Forwarding

Forwarding points a domain at another URL without you running a web server. We take over the domain’s DNS to do it.

Forwarding replaces the domain’s name servers

Creating a forward switches the domain to our name servers and publishes the records needed to redirect it. Any DNS you were running elsewhere stops being authoritative — mail included. Deleting the forward restores the previous name servers.

If the domain has mail on it, do not use forwarding. Point the web records where you want them with the zones API instead and leave the MX records alone.

POST /api/v1/domains/forwards

Creates a forwarding record.

Request

{
  "domainName": "apiname.com",
  "redirectAddress": "https://www.apiname.net/landing",
  "forwardType": "Standard"
}

Field	Required	Notes
domainName	required	No underscores; no label may start or end with a hyphen.
redirectAddress	required	Destination URL. Maximum 100 characters.
forwardType	required	Standard or Frame. Case-insensitive, and the initial letter alone is enough — see below.

Value	Name	Behaviour
1	Standard	HTTP 301 permanent redirect. The browser address bar shows the destination. Correct for almost all cases, and SEO-friendly.
2	Frame	The destination is loaded inside a frame, so the address bar keeps showing your domain. Breaks on sites that refuse framing, and is bad for SEO. Use only when the customer specifically asks for URL masking.

How forwardType is interpreted

The same relaxed matching as contactType: the numeric value first, then the initial letter, case-insensitive.

You send	Resolves to
"Standard", "standard", "STANDARD", "s", "S"	Standard
"1"	Standard
"Frame", "frame", "FRAME", "f", "F"	Frame
"2"	Frame
anything else	rejected with Dna.DomainService:Domain:1018

One deliberate difference from contactType

An unrecognised contactType silently falls back to Registrant. An unrecognised forwardType does not fall back — it is rejected. With only two options, silently picking the wrong one would set up the redirect in a way you did not ask for, so "permanent" or "301" give you a clear error rather than a surprise.

Response — 204, no body

Errors

Code	Meaning and fix
DnaValidationError	A required field is missing.
Dna.DomainService:Domain:10005	Invalid domain name, or it contains an underscore, or a label starts/ends with a hyphen.
Dna.DomainService:Domain:1018	forwardType could not be resolved to Standard or Frame.
Dna.DomainService:Domain:1025	A forward already exists. Delete it first, then create the new one.
Dna.DomainService:Domain:1021	Domain not yours.
Dna.DomainService:DomainSale:10007	The domain is listed for sale and uses parking records. Cancel the listing first.

GET /api/v1/domains/forwards · DELETE /api/v1/domains/forwards

Read or remove the forwarding record.

GET — request and response

GET /api/v1/domains/forwards?domainName=apiname.com

{
  "redirectAlias": "https://www.apiname.net/landing",
  "redirectType": "Standard"
}

DELETE — request

{
  "domainName": "apiname.com"
}

Returns 204. The name servers recorded before the forward was created are restored.

Errors

Code	Meaning and fix
Dna.DomainService:Domain:1017	No forwarding configured on this domain.
Dna.DomainService:Domain:1021	Domain not yours.