You've got EPP - Yea you know me!!

EPP is a protocol that is used for various DNS registries talk to each other.

So, for example when you want to register a domain or transfer a domain from one provider to another, EPP provides an easy way to do this and to manage the work flows associated with these transactions.

EPP stands for Extensible Provisioning Protocol.

The EPP core protocol specificationprovides a complete description of EPP command and response structures. A thorough understanding of the base protocol specification is necessary to understand the mapping described in this document.

EPP is a connection-oriented, application layer client-server protocol for the provisioning and management of objects stored in a shared central repository. Specified in the schema notation of the Extensible Markup Language (XML), the protocol defines generic object management operations and an extensible framework that maps protocol operations to objects. A complete set of protocol specifications was recently published with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as Internet-Draft documents.

The EPP protocol suite currently contains a base protocol specification and mappings for three different objects: Internet domain names, Internet host names, and “contact” identifiers associated with humans and organizations.

Specifications for other objects may be developed as needs are identified.

EPP is connection oriented, but transport independent. A specification for transport using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) exists; specifications for transport using other protocols or applications frameworks may be produced in the future.

A great matrix that outlines the details of various TLDs and their properties (Courtesy: http://www.enom.com/)

As you may know there are multiple Top Level Domains also known by it"s shorthand TLDs ( like .com, .net etc.). And there are also a bunch of Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs).

TLD	Reg. Lock	Auto Renew	Transfer	Additional Info
.AC				Registrant must have obtained a professional or academic qualification or hold a valid membership of an Institute or Trade Assocation.
.BIZ			EPP	gTLD dedicated exclusively to the business community. The .BIZ domain can only be used for a "bona fide business or commercial use".
.BZ				The country-coded Top Level Domain (ccTLD) for the country of Belize. Anyone in the world can register a .bz name.
.CA				Canada's ccTLD. There are additional contact attributes required for the Canadian ccTLD.
.CC			Auto or Fax	Top level domain for the Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Anyone in the world can register a .cc domain for any purpose.
.CN			EPP	China's ccTLD.
.COM.CN
.NET.CN
.ORG.CN
.COM			Auto or Fax	Short for .commercial. Domain names with the .com extension are by far the most popular, and can be purchased by any individual or business.
.BR.COM				2nd Level Domain for Brazil.
.CN.COM				2nd Level Domain for China.
.DE.COM				2nd Level Domain for Germany.
.EU.COM				2nd Level Domain for Europe.
.HU.COM				2nd Level Domain for Hungary.
.NO.COM				2nd Level Domain for Norway.
.QC.COM				2nd Level Domain for Quebec.
.RU.COM				2nd Level Domain for the Russian Federation.
.SA.COM				2nd Level Domain for Saudi Arabia.
.SE.COM				2nd Level Domain for Sweden.
.UK.COM				2nd Level Domain for the United Kingdom.
.US.COM				2nd Level Domain for the United States.
.UY.COM				2nd Level Domain for Uruguay.
.ZA.COM				2nd Level Domain for South Africa.
.DE				Germany's ccTLD The administrative contact must have a street address or P.O. box within Germany. .DE names require a minimum of 2 name servers.
.GS				WHOIS changes must be made at the Registry.
.IN			EPP	Top level domain for India. Anyone in the world can register a .in name.
.INFO			EPP	The first unrestricted top-level domain since .com, .info domains are available to the general public.
.IO
.JP				Japanese address requirements. Multilingual names will not be supported.
.MS				WHOIS changes must be made at the Registry.
.NAME				Available to the general public, .name email addresses are listed as firstname@lastname.name or lastname@firstname.name, while Web sites are listed as www.firstname.lastname.name.
.NET			Auto or Fax	Short for .network, this domain extension was originally designed to be used by technical Web sites. However, domains using this extension can be registered by anyone.
.UK.NET				2nd Level Domain for the United Kingdom.
.SE.NET				2nd Level Domain for Sweden.
.NU				The ccTLD for the country of Niue. There are no residency restrictions, these domains can be registered by anyone.
.ORG			EPP	Short for .organization. Originally designated for non-profit firms and any other organizations that did not fit under the .com or .net extension, any individual or business may now register a .org domain name.
.SH				Registrant must have obtained a professional or academic qualification or hold a valid membership of an Institute or Trade Assocation.
.TC				WHOIS changes must be made at the Registry.
.TM
.TV
.COM.TW				Taiwan's ccTLD
.ORG.TW
.IDV.TW
.US			EPP	Note: You must meet all the .US Nexus registration requirements to register a name in the .US TLD.
.CO.UK			Auto	Currently, contact information modifications are not immediate. .UK names require a minimum of 2 name servers. Name servers changes/updates may take up to half an hour. A renewal cannot be issued until at least five (5) months prior to the domain's expiration date and effects of a renewal do not occur instantly.
.ORG.UK
.KIDS.US
.VG				WHOIS changes must be made at the Registry.
.WS