EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) is the protocol all registrars use to talk with The Swedish Internet Foundation to administer domain names. Earlier, all registries used their own protocol, but since 2009, all communication between The Swedish Internet Foundation and the registrars is via EPP.
Some of you might remember The Swedish Internet Foundation’s mail templates? It became untenable to administer in the long run when the number of registries in the world grew considerably. Therefore, a workgroup was added through IETF. The protocol was then created in November 2000 by Scott Hollenbeck at Verisign, and it is based on XML. It has since been developed within IETF, and in 2007 the first full standard was published and since then The Swedish Internet Foundation has used the protocol, first inhouse and since 2009 in communication with our registrars.
Standardized communication
Through EPP, one can administer different objects. Today, there are specified definitions for domains (RFC5731), contacts (RFC5733) and hosts (RFC5732). As the name ”extensible” suggests, it is possible to make additions to the protocol. For example, there are extensions for DNSSEC (RFC5910).
IETF are still managing the process for developing EPP. There are several registries and registrars that work so the registries will not make their own additions. Instead, as many as possible should be mutual additions and a common standard for all registries the world over. The Swedish Internet Foundation participates actively in this process.
Read more about EPP on the registrar web here.
