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We are in the process of fully spec'ing out the Domain Manager plugin for 4.1 and would love your feedback. I want to give you a basic overview of what we're considering for the Domain Manager, and get your feedback. We want to resolve the current issues and frustrations with how domains are currently handled. Please understand that the new domain system may not include everything in the first release, but our goal is to build the proper foundation so that it can easily be improved upon in the future. What is the Domain Manager? The Domain Manager is a plugin that will be responsible for all things domain related. Think of the Order System, and the Support Manager which cover all things related to orders, and support, respectively. How will I define pricing? A pricing grid will exist, likely under Domains > TLD Pricing where the price can be set for each TLD for 1 through 10 years for Register, Renew, and Transfer. This will provide a simple pricing grid, with different price options for Register, Renew, and Transfer. Additionally, special pricing can be set on a Client Group level, which will override the default pricing. Additionally, domain extras like ID Protect, Email Forwarding, and DNS Management will be options on a per-TLD basis and pricing can be set for these. The customer would be able to check if they want these options during checkout. Question: Is it sufficient to have a single price of ID Protect, Email Forwarding, and DNS Management for all TLDs, or would you want the ability to set a different price for these extra options on each TLD? Are domains services? This is a question that has resulted in much debate internally. My personal thoughts are that domains are very unique and do not easily fit with services. I am proposing that domains be treated completely separately from services. This means there would be a separate table in the database that stores domains and information unique to domains like: Domain Name, Registrar, Status, Date Registered, Date Expires, Management Features Available, Expiration/Renewal Reminders, Last Sync Date, and whether to Auto Renew or not. If domains are not services, they will not be listed with services. For the Staff area, I propose a new Domains widget on client profile pages. For the client area, I propose a new primary nav link called Domains. The Domain Manager would be responsible for renewing domains, and invoicing for them and services and domains would not appear on the same invoices, even if they are billed on the same day. Question: What are your thoughts on domains not being considered services? What about email templates? The domain manager would create several new email templates, likely to include the following: Domain Registration, Domain Transfer Initiated, Domain Transferred, Domain Renewed, Domain Expired, Domain Renewal Notice (domains listed are going to expire in the next x days). What about automatic things? The Domain Manager would be responsible for the following Automation Tasks: Send expiration emails at the reminder intervals Renew domains that are set to automatically renew Synchronize renew dates with the registrar at a given interval What about Registrar Modules? The Domain Manager would implement its own module system, and existing registrar modules would not be compatible. The new registrar module system would be drop-in similar to the existing, but these would be enabled and configured under Domains > Registrars. New registrar modules would likely be more lightweight than current registrar modules as the plugin would implement the common features across registrars. What management features would be available? This will depend on the specific registrar module, but the following features would be supported: Register, Transfer, Renew Domain (obviously) with Renew Domain being an option for Clients and Staff Manage DNS for Domain (Get, Update DNS zone records if DNS hosted by registrar) Manage Registrar Lock for Domain (Enable, Disable registrar lock) Manage Email Forwarding for Domain Manage ID Protection for domain (Enable, Disable ID Protection) Manage Contacts for Domain Whois (Registrant, Admin, Tech) Update Name Servers for Domain (Get Name Servers, Update Name Servers) Register Name Servers (Unsupported by many registrars or not commonly done by average users, may be optional for first release) What about existing registrar modules? Existing registrar modules would be incompatible with the Domain Manager plugin. However, services using current domain registrar modules will continue to work as they do now. Any bulk features? We plan to have bulk features for both Staff and Clients. For Staff, under Domains > Browse Domains and under the Client Profile, Domains Widget. For Clients, under the Domains page. Bulk editing/tasks would work similar to selecting invoices for delivery with a checkbox on the left and some options to choose from like Renew Domain, Manage ID Protection, Domain Lock, Name Servers. I'm certain I'm missing something, but wanted to give you a rough overview of what we are planning and get your feedback. Please let us know what you think!

we have talked about this subject so many times ago and we think is the time to talk about it now . i have made a plan to make something special for my need and provide it to the cmmunity , but i have stack with some limitation and some lock of professional advanced skill and lock of time . so what i have do , first i have decided to make the domain manager as a module , and add the registrar as a components inside the module . the registrar wil have a : - json file to identify the name ,description, version ect ... - folder for API class - module.php (that file has the fields that will be used in the addrow in module + the rules validation ) - manager.php (that file will have the available functions for this registrar ) - package.php (that file will include the fields that will be shown in the package creation ) - maybe we can add more files for other uses . in the module manager , we add registrar as a row (addrow) , in the add row , it list all the registrar exist in components folder as a list , when we select a registrar it load the returned fields in module.php . in the package creation , when we select domain manager , it list the available registrar , when selecting the chosed registrar it can load the required fields by package.php (optional ) . in the client/admin side , we will have a standard function like , name-server, contacts, dns, forwarding , emails ... ect ... the tabs has a relation with the actions available in the registrar or simply if not available show a message of unavailability . so the idea is simple clients/admins tabs --- communicate with the module , the module forward the call to the registrar module . the registrar module return the response , the module show the response (success or errors) . with this way we have a centralized domain management, and we can maintain 1 module rather than multiple modules .we can add the registrars as we want and we can improves them without touching the module it self . the logic is nearly the same used in the gateways , we laod the gateway class inside the gateway model .