What is a domain?

A domain is a unique address on the Internet. It tells people (and the computers they use) how to find your homepage on the Internet. There are many different types of domains categorized by different extensions such as .ca, .com and .net to name a few. An example of a domain name is salmondistributor.ca.

Why do I need a domain?

A domain is tied to a corporation's identity. It will be used by customers and business associates to communicate with you via e-mail and/or your web site. The more closely your domain resembles your corporate identity and the easier your domain is to remember the more recognized and used it will be.

A domain is unique, hence once is has been taken, no one else can use it. Therefore, it is important for businesses and individuals to register a domain name that properly reflects their identity before someone else takes it.

Do I need to have a web site to register a domain?

No. You can register for a domain name and park it with us. Parking a domain name allows you 'hold' your domain name until you are ready to use it. This service is free and you can park your domain with us for as long as you wish. Best of all, your parked domain name will be provided an under construction page, free of charge as well.

What's the difference between a .CA and a .COM domain?

Functionality wise, there isn't any. Contrary to common myths, the .ca name is fully accessible by users worldwide (not just in Canada), just like a .com name. The only difference is that you must satisfy the Canadian Presence Requirements (i.e. be a Canadian Corporation or resident) to register for a .ca name.

How will I be able to tell if my desired domain name is already taken?

Simply do a Lookup Domain search on our homepage to see if your requested domain name is available. If the domain search request returns without a match, you will be able to register that domain name.

What do the Registrant Legal Types mean?

A more detailed description of the various Registrant Legal Types can be found here.

What are the Canadian Presence Requirements?

The CIRA Canadian Presence Requirements document can be found here.

Is my credit card number and other data secure?

We use a high-encryption SSL certificate to secure all your sensitive data while it is in transit over the internet. When we process your credit card through our payment gateway, your credit card information is encrypted by one of the most highly used and respected processing systems on the Internet. Once your card is processed, we 'forget it' - we do not store any of our customer's credit card numbers in any form on any of our servers.

If you're still concerned about the security of your credit card, we also accept payments by bank check. Please contact us to find out more about how to pay by check.

Can I pay by cheque or money order?

We understand that online credit card payments are not always an option. For this reason we accept payment by cheque or money order. For your convenience you may download this printable copy of our application form

Note you will need Adobe Acrobat .PDF viewer to open this form. You may download a copy here

How long does the registration process take?

Our real-time system directly connects to the CIRA central registry to register .ca domains. Note that registrants must comply with CIRA's registrant agreement before they activate a domain. Activated domains usually take 24 hours to become visible on the Internet.

Once I have a domain name secured, how long may I use it?

If there are no trademark disputes, your secured domain name will be yours for as long as you maintain the yearly registration fees.

I have registered my domain name, now what?

After you register your domain, you must find a web hosting company or Internet Service Provider to host your web site for you. Some good areas to start are your local ISP, or choose one of the many free web hosting sites available. Some people wish to only reserve their domain name for future use. In that case you need not find an ISP or hosting company.

If you already have a web site hosted by an ISP, you can easily set your domain to point to your ISP's DNS so that your existing web site will appear when visitors go to your new domain name. If you already have a FREE web site somewhere, chances are that your provider will not allow you to point your DNS setting to their server. In this case, you can subscribe to our URL Forwarding service for as low as $19.95 per year per domain. This service, also known as domain forwarding or IP forwarding, basically allows you to redirect visitors at your domain name (www.yourdomain.ca) to another web page address without having to setup a new web-hosting account for your domain name.

Who is CIRA?

CIRA stands for the Canadian Internet Registration Authority. CIRA has been given a mandate by the Government of Canada to provide and operate the .CA domain name registry. CIRA does not sell .CA domains per se. Instead, registrars like CanReg.com are tested and certified by CIRA to perform the customer related aspects of domain sale, service and support. In other words, CIRA provides and handles the "back-end" of the .CA registry, while certified registrars like CanReg.com provide the "front-end" customer features and support. This allows CIRA to focus on their primary mandate. CIRA is also a non-profit body, and thus anyone can become a member of CIRA, with the voting rights associated with it. To become a CIRA member, you can login to your CanReg.com account and check the "CIRA Member" button at the "Registrant Information" section.

How do I modify my domain record?

You can modify your domain name record online using our easy-to-use Domain Admin Panel. This is accessible through the 'Manage Domain' link at the top of our homepage.

How do I retrieve my CanReg.com password?

You can do this online here.

How do I retrieve my CIRA password?

You can do this online through the "Retrieve CIRA Password" option on your Domain Admin Panel. CIRA maintains a separate password which is kept private between you and themselves. More explanation can be found at the "Retrieve CIRA Password" section mentioned above.

Why do some updates to my domain record not work?

Certain updates are considered "critical updates" by CIRA. This is for the safety of your domain. This is because if such updates are done incorrectly or maliciously, you could loose control of your domain. This could happen, for example, in cases of "domain hijacking". To prevent this, CIRA requires that you go to their website to approve all critical updates. Any critical updates not confirmed are put in an "on-hold" state - thus such updates do not yet work. Also note that any critical updates not approved within 7 days are automatically cancelled.

What if I lost my passwords and access to the current admin email address?

The manual process only needs to be started when access to both the current admin email address and access to the CIRA private password has been lost. If you can access either the current admin email address or have a copy of the private password please let our customer service department know at 1.877.901.2123.

The Canadian Registry (CIRA) requires that the following documentation be completed and faxed to us :

This form must be faxed back to us at: 1.877.731.7375 The form contains all the instructions you will need to complete the process. If you are unsure which form to use you can check how your domain is registered (to company or an individual) by doing a WHOIS search on your domain and looking at the Organization (legal owner) field.

What is URL Forwarding?

URL forwarding is an enhanced service for people who do not like to have their web-hosting-provider control their domain. It can also be used by those who prefer to use the various free webspace services on the Internet. URL forwarding allows you to keep control of where your website goes via our Domain Admin Panel. You will be able to direct visitors to your domain to any website in the world.

For example, you could set up forwarding for anyone visiting www.yourdomain.ca to be redirected to your personal homepage at www.homestead.com/user123, or to your main website at www.yourotherdomain.com. That way, you can tell people an easy-to-remember domain name instead.

Because URL Forwarding is not for everyone, it is not included in the domain registration fee. We provide 3 types of URL Forwarding service:

• Forward Free (tell 5 friends about us and get it free) - an advertising banner is placed at the bottom of the page. This is so that we can recover some of the costs of providing this free service.
• Forward Basic ($19.95 per year) - shows the actual destination URL in the address bar.
• Forward Professional ($29.95 per year)- retains your domain name in the address bar.

You can subscribe to any of these services at our Domain Admin Panel.

What is DNS?

DNS is an acronym that stands for Domain Name Service. Each domain is assigned a unique numeric address and DNS takes care of locating and routing information to the domains so that the world can find you. When you fill out your registration form, we give you the option to park your DNS with us or to specify your own DNS or the DNS of your hosting service. If you already have a web site or have found an ISP to host your web site, you should use your ISP's DNS when registering your domain name.

Why can't I see my website?

There's actually a few possible reasons:

• If you just bought your domain, please note that CIRA requires you to visit their website and read and confirm their legal agreement. You should have received an email from us with more details.
• If you just bought your domain and have already confirmed CIRA's legal agreement, please understand that it takes up to 24 hours for it to propagate to the Internet.
• If you just changed the DNS server for your domain, please understand that it takes up to 24 hours for the change to propagate to the Internet.
• If you are using a third-party ISP or web-hosting company, it could be that they either have not set up your hosting account yet, or have a problem with their servers.