SideBySide Domains
PILLAR GUIDE ENTERPRISE

Corporate Domain Management

Managing hundreds or thousands of domains requires enterprise-grade tools, governance, and security. Here's how large organizations do it.

Why Corporate Domain Management Differs

SMB (10-50 domains)

  • • Consumer registrars work fine
  • • Manual management is feasible
  • • Basic security sufficient

Enterprise (100+ domains)

  • • Needs corporate registrar
  • • Automated workflows required
  • • Registry locks essential
  • • Governance and audit trails

Corporate Registrars

Registrar Best For Key Features
CSC Global Fortune 500 Full-service, brand protection
MarkMonitor Large enterprises Anti-fraud, brand monitoring
Cloudflare Enterprise Tech companies DNS + CDN + security bundle
Gandi Corporate Mid-market Cost-effective, good API

Brand Protection Strategy

Defensive Registrations

Register brand variations, common misspellings, and key TLDs even if you won't use them. Prevents brand hijacking.

Trademark Monitoring

Monitor new registrations containing your trademarks. Services: MarkMonitor, CSC, BrandShield.

TMCH (Trademark Clearinghouse)

Register trademarks with ICANN's TMCH to get alerts when matching domains are registered in new gTLDs.

Enterprise Security Requirements

  • Registry Lock: Prevents any changes without out-of-band verification
  • Multi-party approval: Require 2+ people to approve critical changes
  • Audit logs: Complete history of all domain actions
  • SSO integration: Connect to enterprise identity (Okta, Azure AD)
  • IP restrictions: Limit account access to corporate networks
  • Dedicated account manager: Direct line for emergencies

Consolidation Best Practices

Portfolio Consolidation Steps

  1. Audit all domains across business units
  2. Identify the primary registrar(s) to consolidate to
  3. Transfer domains in batches (start with least critical)
  4. Standardize DNS providers
  5. Implement consistent naming conventions
  6. Set up unified monitoring and alerting
  7. Document ownership and renewal responsibilities

Corporate Domain Checklist

☐ All domains consolidated to corporate registrar

☐ Registry lock on primary brand domains

☐ Auto-renew enabled across portfolio

☐ Defensive registrations for brand variations

☐ TMCH registration for trademarks

☐ Monitoring for brand infringement

☐ Audit trail and change management

☐ Emergency contact procedures documented