govmu.org domain name issues

20 December 2014 by S. Moonesamy

www.govmu.org

On 14 November 2014, the Government of Mauritius announced that it will be migrating its Government Portal to www.govmu.org as from 1 December 2014.

Several users reported that some gov.mu web sites were not working correctly while the migration was being done.

domain name issues

Some web pages on the Government Portal have links to the old gov.mu web site:

Some email addresses published on the Government Portal are incorrect as they contain the mail.gov.mu domain name.

govmu.org related department or parastatal

There is a link to a web search engine listed as a department or parastatal.

gov-mu.org

The web site of the Tourism Authority is http://ta.gov-mu.org. The Whois record for gov-mu.org is as follows:

Domain Name:GOV-MU.ORG
Domain ID: D169543517-LROR
Creation Date: 2013-08-29T10:06:00Z
Updated Date: 2014-09-21T10:00:41Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2015-08-29T10:06:00Z
Sponsoring Registrar:GoDaddy.com, LLC (R91-LROR)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 146
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL:
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Registrant ID:CR149899300
Registrant Name:Registration Private
Registrant Organization:Domains By Proxy, LLC
Registrant Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Registrant Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Registrant City:Scottsdale
Registrant State/Province:Arizona
Registrant Postal Code:85260
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.4806242599
Registrant Phone Ext:
Registrant Fax: +1.4806242598
Registrant Fax Ext:
Registrant Email:GOV-MU.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Admin ID:CR149899302
Admin Name:Registration Private
Admin Organization:Domains By Proxy, LLC
Admin Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Admin Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Admin City:Scottsdale
Admin State/Province:Arizona
Admin Postal Code:85260
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.4806242599
Admin Phone Ext:
Admin Fax: +1.4806242598
Admin Fax Ext:
Admin Email:GOV-MU.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Tech ID:CR149899301
Tech Name:Registration Private
Tech Organization:Domains By Proxy, LLC
Tech Street: DomainsByProxy.com
Tech Street: 14747 N Northsight Blvd Suite 111, PMB 309
Tech City:Scottsdale
Tech State/Province:Arizona
Tech Postal Code:85260
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.4806242599
Tech Phone Ext:
Tech Fax: +1.4806242598
Tech Fax Ext:
Tech Email:GOV-MU.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com
Name Server:PDNS03.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server:PDNS04.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
DNSSEC:signedDelegation
DS Created 1:2014-09-21T10:00:40Z
DS Key Tag 1:43156
Algorithm 1:8
Digest Type 1:1
Digest 1:b2f5f0b6d2d2ff74a979f9a4298a59b747e48eff
DS Maximum Signature Life 1:1814400 seconds
DS Created 2:2014-09-21T10:00:40Z
DS Key Tag 2:14122
Algorithm 2:8
Digest Type 2:1
Digest 2:408d25fa1090694f552ca10579c8deeb8ae60f3e
DS Maximum Signature Life 2:1814400 seconds

Board of Investment Mauritius

The Board of Investment Mauritius has a link to the old www.gov.mu web site.

Enterprise Mauritius

The Enterprise Mauritius web site has a link from Government Portal as http://www.enterprisemauritius.biz. The Whois record for the domain name is as follows:

Domain Name: ENTERPRISEMAURITIUS.BIZ
Domain ID: D10219609-BIZ
Sponsoring Registrar: NORDNET
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 68
Registrar URL (registration services): whois.nordnet.net
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Variant: ENTERPRISEMAURITIUS.BIZ
Registrant ID: NNR-ENTERP0
Registrant Organization: Enterprise Mauritius
Registrant Address1: 7th Floor St James Court Port Louis
Registrant City: Port Louis
Registrant Postal Code: 11111
Registrant Country: Mauritius
Registrant Country Code: MU

Maurice Ile Durable

The Government Portal links to http://www.mid.mu which was the web site for Maurice Ile Durable (Green Mauritius).

According to the Whois record the mid.mu domain name expired in May 2014:

Domain Name: mid.mu
Domain ID: 731696-CoCCA
WHOIS Server:
Referral URL:
Updated Date: 2014-12-02T05:18:55.292Z
Creation Date: 2012-05-31T11:50:32.559Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2014-05-31T11:50:32.734Z
Sponsoring Registrar: Register.mu
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID:
Domain Status: serverHold
Domain Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientRenewProhibited
Domain Status: serverUpdateProhibited
Domain Status: clientDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: serverDeleteProhibited
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Domain Status: serverRenewProhibited
Domain Status: ok
Domain Status: serverTransferProhibited


Name Server: dns1.intnet.mu
Name Server: dns2.intnet.mu

DNSSEC: unsigned

Additional Section

Sponsoring Registrar URL: http://www.register.mu
Sponsoring Registrar Address: Port Louis Mauritius
Sponsoring Registrar Country: MU

Last update of WHOIS database: 2014-12-19T22:31:04.701Z

International organisations linking to the Government Portal

The web sites of several international organisations have links to the old gov.mu Government Portal.

Foreign governments

Several web sites for foreign governments have links to the old gov.mu Government Portal.

govmu.org migration

According a newspaper, the gov.mu domain name would be replaced with gov.mu.org domain name. In a press conference held on 2 December 2014, it was mentioned that the Government Portal was migrated to ".mu.org". In a news article published on 2 December 2014, it was stated that the cost of the migration was Rs 542. In another news article, published on 2 December 2014, it was stated that the government spent Rs 825000 to improve some of the services as part of the migration from the gov.mu domain name to the govmu.org domain name.

Conclusion

A domain name migration requires careful planning if the aim is to make the transition as seamless as possible for the user. It is common pratice to ensure that there is adequate communication to reduce any inconvenience to the users. The only information publicly available was that the Government Portal would not be accessible until 1 December 2014 "due to technical works" and that the portal will be moved to www.govmu.org. There were erroneous information about the new domain name.

A migration entails much more than switching to a new domain name. Migrating to a new domain name is not an easy task if the web pages on the web sites were not well-designed. It is not possible to ensure that every web site in the world linking to www.gov.mu updates its links. However, it should be possible to request some web sites in Mauritius to update their links to the Government Portal.

If there was indeed a disaster recovery plan, it was far from adequate. There wasn't any noticeable improvement after the migration. The www.govmu.org migration highlights a lack of understanding of domain name issues and the web.

1. www.lemauricien.com, "LA GUERRE INTERNET DIRECT LTD /TIC : Le portail du gouvernement inaccessible jusqu' au 1er Décembre sauf celle de la Commission électorale", 16 November 2014
2. www.ionnews.mu, "Le gérant de «.mu» profite des élections pour «créer une psychose», selon Pillay Chedumbrum", 2 December 2014
3. www.lexpress.mu, "Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum: «Une bataille juridique lancée pour recouvrer gov.mu»", 2 December 2014
4. Patrice Donzelot, "Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum jure fidélité au PTr et commente le portail gov.mu", www.defimedia.info, 2 December 2014