GENERAL SPECIFICATION

A. Introduction

Manage your domains easily with the Dot TK DomainShare API. The DomainShare API will allow you to automate functions and reduce the time needed to manage your DomainShare account.

DomainShare Partners are eligible to register free .TK domain names for others (endusers). Signing up for a DomainShare Partner account is free of charge. A new DomainShare partner account can be obtained at http://www.domainshare.tk.

There are no requirements to become a DomainShare Partner. Typical DomainShare Partners are Internet Service Providers, Hosting Providers and software development partners.

When a DomainShare Partner registers a domain name for an enduser, Dot TK believes that the enduser should be protected in case of any wrongful doing by a DomainShare Partner. Therefore, all endusers of domains that are registered through a DomainShare Partner need to confirm their email address with Dot TK. Only after confirmation by the enduser will the domain name be fully authorized. Upon confirmation of the domain by the enduser they will receive a Dot TK Registration ID by email. This Registration ID allows the enduser to purchase (transfer) the domain on Dot TK’s website when there is a problem or issue between the DomainShare Partner and the enduser.

DomainShare domains can be registered in My DomainShare or through the DomainShare API.

DomainShare domains are registered for a period of 1 to 12 months. Domain renewals can be made from 15 days before the expiration date of the domain name.

There are no user restrictions for DomainShare domains. As long as the DomainShare Partner renews the domain on time, the domain will continue to work. The Dot TK content policy applies to all DomainShare domains.

Domain names under the DomainShare Partner program are free of charge to register. Expired or cancelled domains of a DomainShare Partner will display a parking page with advertisements; the revenue of these advertisements is shared with the DomainShare Partner. Payments are made by PayPal or by bank wire.

The DomainShare API allows you to modify parking page settings for all domains that are parked within your portfolio to increase relevancy and revenue.

B. DomainShare in a nutshell

The DomainShare API enables you to access the Dot TK database from your own applications or web site. The DomainShare API is a RESTful webservice over HTTP/HTTPS allowing you to program in your favourite language (e.g. Java, Python, Perl, PHP or .NET).

To register and maintain Web Domain and DomainShare domains with the DomainShare API you should be registered with Dot TK. As a result of your registration, your credentials will be your registered email address and password.

This documentation explains how to use the functions the API calls can be leveraged for:

• Availability check of domain names. This API function checks if a certain domain with the .TK extension is still available.
• Registration and renewal of domain names. This API function checks if the domain name is still available. If it is, the registration will be completed immediately.
• Add/modify/delete/list glue records. These API functions allow you to add, modify or delete glue records belonging to domains you maintain in your portfolio.
• Modify name server information. This API function allows you to modify the name server or forwarding URL information related to the domains you maintain in your portfolio.
• Deactivation and reactivation of domain names. This function allows you to deactivate (cancel) any domain name in your portfolio if they are unused or misused. Unused and deactivated domains can be reactivated within 15 days after deactivation.
• Park settings of domain name. Once the domain name is expired or deactivated a parking page with advertisements page will be shown. Since all DomainShare Partners are eligible to receive parking page revenue on these domains, this function allows you to change the category and keyword(s) of a parked domain name increasing relevancy and revenue.

C. When to use DomainShare

If you have any application or use where you want to register free domain names for others, then DomainShare is definitely your best choice. Dot TK does not only offer free domain name registrations, it also offers excellentrevenue on parked domain names (domains that are expired or deactivated).

A well-known application of DomainShare is used by Internet Service Providers and Hosting Providers. These companies have integrated the DomainShare API to provide free domain name registrations to their customers.

Dot TK is implementing the DomainShare API with various vendors that cater for the ISP and hosting community (hosting panels, billing platforms etc.). Dot TK especially welcomes all developers that are active in this field to integrate the DomainShare API within their panel or platform.

D. Lifetime of a Dot TK domain name

1. Registration
   A Dot TK domain name is typically registered by your enduser on your website. Using the automated DomainShare API the actual registration takes place in the background. You can opt to allow endusers to run their own DNS (or yours) or to use URL forwarding for the chosen domain. The registration period is minimum 1 month and a maximum of 12 months. The default registration period is 3 months.
2. Confirmation
   The domain name registered with the DomainShare API works immediately. However, the enduser needs to confirm their email address within 72 hours of registration. By failing to do so, the registration will be cancelled.
3. Modifying a domain
   A Dot TK domain name can be modified as many times as needed. This can be done with either the DomainShare API or within My DomainShare. Either the name servers or the forwarding URL can be changed.
4. Renewing a domain
   A domain name can be renewed for 1-12 months but only within 15 days before the expiration of that domain name. The renewal is done by the DomainShare API or within My DomainShare.
5. Expiring or deactivating a domain
   A domain name expires when the expiration date is met. A domain name can be deactivated by you or by the Dot TK Review Team if the content of the domain name does not comply with the Dot TK Content Policy. Both expired and deactivated domains will bear a parking page with advertisements. All DomainShare Partners are eligible to receive parking page revenue of the advertisements shown.
6. Managing parking pages of an expired or deactivated domain
   DomainShare Partners can manage their expired and deactivated domain portfolio through the parking page settings for these domains. The DomainShare Partner is able to set the category of the domain and one or more keywords. The Dot TK Registry and its advertising partners do take the suggestions of the DomainShare Partner seriously when deciding on what subjects of advertisements should be displayed. However, it’s in Dot TK’s sole discretion to display any advertisements based on different categories or keywords.
7. Domain removal from your portfolio
   When an expired or deactivated domain name is not generating any income for a certain period, the domain will be removed from your portfolio and will be made available for others to register.

E. URL Forwarding

With the DomainShare API it is possible to add, modify or remove a URL to which the domain is forwarded to. New registrations of forwarding URLs and changes can take up to 30 minutes to actually show the URL when going to the domain name. The URL Forwarding system of Dot TK builds a frame where, within this frame, the content of the forwarding URL is shown.

F. DomainShare RESTful web API

The DomainShare API is a RESTful web service (RESTful web API) that is based on a simple web service using HTTP/HTTPS and the principles of REST (REpresentational State Transfer).

The DomainShare API has one base URL where other systems may GET or POST information to:
https://api.domainshare.tk

The DomainShare API has various functions which are described in the detailed specification section. The function is added to the base URL under the following syntax:
https://api.domainshare.tk/<function>.<output_format>

The input of the function is provided by various variables. Both the GET and POST methods can be used to submit the value of the variables to the API.

If you intend to just retrieve information most developers use the GET method. If you intend to submit modified information most developers use the POST method. But again: both methods are allowed in any case.

The output of the function is provided in either XML or JSON format. By simply using an .xml or .json extension in the API call, the correct output format will be provided.

Example call to get XML output:

Output:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<dottk>
  <partner_ping>
    <status>PING REPLY</status>
    <timestamp>2010-06-01 16:04:12 UTC</timestamp>
    <type>result</type>
  </partner_ping>
<status>OK</status>
</dottk>

Output:
{ "partner_ping":
{ "timestamp":"2010-06-01 16:04:12 UTC",
"status":"PING REPLY",
"type":"result"
},
"status":"OK"
}

Please note that if no output format is provided, XML is used. Also note that the DomainShare API is reachable by both HTTP and HTTPS. Dot TK recommends using HTTPS to ensure secure communication between your application and our API.