• How does EPP work?
• Will this mean the end of the Automaton?
• What do I need to use EPP?
• What are the benefits of using EPP?
• Are there any disadvantages to using EPP?
• What are the differences between your implementation of EPP and the Internet RFCs?
• How long will an EPP connection remain open?
• Will you provide an EPP client?

How does EPP work?
EPP is a client-server protocol, where all communications use XML as defined by a series of schemas. All these documents are available on the working group section. The normal conversation between a client and the server will be:

• client connects to server over SSL.
• server identifies itself and the commands and extensions that it supports.
• client logs in by supplying login name and password.
• client polls the server to see if there are any notifications waiting to be collected and then collects them (or it could do this later).
• client issues commands to server, which then replies immediately with response status
• client then idles until it has more commands to send, polling periodically for any notifications

Will this mean the end of the Automaton?
No, the Automaton is a key part of our strategy. Many registrars have indicated that they prefer the Automaton because the messages can be written out by hand and the syntax is very simple.

What do I need to use EPP?
You will either need to write your own EPP client or buy one off the shelf. EPP is not intended for an individual to type out an EPP command in the same way that you can with the Automaton. Your software will then need to be able to connect directly to the EPP server using SSL over, when our server is available.

What are the benefits of using EPP?
The main benefits are:

• Responses to commands are generally instant. You can issue a command to register a domain, get a response and then confirm with your customer that this has happened all in real time.
• Your investment in EPP client programming should be transferrable when integrating with the EPP service of other registries.
• You can choose when to collect notifications that we send you and can be sure that you have received them.

Are there any disadvantages to using EPP?
EPP does not use PGP or any other form of digital signature. Instead it relies on a login name and password and SSL to secure the channel. This means that we cannot prove that any command we received could not have been generated accidentally by our systems as we can with PGP.

What are the differences between your implementation of EPP and the Internet RFCs?
EPP is based around a data model very different from ours. As a result we do not use any of the standard objects defined in EPP but rather we define our own variants for domains, contacts and nameservers. We also add a new object for accounts to represent our account data structure.

Will you provide an EPP client?
Currently we have no intention of doing so.