Whether you are transferring your domain name to another registrar or whether you are closing your business, the process is exactly the same:
All hosting contracts are yearly and Nkosi does not offer hosting without domain registrar service.
To terminate your hosting & domain registrar services all you have to do is simply to inform Nkosi either verbally or in writing. If Nkosi accepts your termination, we will inform you whether it is accepted with immediate effect and whether it is accepted with 24 hours, 7 days, 30 days, 1 year or any other period. This usually depends whether you have passed the 182 day mark of your provisioned yearly hosting plan but it may also depend on other factors. (For example whether your server(s) has already consumed more than your yearly average resources, etc.)
If you are closing your business and domain, you should still make backups BEFORE you terminate your services with Nkosi
If you do not need backups for your closed business, you need not do anything else as we will automatically delete your old data.
If you are transfering your domain name to a different registrar and/or hosting company, please remember to request your new registrar to send update requests BEFORE terminating your services. Nkosi is a completely independent accredited domain registrar and we have our own regulations, as per our Terms & Conditions of service and the ECT Act.
How domain transfers work: When you terminate your services with Nkosi, we prepare your co.za domain name for transfer (reduce TTL/delete your DNS, etc.), the gaining registrar must send an update request through the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP) system of the ZACR. The losing registrar (Nkosi/Cozadomain) will disable DNS for your domain name so that you can smoothly transition to your new hosting service. If you are terminating a domain name with secure Registry services (Domain Lock, 2F, EPP Key, etc) additional processes may be required but the main workflow remains exactly the same: All security is disabled and the domain is prepared for transfer or for deletion (If you are closing your business)
If you are transfering your domain name, please ensure that you communicate with your gaining registrar/ISP and that you follow ICT best practise, to avoid critical data loss or disruption of services. Although you can download all your emails by simply changing your email software from IMAP to POP3 and copy your website by saving it, it is best to always make use of qualified and skilled technicians. Clients previously has deleted all of their email by simply incorect IMAP or POP3 settings. If you are on IMAP and you migrate with POP3 settings set to delete upon receiving (DELE instruction), you will effectively be deleting your emails on our/other servers – so your device/software settings and migration plan is very important during transfers. Always make backups as there are many technical things that can go wrong.
If you require ANY services/consulting/assistance after terminating your domain and services with us, you need to do payment for the provision of any/all services to us first, if whatever you require is technically possible. The best though is to work with your professional contractor(s) and/or your gaining registrar.
Please do remember that Nkosi does not work for your gaining registrar or provide any migration services (as Nkosi is the losing Registrar and losing hosting ISP) – So, we do not provide any assistance or support in migrating or configuring or setting up services on your gaining registrar and gaining hosting company ISP. (Unless you arrange with us before and accept and settle our agreed Invoice(s) for this/these additional service(s))
Please do not ask your “IT person” or “Web Designer” or any third party to contact us to assist them with your migration. This is not a service that we offer, unless you ask us to quote for such a service, accept our quote and do payment in advance for the additional work. Usually when a domain is transferred, the gaining registrar ensures that the domain is setup and configured, the data is setup and copied and then the gaining registrar sends an EPP update request, which is then approved by the losing registrar (by agreement) or by the domain registrant directly.