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<section class="banner">
<h1>Migrate from Google Domains to Porkbun w/self-hosted email</h1>
</section>
<section class="quiet flexible">
<div>
<p>
This proposal documents migrating the Carpenter Tutoring domain name and email forwarding structure away from Google Domains to a dual Porkbun and self-hosted structure.
</p>
<h2>Impetus</h2>
<p>
Google is selling off Google Domains to Squarespace at an undisclosed date. This was announced 2023-06-05 and is <a href="https://support.google.com/domains/answer/13689670">documented here</a>.
Google Domains provided the following key features for Carpenter Tutoring:
<ol>
<li>A domain registrar, mapping carpentertutoring.com to an IP address. This allowed us to serve both the company homepage and cloud storage (Nextcloud) applications to clients and tutors.</li>
<li>Free mail forwarding, allowing every new tutor to have a @carpentertutoring.com email address with which they can send mail to and receive mail from clients.</li>
<li>DNS controls to automate certificate renewal, providing both the homepage and Nextcloud instance with TLS.</li>
<li>Close integration with Google Business Profile, the primary non-homepage web presence for Carpenter Tutoring.</li>
</ol>
</p>
<p>
These services are critical to the operation of Carpenter Tutoring and therefore must be replaced with the next best substitute as soon as possible. Their replacement must continue to be resilient and protected against change to minimise rework. This is especially important given the growing number of independent contractors joining Carpenter Tutoring in the past three months.
</p>
<h2>Existing costs</h2>
<p>
All Google Domains services are available for $12.00 per year for Carpenter Tutoring. The homepage and Nextcloud are self-hosted for the cost of electricity and maintenance by Carpenter Tutoring itself. For the purposes of this document, those costs are negligible.
</p>
<h2>Path of no action</h2>
<p>
If no action is taken, the carpentertutoring.com domain will be transferred to Squarespace. Google promises no interruption of service as a result of the migration. Squarespace assures users that their existing registrations will be financially covered for the remainder of their registration period. Since carpentertutoring.com renews in January each year, the business would pay nothing to be migrated to Squarespace until January.
</p>
<p>
Ironically, Squarespace provides email forwarding features for small businesses <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/professional-email">by reselling Google Workspace</a>. The cost of Google Workspace mail accounts for all tutors is prohibitive for Carpenter Tutoring and will not be considered. This means Squarespace does not offer a low-cost or free mail delivery service for independent contractors.
</p>
<p>
Squarespace, being more than a domain registrar, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/pricing">offers bundle plans</a> with website builders, custom domains, product inventory and checkout carts, and SEO tools. The majority of these tools offer no immediate or near future value to Carpenter Tutoring, and would therefore be an upsell on the essential services Carpenter Tutoring needs today.
</p>
<p>
For these reasons, Squarespace cannot be considered a viable alternative to Google Domains. A third-party replacement is required to maintain existing operability and costs.
</p>
<h2>Path of higher cost and equivalent functionality</h2>
<h2>Path of equivalent cost and minimal functionality</h2>
<h2>Path of low cost and increased functionality</h2>
<h2>Architecture</h2>
<h2>Implementation</h2>
<h2>Security considerations</h2>
<h2>Cost considerations</h2>
<h2>Uptime/resiliency considerations</h2>
</div>
</section>
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