Hitpoint system

DNS Belgium takes measures against unnecessary identical requests, continuous erroneous requests and runaway processes.

Although the registration system can easily cope with an influx of requests, it overloads the registration system unnecessarily:

• the response time of the system will be slower;

• it consumes valuable bandwith;

• it consumes CPU power;

• it consumes database storage: this type of action contaminates the database as each request is being logged.

Any registrar who reaches his hitpoint limit will automatically be blocked (status: BLOCKED) hereby mitigating all issues from request overload.

How does the system work?

All error codes except for new-domain transactions result in the allocation of a single hitpoint. Ten hitpoints are allocated to registrars who attempt to register a domain name that is not available for registration (for instance, the domain name is in quarantine or is presently registered or “on hold”).

• 1 hitpoint is allocated when any of the following transactions return an error code:

  • create-contact

  • update-contact

  • delete-contact

  • create-domain

  • update-domain

  • delete-domain

  • transfer-domain

  • undelete-domain

  • reactivate-domain

  • create-nsgroup

  • update-nsgroup

  • delete-nsgroup

  • create-keygroup

  • update-keygroup

  • delete-keygroup

• 10 hitpoints are allocated on a new-domain transaction with error code 2302 (OBJECT EXISTS).

Exceptions are:

• No hitpoints will be allocated when a new-domain transaction is performed within 10 seconds of the name being registered by another registrar.

• No hitpoint will be allocated when a transfer-domain transaction is performed on a domain name where the name servers have been removed due to the Revoke procedure.

Notifications

The number of hitpoints a registrar can take before the account is blocked, is proportional to the number of domains in your portfolio. It is calculated as the number of domain names divided by ten with an absolute minimum of 100 and an absolute maximum of 1000. Hitpoints are counted over a period of 24 hours. When your hitpoint counter reaches your maximum in a 24-hour-period, your account will be ‘Blocked’ for the next 24 hours. We will ignore all transactions you send to us during these 24 hours. Once 24 hours are past, you are again able to fully use our registration system.

You will be notified by CPS/POLL message when you have reached 80% and 100% of your hitpoints:

• Warning: 80% of hitpoints reached

• Account blocked due to hitpoints

When your account is blocked due to hitpoints, you will receive the same error response via EPP for all your transactions:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<epp xmlns="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0" xmlns:dnsbe="http://www.dns.be/xml/epp/dnsbe-1.0">
  <response>
    <result code="2308">
      <msg>Data management policy violation</msg>
    </result>
    <extension>
      <dnsbe:ext>
        <dnsbe:result>
          <dnsbe:msg>operation not available because of too many hitpoints</dnsbe:msg>
        </dnsbe:result>
      </dnsbe:ext>
    </extension>
    <trID>
      <svTRID>dnsbe-0</svTRID>
    </trID>
  </response>
</epp>

In My registrations, you will see a banner on each page.

It is possible to unblock yourself once every calender month.

How can you avoid hitpoints?

Before registering a new domain name, make sure it is available. In the WHOIS you can find the release date for domain names in quarantine. Via the EPP server it is possible to check when a domain name will become available for registration. With a simple script the registration request can also be sent automatically at that time.

Use our Tryout system to test any new requests and/or any processes you want to implement.