http://www.thedomains.com/2009/08/06/cm-landrush-to-go-live-tomorrow/

The Cameroon government has appointed Netcom official registry in charge of the Country Code Top Level Domains of The Republic of Cameroon. Netcom is utilizing the CoCCA Registry software and Registrar channel. The Technical Operations: propagation of the zones, and management of the root servers, is managed by the Cameroon phone company, Camtel.

At the beginning of July DNS resolution for the .cm zone became sporadic. CoCCA does not manage the root servers, but does monitor them. CoCCA notified Netcom, who then notified Camtel, that 3/6 root servers (Camtel’s servers) were not reporting the most recent zone files. Camtel manages the servers and reported they were aware of the problem and would fix it. As the launch date drew nearer we warned Netcom and registrars of a forced delay if the root servers were not fixed:

1. CoCCA published this “News” on July 27:
“CoCCA is currently not accepting payment for .CM domains via the CoCCA system due to persistent and recurring problems in the operation of the .CM TLD name servers. CoCCA does not control the propagation of the .CM zones but does monitor the .CM root servers. CoCCA strongly advise registrars not to make payment to any party for .CM domain applications until these problems are resolved.

CoCCA has been advised by netcom that the issue is being worked on and should be resolved by July 31. Further advice will be posted here July 31 – at the end of the .CM landrush period and before general registration is set to commence. If the issues have not been resolved by July 31 the use of this platform to accept and process .CM applications will be suspended.”

2. CoCCA published this News on July 31:
“The issues with the .CM root servers have not been resolved by netcom / Camtel as yet. Accordingly, CoCCA ( in consultation with NETCOM Sarl ) has postponed the general/open registration that was to commence at the end of the Landrush – August 1st.

Registrars will be given 24 hours notice prior to launch of general registrations once the TLD server issues have been resolved. CoCCA has disabled payment for .CM Zones and strongly advises registrars NOT to make any payment to any entity for .CM domains – including for Sunrise or Landrsuh applications, until the issue of propagation of the .CM zones can be satisfactorily resolved.

For more information and updates visit http://netcom.cm.

NETCOM.cm and CoCCA are committed to ensuring the .CM TLD servers are functional, interoperable and comply with generally accepted best-practices.”

3. Netcom has published updates on their website, http://register.cm/

“Dear Registrars,
Currently the Cameroon internet connection is facing technicaldifficulties.
After applying a security update to the .CM registry server, the root name servers failed to get access to the zone file. The technical team of CAMTEL is currently working on the issue to solve the problem.
Domains which were applied for during the sunrise period will be connected once the Trademark Certificates have been validated. Due to the overwhelming success of the introduction of the .cm top-level domain, we would like to ask for some patience. The review process will be finished soon and we are sure that we can connect the domains as soon as our technical problems are fixed.
The open registration for .CM domains will be suspended till the issue has been solved.
We apologise for the inconvenience and we will keep you updated.

Best regards,
Moustapha Saya Kaigama
CEO of Netcom.cm Sarl”

“Unrelated to the widely reported cable fault affecting Internet access in West Africa at present, the .cm registry have cited technical difficulties with their root name servers”

unrelated … so why even mention it?

Sounds like something Rick Schwartz would write (no offense Rick, your writing is quite entertaining at times)

.CM – boundless headaches await ….

One more reason to stay away from this dog.