Domain monitoring is a service that tracks significant domain settings of any particular domain it has been assigned to track. Being able to track changes in certain domain settings is important because specific changes may be indicative of when the domain name you are trying to buy is going to become available again for registration and purchase. Domain monitoring comes included when placing a domain backorder and notifies you via email any time there is a significant change to the settings of the domain you are trying to acquire. In addition to receiving notifications yourself of domain setting changes to the domain you want, you are also able to select up to two other email contacts to whom email notifications should also be sent. Monitoring is set up for one-year periods at a time. In order to continue using domain monitoring, it must be renewed in order to continue use. Fortunately, you are able to set domain monitoring to continually renew automatically so you do not have to manually renew the service or remember to do so. The auto-renew setting can be turned on or off at any time. Domain monitoring is able to track setting changes to domain names with the following extensions: .com, .org, .net, .biz, .info, .co, .us, .me, and .mobi. When monitoring a particular domain name, you will be notified any time there is a change to any of the following domain settings: 1 - The Domain Name Registrar: When there is a change to the registrar of a domain name, this may be due to a domain name transfer. 2 - Nameservers / Domain Name System (DNS): Changes to a domain’s nameservers means that DNS management has changed. This does not necessarily mean someone else is managing the domain, only that the nameservers the domain points to have changed – but still good to know. 3 - The Status of a Domain Name: When a domain becomes locked or unlocked, this changes the status of the domain name. When a domain status changes to “unlocked,” this may mean that the domain is getting ready to be released, sold, or become available for purchase again soon. 4 - The Domain Expiration Date: Domain names have an expiration date based on the amount of time that they have been registered for. If a domain is renewed, this will extend the expiration date, consequently making it become longer before the domain is available again for purchase. Alternatively, a canceled domain could potentially expire soon, making the domain name you want become available sooner rather than later.