google-nomulus/docs/first-steps-tutorial.md

First steps tutorial

This document covers the first steps of creating some test entities in a newly deployed and configured testing environment. It isn't required, but it does help gain familiarity with the system. If you have not already done so, you must first complete installation and initial configuration.

Note: Do not create these entities on a production environment! All commands below use the nomulus admin tool to interact with the running registry system. We'll assume that all commands below are running in the alpha environment; if you named your environment differently, then use that everywhere that alpha appears.

Temporary extra steps

Using the nomulus admin tool currently requires two additional steps to enable full functionality. These steps should not be done for a production deployment - a suitable solution for production is in progress.

Modify the tools module web.xml file to remove admin-only restrictions. Look for the <auth-constraint>admin</auth-constraint> element. Comment out this element, and redeploy the tools module to your live app.

Create a TLD

Pick the name of a TLD to create. For the purposes of this example we'll use "example", which conveniently happens to be an ICANN reserved string, meaning it'll never be created for real on the Internet at large.

$ nomulus -e alpha create_tld example --roid_suffix EXAMPLE \
  --initial_tld_state GENERAL_AVAILABILITY --tld_type TEST \
  --dns_writers VoidDnsWriter
[ ... snip confirmation prompt ... ]
Perform this command? (y/N): y
Updated 1 entities.

• -e is the environment name (alpha in this example).
• create_tld is the subcommand to create a TLD. The TLD name is "example" which happens to be an ICANN reserved string, and therefore "example" can never be created on the Internet at large.
• --initial_tld_state defines the initial state of the TLD. GENERAL_AVAILABILITY, in the case of our example, allows you to immediately create domain names by bypassing the sunrise and landrush domain registration periods.
• --tld_type is the type of TLD. TEST identifies that the TLD is for testing purposes, where REAL identifies the TLD is a live TLD.
• roid_suffix is the suffix that will be used for repository ids of domains on the TLD. This suffix must be all uppercase and a maximum of eight ASCII characters and can be set to the upper-case equivalent of our TLD name (if it is 8 characters or fewer), such as "EXAMPLE." You can also abbreviate the upper-case TLD name down to 8 characters. Refer to the gTLD Registry Advisory: Correction of non-compliant ROIDs for further information.
• --dns_writers is the list of DNS writer modules that specify how changes to domains for the TLD are communicated to actual DNS servers. We use VoidDnsWriter in this case so as to not have to set up DNS. Typically one might use CloudDnsWriter (for Google Cloud DNS) or implement your own solution.

Create a registrar

Now we need to create a registrar and give it access to operate on the example TLD. For the purposes of our example we'll name the registrar "Acme".

$ nomulus -e alpha create_registrar acme --name 'ACME Corp' \
  --registrar_type TEST --password hunter2 \
  --icann_referral_email blaine@acme.example --street '123 Fake St' \
  --city 'Fakington' --state MA --zip 12345 --cc US --allowed_tlds example
[ ... snip confirmation prompt ... ]
Perform this command? (y/N): y
Updated 1 entities.
Skipping registrar groups creation because only production and sandbox
support it.

Where:

• create_registrar is the subcommand to create a registrar. The argument you provide ("acme") is the registrar id, called the client identifier, that is the primary key used to refer to the registrar both internally and externally.
• --name indicates the display name of the registrar, in this case ACME Corp.
• --registrar_type is the type of registrar. TEST identifies that the registrar is for testing purposes, where REAL identifies the registrar is a real live registrar.
• --password is the password used by the registrar to log in to the domain registry system.
• --icann_referral_email is the email address associated with the initial creation of the registrar. This address cannot be changed.
• --allowed_tlds is a comma-delimited list of top level domains where this registrar has access.

Create a contact

Now we want to create a contact, as a contact is required before a domain can be created. Contacts can be used on any number of domains across any number of TLDs, and contain the information on who owns or provides technical support for a TLD. These details will appear in WHOIS queries.

$ nomulus -e alpha create_contact -c acme --id abcd1234 \
  --name 'John Smith' --street '234 Fake St' --city 'North Fakington' \
  --state MA --zip 23456 --cc US --email jsmith@e.mail
[ ... snip EPP response ... ]

Where:

• create_contact is the subcommand to create a contact.
• -c is used to define the registrar. The -c option is used with most registry_tool commands to specify the id of the registrar executing the command. Contact, domain, and host creation all work by constructing an EPP message that is sent to the registry, and EPP commands need to run under the context of a registrar. The "acme" registrar that was created above is used for this purpose.
• --id is the contact id, and is referenced elsewhere in the system (e.g. when a domain is created and the admin contact is specified).
• --name is the display name of the contact, which is usually the name of a company or of a person.

The address and email fields are required to create a contact.

Create a host

Hosts are used to specify the IP addresses (either v4 or v6) that are associated with a given nameserver. Note that hosts may either be in-bailiwick (on a TLD that this registry runs) or out-of-bailiwick. In-bailiwick hosts may additionally be subordinate (a subdomain of a domain name that is on this registry). Let's create an out-of-bailiwick nameserver, which is the simplest type.

$ nomulus -e alpha create_host -c acme --host ns1.google.com
[ ... snip EPP response ... ]

Where:

• create_host is the subcommand to create a host.
• --host is the name of the host.
• --addresses (not used here) is the comma-delimited list of IP addresses for the host in IPv4 or IPv6 format, if applicable.

Note that hosts are required to have IP addresses if they are subordinate, and must not have IP addresses if they are not subordinate.

Create a domain

To tie it all together, let's create a domain name that uses the above contact and host.

$ nomulus -e alpha create_domain fake.example --client acme --admins abcd1234 \
  --techs abcd1234 --registrant abcd1234 --nameservers ns1.google.com
[ ... snip EPP response ... ]

Where:

• create_domain is the subcommand to create a domain name. It accepts a whitespace-separated list of domain names to be created
• --client is used to define the registrar.
• --admins is the administrative contact's id(s).
• --techs is the technical contact's id(s).
• --registrant is the registrant contact's id.
• --nameservers is a comma-separated list of hosts.

Note how the same contact id is used for the administrative, technical, and registrant contact. It is common for domain names to use the same details for all contacts on a domain name.

Verify test entities using WHOIS

To verify that everything worked, let's query the WHOIS information for fake.example:

$ nomulus -e alpha whois_query fake.example
[ ... snip WHOIS response ... ]

You should see all of the information in WHOIS that you entered above for the contact, nameserver, and domain.