Multiple .BM Local Websites/Emails Inaccessible
[Updated] There are a number of local websites — which are hosted on .bm domains — inaccessible this weekend, and multiple email addresses using the .bm have been experiencing issues.
The Government has not yet responded to our request for clarification, however unofficial reports suggest that these websites may be inaccessible as a number of expired domains ceased functioning.
Most domain services provide advance notice prior to expiry, and the Bermuda domain website states, “You will be notified 60, 30, 15 and 7 days prior to your domain name expiring”, however unofficial reports suggest that some clients may not have received any form of advance notice.
This morning, One Communications status update said, “One Communications is aware of an issue with some DNS domains ending with .bm [example, logic.bm or northrock.bm].
“While One Communication’s DNS servers are functioning correctly, many .bm domains are showing as expired. We are working with the authority responsible with the .bm domains to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.
“Customers may experience issues accessing sites and servers ending with .bm, including www.logic.bm, mail.logic.bm, www.northrock.bm, mail.northrock.bm, etc.”
This afternoon the company stated, “The issue with One Communications’s DNS domains has been resolved. However, some other customer’s DNS domains might still not be working. The owners of those domains are advised to contact BermudaNIC directly to resolve their domains. Their website is www.bermudanic.bm.”
As far as renewing an expired domain, the website states, “If your name has expired, it may still be possible to renew it. Once a domain name has reached its expiry date, it will enter a Grace Period.
“Domains can be renewed within this period for a cost of 1 year renewal. At the end of the Grace Period, domains not renewed then enter a period called Redemption Grace Period [RGP].
“This is a thirty [30] day period that begins after a registrar requests that a registry delete a domain. Domains can still be renewed within RGP but in addition to the 1 year renewal fee for the domain, there is also a $150 administrative fee to renew the domain.”
We asked the Government for clarification this afternoon, and we will update with their response as able.
Update Jan 8, 1.06pm: The Registry General Department has provided in-depth responses on the matter, please see the responses in full below.
Can the Govt confirm or deny they have made multiple domains non-functional?
Response: With the new .BM domain name system, domains registrations expire automatically if payment has not been submitted by credit card via their on-line account.
If confirmed, can the Govt comment on the lack of notice provided?
Response: The statement that there was a “lack of notice provided” is incorrect. Prior to the new system going live, registrants of a .BM domain name were advised [via public ad campaign, press release and emails] to log onto the new system to create an account and to make payments.
It should be noted that notices were issued via email between the months of April and June 2016 to all domain Registrants advising them of the new registration fees and to update their contact info on the new system. The email notice [reprinted at the end of the release] was sent on 15th April 2016 to all domain Registrants.
A second email was sent to all the major businesses that are members of the representative groups such as the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers [ABIR] and Association of Bermuda International Companies [ABIC] to advise them to update their contact information. In addition, a press release and public advertisements were published during this period.
The Domain Registrants that did log into the system and create an account received automatic email notifications for domain renewals 90, 60, 30 and 10 days prior to final expiration. We requested a report from the vendors and found that, unfortunately, the domain registrants that were affected had not logged into the system to create an account and provide their contact information. As a result they did not receive the automated alerts.
If confirmed, when will the Govt get all these domains [ergo websites] back online?
Response: Once they were notified the Registry General Department has been addressing the issue and is working with both the system vendor and the Government Information Technology Office to resolve this matter. Any domain names that had expired due to the above issue will be made active within 48 hours. The Department will be contacting the Registrants to provide them with an update, as needed. Any company that is experiencing a problem can contact the Registrar General at 295-5151 ext: 1622 or send an email to apennyman@gov.bm.
If confirmed, what steps will the Govt take to prevent having multiple Bermuda websites rendered inaccessible without notice again?
Response: The Registry General will be contacting those domain registrants whose domains are either expired or close to expiring to assist them in registering their details on-line. Going forward, the Department has arranged to receive, on a regular basis, reports of domain registrants that have not submitted their payment to ensure that they have created an account and updated their contact details. Once all domains are properly registered, it is expected that the automatic email notifications will provide all domain registrants with adequate notice to submit their payments when required.
As noted in the response to question 2, The email sent on 15th April 2016 stated the following:
“Dear .BM Domain Name Contact,
You are receiving this notice as the Registrant, Administrative Contact or Technical Contact of a .BM domain name.
Please be advised of the Government Fee Amendment Regulations 2016.
As of 1st April 2016, the registration fee for a new .BM domain name is now $100. The annual renewal fee for a domain name is now $65.
In addition, the BermudaNIC Registry would like to advise that its new online registration system is in its final stages. The actual go-live date will be shared soon.
It is important that the registrant email address on all .BM domain name registrations is current and up to date, as this is the email address that will be used to set up your new account in the online registrar system. Registration details can be checked by clicking on the “look up a domain name-WHOIS” link, on www.bermudanic.bm. If you need to update your registrant email address, send an email with your domain name and the registrant email details to dnsmanger@gov.bm before 29th April 2016.
Your online account will need to be created before renewals or any other activity can be made to your domain name or its registration details. Once the system is live, all payments going forward must be made by credit card via your online account. Payment will no longer be accepted via direct deposit, wire transfer or in person. Further information will be forthcoming.
Any questions can be directed to dnsmanger@gov.bm.
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I also notice that the internet service has gotten mighty slow since these company’s has merged together. The service is getting terrible…
Switch ISP and carrier
This is nothing to do with one communication. It is Bermuda nic
I manage multiple domains and I’ve always received the notices from BermudaNIC. If the notices need to be received by multiple people in an organization, then that organization should set up an internal distribution list. There is also an option to enable Auto-Renew using a credit card. In my opinion this is not the fault of BermudaNIC or Government but issues with the domain owners.
Yup. I got the emails, over and over again, warning that this was coming. I flew into a panic and contacted someone like yourself, who dealt with it. Nice guy, he would sigh politely (probably shaking his head)and explain to me that he has already dealt with it when the reminder emails prompted a call.
The real problem is that many of these domains were set up in the early days and have NEVER been updated since day 1 (you know when techgeek101@techexperts.bm was your main admin). Since domains were always free they’ve been long forgotten about and the companies are getting stung. Again they should have set the expiry to be a work day when they could have dealt with this.
Weather.bm down. And it is throwing down.
It rarely works when it is raining. Nothing new. Pathetic, yes, but nothing new.
That is nothing new with BWS. They seem to operate only when fair weather systems are in the Bermuda Area….
Here’s a forecast: It will rain today.
But their alternate site http://weather.ci2.com is working fine, even weather radar
I wonder if this would count under any cyber insurance policies purchased by those firms impacted. Loss of income etc. I guess it depends if they were indeed notified of domain expiration. Would be an interesting case study.
Problem is that many domains were registered many years ago and contact details are either incomplete or out of date (or completely wrong), so the automatic renewal notification would have fallen on deaf ears.
A good opportunity to clean up the registration information on the many .bm domains but having it happen on a Friday night was probably not a smart move by bermudanic
I have gone through all my business emails received for last month, and have not received any notice from BermudaNic about this. Now it is the weekend, and I face a Monday where we have a non functioning website and no email.
Didn’t get the reminders for the domain I look after – nothing.
Did you bother logging into BermudaNIC’s website to see what your expiration date was? And while there confirm your contact details….
btc.bm shame on you
This has nothing to do with BTC
Yet another person who dos not bother to read prior comments before posting….
Bermuda Wins Best Digital Juristiction Award
*Jurisdiction
@Harry Buttle nailed it. BermudaNIC must have known these expiring domains would cause havoc. Why on earth then, would they set them to expire after business hours on a Friday? Meaning companies have a whole weekend with non-fucntioning web-sites and email!! SMH
I very much doubt they have legally expired.
They have. It’s easy to look up the expiration date on the bermudanic website using the whois link. Most of the domains in question expired midnight on the 7th. There was definitely a press release on this earlier this year and again, those who didn’t have up to date registry email information would not have been notified of the expiry. I can tell you 100% that I got an email for the domains I manage 2 weeks before the 7th as I renewed a number of them then.
This is a combination of sloppy domain management by the owners of the domains and a really silly expiration date on behalf of the register (bermudanic).
After this news broke they should have put someone on to at least re-enable the important ones (weather, transact and the like) for a temporary reprieve until at least Tuesday.
Are you sure they haven’t all been paid????
I know of at least one that has been paid for multiple years beyond this year.
Im registering all the ones that have expired now.
Companies can buy them back off me.
Just bought http://www.biu.bm. Not sure they’ve got any money though!
weather.bm not accessible
Use their alternate site http://weather.ci2.com it’s working fine, even the weather radar
I have heard of companies who renewed their domain in a timely fashion but are still having issues. How do you explain that?
Have these companies logged into BermudaNIC’s website to confirm expiration date on their domains?
Some people have no idea what these domains are or what they involve but all we know is that it is just another OUTAGE on the shady internet and Cable TV we pay for. To many outages all the time! Sick of the stupidity. Working out of doors I need to access Bermuda Weather for updates for my work. What a joke I can’t get it. No Advance warning or Notification.
In this case this has nothing to do with the usual culprits that folks get upset with when it comes to internet service and speed. This is all about the Bermuda NIC – the DNS manager for the .bm domains.
Dude you’re wrong. The internet guys don’t look after weather.bm. Try reading the story. Please.
Is it safe to assume that if you haven’t been getting home e-mail since Friday night that the problem is being worked on and you don’t have to call your ISP ?
If you are with transact, yes. Logic and Northrock address are working fine though.
It is nothing to do with the ISPs, it is Bermuda NIC.
Blame it on PLP..lol
We tried to pay with a credit card for our domain(s) this week but the Bermuda NIC site wouldn’t take them. Had to take a check down to them!!
I renewed several domains last week, and paid using a credit card on their website. No problems.
I’ll say it, service SUCKS, the rest of the world laughs at us for the speeds we pay for and what we get.
“I’ll say it, service SUCKS, the rest of the world laughs at us for the speeds we pay for and what we get.”
You have no clue.
What does download speed have to do with a domain registrar?
I don’t understand why the Community and Culture Affairs website is not working.
It is a Government Department – a government website. Surely there was internal communication to that Dept. to let them know?
Someone messed up here and doesn’t want to own up!!!
What a JOKE @BermudaNIC. Any domain registrar in the world will email the administrative or technical contact in the whois domain info before the domain expires. We had an account created with Bermuda NIC last summer and still ran into this issue. How hard would it be to send email blast as an FYI to all the emails you had on file at least a few days before. I guess it’s just too much work after the holidays. Well done BermudaNIC!
Missed my AA meeting AA.bm down
They did!!! My company received emails for all of our domains!!