Domain expiry alerts
A domain alert warns you that a domain registration is running out, which is a different problem from a certificate running out.
How the expiry date is found
Section titled “How the expiry date is found”Tidehawk queries the registry over RDAP, falling back to WHOIS where RDAP is unavailable, and stores the registrar, the registration date and the expiry date against the domain.
The background sweep runs every six hours and queues a fresh registry lookup for any domain whose expiry data is more than 24 hours old, so in practice each domain is re-read at least daily. Only domains with domain expiry monitoring switched on are queried.
A domain whose registry expiry is unknown never triggers an alert. Until the first successful lookup lands, there is no date to compare a threshold against.
What raises a domain alert
Section titled “What raises a domain alert”A rule scoped to Domains fires when the registry expiry falls inside its threshold. Unlike certificates, there is no shorter window and no renewal track. The rule’s threshold is used exactly as written.
Only one open alert can exist for a domain at a given threshold, so the same rule does not keep re-raising while the domain sits inside the window.
After a domain is renewed
Section titled “After a domain is renewed”Tidehawk does not renew domains. It re-reads the registry and reacts to what changed.
When the owner renews at the registrar, the next lookup sees the new expiry date. Tidehawk then resolves every open alert for that domain whose threshold the new date has outgrown, recording the reason domain_expiry_moved. An alert still inside its threshold stays open, which is correct: a renewal that only pushes the date out by a few days has not solved anything.
Each resolved alert that had opened a PSA ticket is queued for closing, so a technician is not left chasing a domain that was renewed weeks ago. See Ticket lifecycle.
Because the uniqueness rule covers open alerts only, the domain can alert again at the same threshold when the new date comes round.
What you will see
Section titled “What you will see”Domain alerts appear in Recent alerts on the Alerts page alongside certificate alerts, labelled with the hostname and the rule threshold. The detail panel links through to the client.
The email is titled Domain registration expires in N days, lists the registrar when known, and says explicitly that this is a registration expiry and not an SSL certificate expiry.
Limits and edge cases
Section titled “Limits and edge cases”- A domain with no registry expiry recorded raises no alert, whatever your rules say.
- Some registries publish no expiry date at all. Those domains appear with no expiry in the inventory and in reports, and stay silent.
- The registry date, not the certificate date, drives these alerts. A domain can be perfectly healthy while its certificate is days from expiry, and the reverse.