Your First Day as a CentralNic Reseller

Welcome aboard. You have signed up as a CentralNic Reseller — now let’s turn that new account into a working foundation for your domain business. This guide walks you through everything you should do on day one, in the order that makes sense, so you finish set up, secure, and ready to build.

You do not need to write a single line of code to complete these steps. Everything here happens in the Control Panel — your web-based command centre. When you are done, you will pick how you want to integrate.

By the End of This Guide You Will Have

• A funded, verified account ready to register real domains
• Your team set up with users and the right permissions
• Two-factor authentication and an IP allowlist protecting your account
• Your registrar defaults configured the way your business works
• A first test registration completed, and API access ready for OT&E

Roughly 30 Minutes

None of these steps is long. Work top to bottom the first time; afterwards this page doubles as a checklist you can return to.

1. Fund Your Account and Understand Prepay

CentralNic Reseller runs on a prepayment model: your account carries a balance, and registrations, renewals and transfers are charged against it in real time. There are no invoices to wait on and no credit delays — but it also means an empty balance stops new registrations, and automated processes such as renewals depend on funds being available.

Your very first task is to add a small starting balance. This is not a fee — it confirms your intent to do business and immediately makes the account usable. You can top up by credit card or PayPal from the Control Panel.

1. In the top menu, open Account Balance → Charge Your Account.

2. Choose a payment method and add your initial balance.

3. Confirm the balance now shows in the top bar.

Keep an Eye on Your Balance

Because renewals are automated, a balance that runs dry can cause domains to lapse. Set up a low-balance warning under Username → Settings → Account Data → General (scroll down to Accounting) so you are notified in good time.

See Payment Settings and Account Settings for the full detail, including how verification and the reseller agreement work.

2. Get To Know the Control Panel

Before changing settings, spend two minutes orienting yourself. The Control Panel has three menu areas that stay consistent everywhere you go:

• Top-right (your account menu) — Settings, Password & Security, User management and Automatic Payments.
• Top-centre — Account Balance, API, Downloads, Support and product search.
• Left-hand side — your working areas: Dashboard, Domains, Contacts, Hosted DNS, SSL, Hosting and Subreseller.

Clicking the CentralNic Reseller logo always returns you to the Dashboard. For a full tour, see the Navigation guide.

3. Create Users and Set Permissions

If more than one person will use the account, create individual users rather than sharing one login. Each user gets its own password and its own permissions, so you grant people exactly the access they need — and nothing more.

Open your account menu (top-right) → User management to add users and groups and assign their rights.

How User Logins Work

A user logs in with the account name and username joined by a colon — login = accountname:username — plus that user’s own password. The same format applies when a user connects to the API.

Prefer to automate this? Users and groups can also be managed via the API with AddUser, ModifyUser, DeleteUser, StatusUser and QueryUserList. See ACL Users & Groups for the full permission model.

If you plan to resell to your own customers under your own brand, take a look at the Subreseller settings too — you can set defaults, pricing and even a white-label look for sub-accounts.

4. Turn on Two-factor Authentication

Your account can register and transfer real domains and spend real money, so protect the login. CentralNic Reseller supports two-factor authentication (2FA) using a one-time code from the Google Authenticator app (Android and iOS). You can enable it for your main login and for individual users.

1. Open your account menu (top-right) → Password & Security.

2. Click Enable Two-factor Authentication.

3. Scan the QR code with Google Authenticator (or enter the secret manually).

4. Enter the 6-digit code to confirm and activate.

Full walkthrough with screenshots: 2-Factor Authentication.

5. Lock Down Access With the IP Allowlist

For an extra layer of security you can restrict which IP addresses may reach your account. The allowlist covers two separate channels:

• IP Whitelist — access to the API gateways (EPP, SOAP, HTTPS, XRRP, XMLRPC).
• IP Whitelist WI — access to the Control Panel login.

You will find both under your Account → Settings → System → IP Whitelist. You can add up to five IPv4 addresses or ranges (for example 192.0.2.42 or 192.0.2.42/27).

Don’t Lock Yourself Out

Use your external IPv4 addresses — internal or reserved addresses will not work. If your connection uses a dynamic (dial-up) IP that changes, be careful: allowlisting it could lock you out later. When in doubt, set this up once your integration servers have stable addresses.

More detail in IP Whitelist and, for the API side, API Security.

6. Set Your Registrar Defaults

Registrar settings define how your account behaves by default. The one most worth setting on day one is your renewal mode, under Account → Settings → System:

• AUTORENEW — domains renew automatically before they expire (the safe default for most resellers).
• AUTOEXPIRE — domains are allowed to expire when you have no confirmed renewal.
• AUTODELETE — domains are deleted at their maximum expiration date.

You can always override the mode per domain later. See Registrar Properties for the complete list of settings.

7. Make Your First Test Registration

Before you automate anything, register one domain by hand in the Control Panel. It is the fastest way to confirm your account is funded and working, and to see the lifecycle for yourself.

1. In the left menu, open Domains.

2. Search for an available, low-cost domain.

3. Register it, choosing a contact and your default nameservers.

4. Confirm it appears in your domain list as active.

Do This in the Control Panel First

Registering once by hand — before touching the API — means that when you do automate, you already know what a correct result looks like.

8. Find Your Pricing

Know your costs before you build a price list for your customers. Two places show pricing:

• Account Balance → Services & Prices (top menu) — your rates across services.
• Domains → Domain prices (left menu) — per-TLD registration, renewal and transfer prices.

Your wholesale prices depend on your pricescale; your margin is the difference between those and what you charge your own customers.

9. Activate API Access and Open OT&E

Ready to integrate? CentralNic Reseller gives you a dedicated OT&E (Operational Test & Evaluation) environment — a full sandbox where you can build and test without spending money or touching live domains.

From the top menu, API gives you everything you need:

• API Gateways — the hostnames and ports for each protocol.
• Direct API Console — try commands straight from the browser.
• Documentation — the command reference.

The OT&E gateway lives at api-ote.rrpproxy.net. For example, an HTTPS call looks like:

https://api-ote.rrpproxy.net/api/call?s_opmode=OTE&s_login=[account]&s_pw=[password]&command=CheckDomain&domain=example.com

OT&E and Production Are Separate

Your OT&E environment has its own endpoints and credentials, and its data does not carry over to production. Build and test in OT&E, then follow Moving from OT&E to Production when you are ready to go live.

See Connecting for all five ways to connect, and HTTPS-Software for the gateway details.

What To Do Next

Your account is funded, secured and configured — nicely done. The next decision is how you want to integrate. Pick your path:

Which Integration Method Should I Choose?REST, EPP, an SDK, WHMCS or the Control Panel — find the right fit for your business.

Building Your IntegrationConnect and register your first domain via the API.

Moving from OT&E to ProductionWhen your integration is tested, take it live.