NSU Service and Protocol 1.0 Specification

2021-09-30 Revision: 2.1

Introduction

NSU is short for NS Update. NSU is a propriety protocol and service developed and offered by Punktum dk's as an interface for updating the relationship between nameservers and .dk domainnames.

The protocol is based on HTTP og the parameters are transferred as GET-variables. The response contains an HTTP header and a brief message for human interpretation.

To use NSU, send an SSL-encrypted HTTP GET request to the following address:

https://ns-update.dk-hostmaster.dk/

About this Document

This specification describes the current implementation.

Printable version can be obtained via this link, using the gitprint service.

License

This document is copyright by Punktum dk A/S and is licensed under the MIT License, please see the separate LICENSE file for details.

Document History

2.1 2021-09-30
- Specified section on the execution and the deletion of DSRECORDs
2.0 2021-09-17
- Added two new error scenarios for:
  - Domain names under registrar management
  - Domain names with VID
  - Change of name servers cannot be initiated from the NSU service with the new change of name servers process
- These new error scenarios is introduced in NSU service version 2.0.0
1.0 2015-07-04
- Initial revision on GitHub

The .dk Registry in Brief

Punktum dk is the registry for the ccTLD for Denmark (dk). The current model used in Denmark is based on a sole registry, with Punktum dk maintaining the central DNS registry.

The service is not subject to any sorts of standards.

The NS Update Service

The NSU service offers a single capability, handling of redelegation requests. The service supports danish and english.

A request to the service is validated as follows:

Parameters are syntactically validated (See: Parameter Validation Errors)
Domain name and nameserver fields are semantically validated (See: Semantical Validation Errors)
Domain name is resolved towards specified nameserver (See: DNS Resolution Errors)

If the request passes all tests a request is sent to the registrant of the domain name for approval.

The following text string is returned if the request was successfully created:

English: Request submitted
Danish: Redelegeringsanmodning afsendt

The request requires the following fields:

id - has to hold the value of either: 52 (danish) or 250 (english)
domain - has to hold a domain name registered with Punktum dk, the domain name cannot be in a state of: deactivated
nameserver - has to hold a host name registered with Punktum dk and the nameserver has to be active
redel - has to hold the value true
submit - has to hold the value of either: bekræft (danish) or confirm (english)

Some of the fields are insignificant for the actual proces, but are required to ensure backwards compability.

In addition to the above error categories the service can render a fatal error, this error occurs only if key resources like database access etc. are not available or other circumstances rendering the service is a critical state.

When the registrant or proxy approves the request the change is completed. Any possible DSRECORDs will be deleted as part of the change.

Examples

A populated URL:

https://ns-update.dk-hostmaster.dk/english/self-service/redelegate-domain-name/?id=250&redel=true&domain=eksempel.dk&nameserver=ns1.hostname.com&confirm=true

The pages returned are fully rendered HTML pages for human interpretation.

Using `curl`

$ curl --get https://ns-update.dk-hostmaster.dk/en/ -d id=250 -d redel=true -d domain=eksempel.dk -d nameserver=ns1.hostname.com -d confirm=true -d submit=confirm

Using `httpie`

$ http "https://ns-update.dk-hostmaster.dk/en/?id=250&redel=true&domain=eksempel.dk&nameserver=ns1.hostname.com&confirm=true"

Resources

Resources for the Punktum dk NSU services are listed below.

Issue Reporting

For issue reporting related to this specification, the DSU implementation or sandbox or production environments, please contact us.

Appendices

Error Messages

As described earlier in this document the service can render a fatal error, this error occurs only if key resources like database access etc. are not available or other circumstances rendering the service is a critical state, this category of errors are not listed below.