Your Quick-Start Guide to OpenSRS

Welcome to OpenSRS. Whether you plan to use the Reseller Control Panel, Storefront, or the API, you need to complete a few preliminary configurations before you can begin selling. This guide walks you through the four setup areas to address first: account settings, messaging, funds, and API integration.

What this guide covers

The Reseller Control Panel (RCP) gives you access to domains, email, SSL/Trust products, publishing, and other reseller settings. The configuration steps below apply once your reseller account has been activated. If you have not yet registered as a reseller, sign up at opensrs.com/join/.

Before you begin

• An activated reseller account. You must have submitted your registration and received the confirmation email with your username and password.
• Access to the Reseller Control Panel. Sign in at manage.opensrs.com.
• Your company logo. Have a logo image ready to upload for end-user communications.

Step 1: Configure your account settings

When you first open a reseller account with OpenSRS, review the account settings to make sure they are configured correctly for your business. From the Reseller Control Panel, select Account settings.

Two-factor authentication (recommended)

To increase account security, enable two-factor authentication. Every time you sign in, a unique code is displayed in your authenticator app or sent by SMS. See the two-factor authentication setup guide.

Manage users (optional)

If multiple users need access to the Reseller Control Panel, set them up in the Manage Users tab. See the user management and permission profiles guide.

Permission profiles (optional)

Your account includes several default permission profiles, marked as preset in the Type column. Select a profile name to view its permissions. Preset profiles cannot be edited or deleted, but you can copy one as the starting point for a custom profile.

Branding (recommended)

The Branding page is where you upload your company logo and customize end-user pages and messages sent from the OpenSRS messaging platform. See the branding configuration guide.

Step 2: Configure messaging

The OpenSRS messaging platform sends notifications to your users, sub-resellers, and customers on your behalf, including renewal and transfer notices, registrant verification emails, and more. The platform includes over 100 templates: some are mandatory, others are optional and can be enabled or disabled.

To open the messaging section:

1. Sign in to the Reseller Control Panel.
2. Select the Messaging and confirmation tab.

To set your default messaging language:

1. In the Default language section, select Edit.
2. Choose your preferred default language from the drop-down.
3. Select Submit.

To enable or disable an optional notification, use the toggle on the right side of the messages list. If the toggle is disabled, the message is mandatory and cannot be turned off.

Add your logo

Your company logo appears in every message sent on your behalf. To upload it, go to Account settings > Branding, select Edit next to General Communication Branding, and upload the image.

Set language preferences and translations

Many messages support multiple languages. If your language is not available, you can add your own translation:

1. Hover over the message you want to translate.
2. Under Language templates, select Add language.
3. Choose the source language to translate from.
4. Choose the language you are writing the translation in.
5. Select Submit.
6. Hover over the message body and select Edit.
7. Enter your translation. You can edit in a WYSIWYG HTML editor or in source view.
8. Select Create & publish.

Key notifications to consider enabling

You decide which optional notifications to send to your customer base. Common notifications include:

• Domain notifications to end customers: renewal confirmations, renewal reminders (30 days before expiry is mandatory for gTLDs), transfer-in / transfer-away updates.
• Domain notifications to your account: registrant validation status reports, domain renewal confirmations, transfer notices, event notification messages.
• Trust notifications to end users: renewal reminders at 60, 30, and 10 days before expiry and at expiry.
• Trust notifications to your account: vendor order completion, vendor order cancellation, certificate revocation, and the reseller daily upcoming-renewal reminder.

Step 3: Add funds to your account

You can fund your reseller account by credit card, PayPal, ACH, or local bank transfer. From the Reseller Control Panel, select Funds, or choose Billing and payments > Add funds. See the full account balance management guide.

Credit card

• Payment must fall between your minimum and maximum daily charge limits.
• Billing details are pre-filled when an existing card is selected and cannot be changed on this screen.
• You can download or print the confirmation, but only from the confirmation page.
• Credit card payments are subject to a 3% processing fee, charged on the statement amount.

PayPal

• Payment must fall between your minimum and maximum daily charge limits.
• Select Preview total charge to see the total before confirming on PayPal's site.
• You can download or print the confirmation only from the confirmation page.
• PayPal payments are subject to a 3% processing fee.

Automated Clearing House (ACH)

ACH must be set up before you can use it. In Billing and payments > Settings, download the sign-up form, complete it, and submit it for approval.

• Payment must fall between your minimum and maximum daily charge limits.
• ACH is automated only if you enable automated payment in the Settings tab.
• OpenSRS charges no processing fee for ACH. Your bank may charge its own fee.
• The financial institution details displayed for your ACH setup are read-only.
• ACH is available only to Canadian and US resellers.

Step 4: Integrate OpenSRS with your other tools

The API key is used only for connecting OpenSRS to third-party tools such as WHMCS or Odin. Sample requests, responses, and commands are in the OpenSRS API guide.

To open API settings, go to Account settings > API settings.

Generate an API key

The API key authenticates your client and builds the secure socket for client/server communication. To generate a new key, select Generate new key from the Actions drop-down.

IP access rules

The IP access rules section controls which IP addresses can connect to the API. Two limits apply:

• You can have a maximum of five rules. To add more, you must remove existing rules.
• You can only add IP ranges with a CIDR prefix between 25 and 32.

To add a rule:

1. In the IP access rules section, select Edit.
2. Enter the IP address.
3. Choose the CIDR prefix from the drop-down.
4. Set the type to Allow or Deny.
5. Select Submit.

Next steps

• Register your first test domain. Use the Horizon test environment to practice the registration workflow before you spend live credits. See the Horizon / Test System Accounts article.
• Set up your Storefront. If you plan to sell domains directly to end users, configure your Storefront from the Reseller Control Panel.
• Bookmark your service login URLs. Save the Login URLs for OpenSRS Services article for fast access to RCP, MAC, Storefront, and MWI.

Questions? Contact OpenSRS Support.