A useful domain inventory links each name to an accountable business owner, its renewal plan and the services that depend on it. A list of names alone is insufficient when you need to approve a transfer, investigate an outage or retire an unused brand.
IN THIS ARTICLE
01 Record fields that support real decisions
| Field group | Record |
|---|---|
| Identity | Registered name, ASCII form where relevant, business purpose and intended holder. |
| Control | Customer account, sponsoring registrar, authorised owner and backup contact. |
| Renewal | Account due date, registry expiry, renewal setting, term and current pricing reference. |
| Services | Authoritative DNS, website, email, redirects and third-party verification dependencies. |
| Protection | Applicable locks, DNSSEC ownership, recovery process and last access review. |
| Change record | Last confirmed operation, planned migration or retirement, and approval reference. |
02 Build and reconcile the inventory
- Export domain lists from every authorised account. Keep the source and export time.
- Normalise spelling and compare duplicates by the registered domain, not the display title.
- Assign a business owner to every row, including parked or defensive registrations.
- Check important dates and statuses against the provider's current account and authoritative data.
- Resolve domains that appear in invoices but not in the expected account, or in DNS but not in the registration list.
Should I keep API keys and authorisation codes in the inventory?
No. Store a reference to the approved secrets system and the responsible team, not the secrets themselves. The inventory may need wider access for finance or management review than a credential should receive. Treat exported contact details as confidential as well.
How often should it be reviewed?
Set a recurring review suitable for the portfolio's size and value, and update it after every registration, transfer, renewal, ownership change or retirement. A critical domain should receive additional review before its renewal deadline or a major service migration.
When retiring a name, record the approved decision and remove dependencies first, especially recovery emails and external account logins. Retain the historical row with its final disposition so a future team does not mistake a deliberately retired domain for a missing renewal.