Advice needed: is it wise to spread domain names across different accounts?

[Tsunami]

Some people claim it is wise to not put "all eggs in the same basket", for example they have different companies for domains, email and hosting. The idea behind it is that if something would ever go wrong, not everything you do is affected. If you do domains, hosting and email all within the same package at the same company, then if something goes wrong your domains, website and email are all not functioning.

Can the same be applied to people who own different domains? Is it wise to spread them across several accounts (regardless of weither it's within the same registrar or not), so that if one account would have issues not all your domains are at risk?

Or is this not really needed and maybe, for practical reasons, better to have all your domains in the same account?

[roomisspinning]

Originally Posted by Tsunami

Some people claim it is wise to not put "all eggs in the same basket", for example they have different companies for domains, email and hosting. The idea behind it is that if something would ever go wrong, not everything you do is affected. If you do domains, hosting and email all within the same package at the same company, then if something goes wrong your domains, website and email are all not functioning.

Can the same be applied to people who own different domains? Is it wise to spread them across several accounts (regardless of weither it's within the same registrar or not), so that if one account would have issues not all your domains are at risk?

Or is this not really needed and maybe, for practical reasons, better to have all your domains in the same account?

I'm toying with this same idea. I have everything in one account right now, but this introduces privacy concerns. I'm debating moving one of my domains to another registrar entirely.

In regards to putting all your eggs in one basket, I've been offered the chance to do it several times (most recently, with my password manager offering to store my 2FA codes). I think it depends on how much convenience you're willing to sacrifice. It's much more annoying for an average modern computer user these days to deal with several different services, but if you can handle everything being different, then you should separate everything.

[hadaso]

I don't have many domains, and even if I spread them across several registrars, the only one that counts (the one I use for email) would still need to be registered with only one registrar. So they are all in Namecheap, and all I need from Namecheap is to host the NS records for the domain.


As for putting all my eggs in one basket, I keep all the parts of my soul in one body. Never tried to separate them.

[Grhm]

Originally Posted by hadaso

I keep all the parts of my soul in one body. Never tried to separate them.

But is that wise? Socrates of Athens thought not (reportedly). But we should perhaps defer, as you do, to that great thinker of our time, the venerable Rowling of Clapham. 😉

[TenFour]

For ultimate security it makes sense on paper to spread everything out as much as possible, but in reality for most of us ordinary people it adds unnecessary complication with the potential for new problems. For example, you might end up with accounts at three or more registrars, with different payment due dates. When you decide to change your admin address you now have to remember to change it in three different places. I think of it like door locks. Sure, if you add multiple different locks to a door it looks like it is more secure, when in reality one huge lock is stronger and safer.

[Tsunami]

Originally Posted by hadaso

I don't have many domains, and even if I spread them across several registrars, the only one that counts (the one I use for email) would still need to be registered with only one registrar. So they are all in Namecheap, and all I need from Namecheap is to host the NS records for the domain.


As for putting all my eggs in one basket, I keep all the parts of my soul in one body. Never tried to separate them.

Are you glad about Namecheap's services? What about their support? Is their support easy to reach?

Which type of 2FA do they offer? Ideally it'd be a token/USB stick that you have to insert into your USB drive after entering username and password.

I'm curious to hear some testimonies about Namecheap, I do see that they're a very popular registrar.

One thing I'd be concerned about: according to Wikipedia they suspended accounts of Russian customers. I find that a bit worrying because in my opinion a registrar should keep politically neutral. You open a Pandora's Box if a registrar takes political actions... I would say a registrar should always try to stay as neutral as possible and just do what they're supposed to do: registering domains for customers and offering a good service when doing so.

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by Tsunami

Are you glad about Namecheap's services? What about their support? Is their support easy to reach?

Which type of 2FA do they offer? Ideally it'd be a token/USB stick that you have to insert into your USB drive after entering username and password.
...

I never needed support so i don't know how good it is. All I ever needed from them was to access their website to renew, to set the NS records for the domains, and to enter whois data. It was always available when I needed it.
They say they support U2F and TOTP. I didn't set to any of those. When I login after entering username and password I am sent a code by sms that I have to enter to access the account. I only have to access this account about once or twice a year so I think it's good enough.

[Tsunami]

Originally Posted by hadaso

I never needed support so i don't know how good it is. All I ever needed from them was to access their website to renew, to set the NS records for the domains, and to enter whois data. It was always available when I needed it.
They say they support U2F and TOTP. I didn't set to any of those. When I login after entering username and password I am sent a code by sms that I have to enter to access the account. I only have to access this account about once or twice a year so I think it's good enough.

Is receiving the once-off verification code to sign in safe when you receive it per SMS?
It would be easy, I have to say. I however did read SMSes are not 100% safe, not sure how correct that is.

What are U2F and TOTP? I'm not familiar yet with those abbreviations yet, as I recently started looking into this subject matter.

A token (like a USB key) to insert in your computer after entering username and password, sounds like a great layer of security too. Or is that exactly what you meant with U2F and TOTP?

[hadaso]

Originally Posted by Tsunami

What are U2F and TOTP?

U2F is a standard for 2 factor authentication using hardware (including USB sticks).TOTP is a protocol for generating passwords that change every half minute. Authenticator apps are based on this protocol, and it is also implemented in some USB keys (the Yubikey that I used to authenticate to Fastmail that I lost several years ago was based on TOTP, I think).