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content/post/2024-08-13-howto-grab-domains.md

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+---
+title: Howto grab a domain that has been deleted
+date: 2024-08-13
+tags: [domains]
+---
+
+# gTLD lifecycle
+
+![gTLD lifecycle](/static/img/gtld-lifecycle.jpg)
+(source: [ICANN](https://www.vip.icann.org/resources/pages/gtld-lifecycle-2012-02-25-en))
+
+As you are probably aware of, a typical gTLD or nTLD domain runs through multiple phases after it's expiration date. The last of which is the pendingDelete status which typically lasts 5 days.
+
+If you are serious about getting a domain, it is these very 5 days on which you should become active. (at latest).
+
+Since I still have a reseller account with [1blu business GmbH](https://1blu-business.de/), I'm going to illustrate howto setup a cronjob for their domain robot. The steps required to set this up, will varry quite a bit.
+
+# Code sample
+
+```php {linenos=table,anchorlinenos=true}
+<?php
+
+require 'vendor/autoload.php';
+$client = new GuzzleHttp\Client(['base_uri' => 'https://service.partner4trade.de/live/domain.svc/rest/']);
+
+if (!file_exists(__DIR__ . "/register.lock")) {
+    $response0 = $client->request('POST', 'DomainAvailable', ['json' => [
+        'Transaction' => [
+            'Username' => 'USERNAME',
+            'Password' => 'PASSWORD!!!!!',
+            'TargetAccount' => 'Accountnummer',
+            'ClientTransactionId' => 'randoTransactionID'
+        ],
+        'Domain' => 'domain.tld'
+    ]]);
+    $domain_status = json_decode($response0->getBody())->Status;
+
+    if ($domain_status != 0) {
+        echo "domain not free! Status: " . $domain_status . "\n";
+    } else {
+        $response1 = $client->request('POST', 'DomainRegister', ['json' => [
+            'Transaction' => [
+                'Username' => 'USERNAME',
+                'Password' => 'PASSWORD',
+                'TargetAccount' => 'Accountnummer',
+                'ClientTransactionId' => 'randoTransactionsID2'
+            ],
+            'Contact0' => 'HANDLE-ID',
+            'Contact1' => 'HANDLE-ID',
+            'Contact2' => 'HANDLE-ID',
+            'Contact3' => 'HANDLE-ID',
+            'Domain' => 'domain.tld',
+            'Nameserver' => [
+                ['Name' => 'ns1.nameserver.tld'],
+                ['Name' => 'ns2.nameserver.tld']
+            ]
+        ]]);
+
+        echo $response1->getBody();
+        touch(__DIR__ . "/register.lock");
+    }
+} else echo "lockfile exists - domain registered hopefully";
+
+```
+
+## What does it do?
+
+1. it requires an external dependency called GuzzleHttp which needs to be installed with `composer` prior to running
+2. In the outer if we check if there is no lock file present and only then continue
+3. we then do a DomainAvailability check on the domain and depending on the status (0 = Available) continue
+4. If the status != 0 we give a message and stop execution
+5. else we perform the Registration attempt
+6. in the end we close the outer if with a message that a lockfile exists.
+
+## Howto install it
+
+You will need SSH access to your webserver in order to run these steps
+
+1. create a empty directory to store the script
+2. install composer: `curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php`
+3. install Guzzle in your folder: `composer require guzzlehttp/guzzle:^7.0`
+4. copy&paste the above script with the `$EDITOR` of your choice in a file named `register.php`
+5. Create a cronjob with `crontab -e`
+6. Include the following 2 lines:
+
+```bash
+MAILTO=your.mail@provider.tld
+* * * * * php -f /root/folder/register.php
+```
+
+## Why Availability check?
+
+You can decide that for your self. For me each registration attempt comes with an email from the 1blu domain robot which I guess my account manager also gets. In order to not fall under API abuse, I rather perform this extra step.
+
+## Optimizations
+
+Currently the script send an email per minute which can be a bit problematic if they end up in your phone notifications. To reduce the noise, you could use `fwrite(STDERR, "message");` to write the output of the registration attempt and for the cron redirect `STDOUT` to `/dev/zero`.