You can register domain names with registration periods other than two years using the following EPP fields.

• period – used in registration and renewal requests to set the number of years to register or renew a domain name for. One of the values 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10
• auto-period – may be set in registration or modification requests when auto-bill is set and represents the number of years that the domain name will be renewed for when an auto-bill renewal occurs. Note that this field is only used for auto-bill renewals. One of the values 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9
• next-period – may be set in registration or modification requests when next-bill is set and represents the number of years that the domain name will be renewed for when a next-bill renewal occurs. Note that this field is only used for next-bill renewals. One of the values 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

If a registration period is not specified then a registration or renewal will be for the default period of two years.

As the registration period cannot exceed 10 years, you can only submit a renewal request for 10 years on OR after the current expiry date. Submitting a 10 year renewal request in advance of the expiry date will result in an error message of ‘V128 Domain name is not within its renewal period or cannot be renewed’.

Any renewals submitted after registration and before billing will change the registration to the total term (initial registration period + renewal period)

Standard EPP

The updated EPP schema bundle for use with the multi-year registration period commands is available to download from our Schemas and Namespaces page.

Registration requests

The following request snippet sets the registration period to 1 year:

    ...
    <domain:create
     xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"
     xsi:schemaLocation="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0 domain-1.0.xsd">
      <domain:name>epp-example.co.uk</domain:name>
      <domain:period unit="y">1</domain:period>
      <domain:registrant>EXAMPLE123</domain:registrant>
      ... 

Renewal requests

The following request snippet sets the registration period to 5 years on renewal

    ...
    <domain:renew      
      xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"
      xsi:schemaLocation="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0 domain-1.0.xsd">
      <domain:name>epp-example.co.uk</domain:name>
      <domain:curExpDate>2011-11-01</domain:curExpDate> 
      <domain:period unit="y">5</domain:period>
      ...

Alternatively, registration periods set in multiples of 12 months may also be used for registration and renewal requests. For example:

   ...
    <domain:renew
     xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"
     xsi:schemaLocation="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0 domain-1.0.xsd">
      <domain:name>epp-example.co.uk</domain:name>
      <domain:curExpDate>2011-11-01</domain:curExpDate>
      <domain:period unit="m">36</domain:period>
      ...

Setting auto-period and next-period fields

The auto-period and next-period fields may be set at the same time as the auto-bill and next-bill fields respectively using the domain-nom-ext-1.2 extensions. In the following example, an extension to the <domain:create> command, the domain name is set up on registration to renew 5 days before expiry for 6 years.

     ...
     <extension>
        <domain-ext:create 
         xmlns:domain-ext="http://www.nominet.org.uk/epp/xml/domain-nom-ext-1.2"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.nominet.org.uk/epp/xml/domain-nom-ext-1.2
 	 domain-nom-ext-1.2.xsd">
           <domain-ext:auto-bill>5</domain-ext:auto-bill>
	   <domain-ext:auto-period>6</domain-ext:auto-period>
        </domain-ext:create>
     </extension>
     ...

In this example, an extension to the <domain:update> command, the domain name is set up to renew 1 day before expiry for 1 year.

     ...
     <extension>
        <domain-ext:update 
         xmlns:domain-ext="http://www.nominet.org.uk/epp/xml/domain-nom-ext-1.2"
         xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.nominet.org.uk/epp/xml/domain-nom-ext-1.2 
 	 domain-nom-ext-1.2.xsd">
           <domain-ext:auto-bill>1</domain-ext:auto-bill>
           <domain-ext:auto-period>1</domain-ext:auto-period>
        </domain-ext:update>
     </extension>
     ...

WHOIS output

The ‘Relevant Dates’ section of the WHOIS output will change to show the domain’s Expiry Date rather than its Renewal Date.

Relevant dates:
         Registered on: DD-MMM-YYYY
         Expiry date:   DD-MMM-YYYY
         Last updated:  DD-MMM-YYYY

The number of WHOIS domain registration status statements will be reduced from 7 to 3 leaving:

• Registered until expiry date
• Renewal required (for domains that have expired)
• Registration not required (this is the status when the ‘do not renew’ option is selected)

Registration status:
         Registered until expiry date.

Registration status:
         Renewal required.

Registration status:
         Registration not required.