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Creating a new domain object

Before you start

1. Are you announcing your own address range, or is an ISP announcing it for you?

If you have an upstream ISP which is announcing your address range, please contact that ISP and ask them to register the reverse delegation with APNIC for you.

2. Have you registered all customer assignments relevant to the zone you wish to register?

APNIC will only accept reverse delegations for assigned space. Unassigned space cannot be registered as a domain object.

3. Have you set up your reverse zone?

You must create a reverse zone before your request for a reverse delegation can be processed. For an introduction to creating reverse zones, see:

• Guide to reverse zones

Information and tools to help you create a reverse zone can be found at:

• Tools to manage DNS



4. Is your IPv4 reverse zone on a bit boundary?

APNIC only permits delegations of /8, /16 and /24 for IPv4 reverse delegations. For example, to register a /15, you need to register 2 /16 objects. To register a /20, you would need to create 16 /24 reverse domain objects.

5. Are you registering an IPv6 zone?

ip6.arpa delegations, like in-addr.arpa delegations, must be made on nibble boundaries. A /32 allocation is on the nibble boundary. The nearest nibble boundary for a /35 is between bits 35 and 36. Therefore, a /35 delegation must be split into two /36 delegations and registered as two separate domain objects.

How to get help

We recommend that you read Guide to the APNIC Reverse Domain Request Form for information on how to complete the attributes of a domain object. If you experience any difficulties submitting your domain object, read Troubleshooting guide for the APNIC Reverse Delegation Form.

How to register a new domain object

1. Submit your request for a new reverse domain object.

Submit this via the online form or copy the template in the text-based form and email it to auto-dbm@apnic.net.

2. The APNIC parser will check the domain object you submit to verify all details are correct.

The parser also checks that the referenced DNS servers are authoritative and correctly return this domain's information. If any information provided in the domain object cannot be validated by the parser, your request will fail and you will be notified of the relevant problem.

3. Your request will be sent to APNIC staff, who will manually create the domain object.

To protect against unauthorised creation of reverse domain objects in the APNIC Whois Database, APNIC maintains authority over the creation of new reverse domain objects. This means that when you create a new reverse domain object, the parser will send you a 'hierarchical authorisation failed' message. APNIC staff will manually enter your reverse domain object into the APNIC Whois Database and give you authority over the maintainer object.

4. Your reverse domain object will become visible on the Internet when the zone files in the APNIC nameserver are updated.

The APNIC zone files are updated every two hours.

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