It is possible for a domain to appear fully registered in WHOIS or RDAP — complete with registrant, registrar, and expiration date — yet fail not be included in our domain listings or, indeed, to resolve in the DNS and be completely unreachable as a website, mail host, or any other network service. This is not a lookup error or a propagation delay. It means the domain has been placed on hold, and has been intentionally withheld from the DNS by either its registrar or the registry.
WHOIS and RDAP are registration databases — they record ownership and registrar assignment. DNS delegation is a separate step: for a domain to resolve, the registry (e.g., Verisign for .COM) must publish that domain's nameservers in its zone file. A hold status instructs the registry to omit that entry, so no DNS record is published and the domain is unreachable on the internet.
In short: registered and active are not the same thing. Our products list active domains at a specific date and time.
The domain registration system uses standardized EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) status codes, to describe a domain's current state. The following standard codes result in a domain being withheld from the DNS:
| Status Code | Set By | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
clientHold |
Registrar | Registrar suspends DNS delegation. Most commonly applied for non-payment, unverified WHOIS data, a legal dispute, or pending deletion. |
serverHold |
Registry | Registry suspends DNS delegation, typically for policy violations, court orders, or ICANN compliance actions. |
pendingDelete |
Registry | Domain is queued for deletion. A 5-day grace window typically precedes final removal, after which the name re-enters the available pool. |
redemptionPeriod |
Registry | Domain has expired and entered a redemption grace period (typically 30 days). The prior registrant may reclaim it at a premium. DNS is not active during this period. |
pendingCreate |
Registry | Registration has not yet been finalized. The domain exists in the registration database but has not been activated in DNS. |
inactive |
Registry | No nameservers are associated with the domain. Not technically a hold, but the practical result is identical — the domain does not resolve. |
The most operationally significant codes — those most likely to explain a domain that exists in WHOIS but is absent from active listings — are clientHold, serverHold, pendingDelete, and redemptionPeriod.
Our listings are based on active DNS data -- either from authoritative non-authoritative sources. Active domains must be actively delegated in DNS -- domains are never delegated while in on hold. As a result: