN_CANCEL_NOT_ALLOWED.

All domains

• Domains — shows all domain records across all clients. Use the search box to find a domain by name.
• Domain Registrations — lists all registration and transfer orders, useful for monitoring pending domains.

Domain renewal

A renewal invoice is raised automatically by a daily job (runs at 05:00 UTC by default). Renewal reminder emails are sent by another daily job (runs at 06:00 UTC by default) on the days configured in billing.renewal.reminder_days.

• The domain must be Active.
• Auto Renew must be enabled on the domain.
• The invoice is raised billing.renewal.invoice_days_before days before the expiry date.

After payment, Hostpanel sends a renewal request to the registrar. If the registrar accepts, the expiry date is extended and the customer receives domain-renewed. If the registrar refuses, staff receive domain-renewal-failed-admin.

Manual renewal: On the domain page, click Renew in the Registrar Commands card, enter the number of years and confirm. The panel shows RENEWAL_INVOICE_OPEN if there is already an open renewal invoice for this domain — pay or cancel that invoice first.

Attempting to renew a domain that cannot be renewed (wrong status) returns DOMAIN_RENEW_NOT_ALLOWED.

Expiry warnings

A daily job runs at 09:00 UTC by default to check domain expiries. For each domain approaching expiry it:

1. Sends one reminder email per threshold: 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before expiry (these thresholds are fixed and not configurable with billing.renewal.reminder_days; that setting is for service renewal reminders).
2. Marks domains past their expiry date as Expired and sends the domain-expired email.
3. Skips a reminder if an open renewal invoice already exists and renewal reminders are configured.

Mail templates used: domain-expiring (approaching expiry) and domain-expired (past expiry).

The Domain Reminder History table on the domain page shows each reminder with its label and sent timestamp:

Label	When sent
30 days before expiry	30 days before the expiry date
14 days before expiry	14 days before the expiry date
7 days before expiry	7 days before the expiry date
1 day before expiry	1 day before the expiry date
Expired notice	After the expiry date passes
Redemption notice	While the domain is in the redemption period

The Domain Renewal Reminder Emails report (under Reports) lists all reminder emails sent across all clients.

When the registrar refuses

Error	What to check
REGISTRAR_DOMAIN_UNAVAILABLE	The domain is already taken or restricted
REGISTRAR_INSUFFICIENT_FUNDS	Top up the registrar account balance
REGISTRAR_CONTACT_VALIDATION_FAILED	Update the client's contact details to pass the registrar's validation rules
REGISTRAR_OPERATION_UNSUPPORTED	This registrar does not support the operation (e.g. ID protection)
REGISTRAR_ORDER_UPSTREAM_FAILED	The registrar returned an unexpected error; check the Gateway Transaction Log
DOMAIN_REGISTRATION_UPSTREAM_FAILED	Registration failed at the registrar; check the account balance and domain eligibility
DOMAIN_RENEWAL_UPSTREAM_FAILED	Renewal failed at the registrar; check balance and domain status
DOMAIN_TRANSFER_UPSTREAM_FAILED	Transfer failed; check the EPP code and the domain's registrar lock status
DOMAIN_EPP_CODE_UPSTREAM_FAILED	Could not retrieve the EPP code; check the registrar connection
DOMAIN_PRODUCT_NOT_CONFIGURED	No domain product is linked to this TLD; check TLD Pricing
DOMAIN_ALREADY_REGISTERED	A domain record for this name already exists in the system