Who hosts your school sch.uk domain?

[Lolus]

Our local LEA ICT services are charging £90+/year to host sch.uk domain. We no longer use them but would like to keep them if we can find a cheap host.

As a MAT with over 20 domain names, the cost is quickly adding up and we are looking to move away from the current DNS service host.

 

Who are you using and how much does it cost you?

 

Thanks

Update:

fasthosts say £11.99+VAT/pa

heartinternet say £80+VAT/pa

namecheap say they can't host sch.uk

Edited September 11, 2023 by Lolus

[pete]

Try Krystal (Krystal.uk), though you may need to open a ticket as the automated system doesn't expect .sch.uk when doing domain transfers.

[Lolus]

Thanks, I will give them a ring

[IT_JB]

Is it actually hosting your need or just a domain registrar? The free option is to create a MAT Nominet account and then get all the .sch.uk addresses transferred to that, there is no renewal cost for .sch.uk addresses. Then you can use whatever DNS host you want (we use AWS).

[mavhc]

Cloudflare, it's free and you can then create wildcard certs using Lets Encrypt

[Lolus]

Cloudflare, it's free and you can then create wildcard certs using Lets Encrypt

 

Ah great, I use Cloudflare (personal use) and didn't know they support sch.uk.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

Is it actually hosting your need or just a domain registrar? The free option is to create a MAT Nominet account and then get all the .sch.uk addresses transferred to that, there is no renewal cost for .sch.uk addresses. Then you can use whatever DNS host you want (we use AWS).

 

Thanks, we have MAT account with Nominet and we have taken over our domains, just need to find DNS host to manage it from - just not all the mainstream ones are supporting sch.uk hence the question

[Lolus]

So I believe, I do need a registrar that supports sch.uk domains. I cannot manage DNS records and which nameservers to point to on Nominet but I can change registrars (& registrants etc). And the rest (managing DNS records) should follow... Edited September 11, 2023 by Lolus

[IT_JB]

The Nominet account should let you set the name servers (see screenshot)

[36Degrees]

We moved ours to TSO Host when the LEA stopped managing them and they allowed us to do it for free.

[Lolus]

The Nominet account should let you set the name servers (see screenshot) [ATTACH=CONFIG]69797[/ATTACH]

 

Ah ok, that makes sense now. My domains say their registrars are either LEA IT service or Namecheap (namecheap doesn't actually support this) - and not Nominet! That's why I can't see nameservers button on Nominet dashboard. Don't know why Nominet didn't say that when I was enquiring about this!

[ITGURU]

ours is with TSO hosts all free, although we don't use the .sch.uk domain officially anymore, its there if any old email contacts still have the incorrect details or needed.

[KK20]

another TSO host here

[synaesthesia]

Just looking at this now, and TSOHost no longer accept new transfers unfortunately

[Michael]

Same TSOHost, but point my domains to O365 nameservers, so all DNS changes are performed within O365 Admin.

 

You do have to put the request in manually to their helpdesk, as manually adding/specifying the domain won't allow .sch.uk by default. Their support is spot on to be honest with tickets turned around quickly.

[Michael]

Just looking at this now, and TSOHost no longer accept new transfers unfortunately

 

I'm surprised, as you could buy TSOHost hosting linking to that domain for example!?

[synaesthesia]

Indeed, this was a recent changed from the 12th apparently

[synaesthesia]

Cloudflare, it's free and you can then create wildcard certs using Lets Encrypt

 

How did you get this set up on Cloudflare? They only seem to accept domain transfers which use an auth code (so no .uk addresses) even if unlocked, and any sort of support needs a business (paid) account setting up.

[Michael]

Indeed, this was a recent changed from the 12th apparently

 

I wonder if this is temporary or permanent? Did they specify what the real reason was?

[synaesthesia]

No, just that they were not able to do it any more. A colleague from another trust school had also tried separately but was told the same thing

[mavhc]

How did you get this set up on Cloudflare? They only seem to accept domain transfers which use an auth code (so no .uk addresses) even if unlocked, and any sort of support needs a business (paid) account setting up.

 

There's multiple things mixed up here.

 

1. Which registrar your domain is with, I suggest Nominet as no cost once transferred.

2. Who's hosting the DNS, I suggest Cloudflare, no cost and API so wildcard LE certs and no ports open for LE

3. Who's hosting any services such as a webserver, Oracle do a free server

[synaesthesia]

Ah, yes - this was on the assumption that Cloudfare would be the registrar - they're capable but not in this instance. Nominet need us to jump through hoops whilst knitting a cardigan, whilst intoxicated just to get the first stage of a 30 day process to get it transferred.

Never mind - hopefully we can get sorted elsewhere.

[k-strider]

out of curiosity how did you get an account setup with nominet for your academy?

[Lolus]

Hi,

 

I just jumped on Nominet support chat, explained what we are trying to do as an organization and they have created the account for me:

 

1. create Nominet account https://webchat.nominet.uk//?host=www.nominet.uk

2. ask headteachers at all your schools to sign, scan and email transfer letter over to Nominet domainsupport AT support.nominet.uk (template below)

Nominet UK

Minerva House

Edmund Halley Road

Oxford Science Park

Oxford

OX4 4DQ

 

September 01, 2023

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

As authorizing authority for SCHOOL NAME, I request that responsibility for the domain name schooldomain.sch.uk be transferred to YOUR ORGANIZATION NAME - NOMINET@ACCOUNT account.

 

Warm Regards,

 

.…………………

Miss/Mrs/Ms/ [headteacher's name]

Headteacher

 

SCHOOL ADDRESS

3. Nominet will contact schools to confirm the transfer and will ask for headteachers proof of ID,

4. once above is done, you will see domains in your nominet dashboard

5. From Nominet dashboard, you can change registrar (nameserver?) to e.g. cloudflare, namecheap etc. - I haven't done this part yet and will speak to Nominet before I make any further changes but I can see all transferred domains in my Nominet dashboard/portal. Currently, some have LEA IT Services, some namecheap, some cloudflare as registrars.

Hope this helps

Edited October 27, 2023 by Lolus

[Edu-IT]

Is there still a charge? Used to be £15 or thereabouts.

[Lolus]

Is there still a charge? Used to be £15 or thereabouts.

 

No charge to move them into your account.

One-off £10 per transaction when changing registrar. But I believe you can select multiple domains and still pay just £10 in total when moving them over.