Whois

RFC 3912 ( Whois 2004)

Whois (english who is who is ') is a protocol that can be queried to internet domains and IP addresses and their owners with the distribution of a database system information.

Whois queries are performed mainly via the command line since its inception. Since corresponding client software was not available for all major operating systems, sat down early by web-based front end. Despite subsequent versions corresponding to Web - Whois provider is still very popular, not least for reasons of relevance to domain lookups.

For privacy reasons, information about the owner of. De domains can no longer be queried as before over the whois protocol. This only goes on one side of DENIC.

The term " Whois " is also used for other, similar queries, for example, user information in the IRC concerning.

• 7.1 List the whois server of the five RIRs
• 7.2 Requests For Comments (RFC )

Protocol

On the date specified in the IANA port 43/TCP a plaintext protocol is defined. The Sister protocol RWhois extended Whois for redirects and a hierarchical structure, similar to the Domain Name System. Queries are made as in HTTP 0.9 is a single line that is passed by the client to an open socket. On the first line feed follows the response of the Whois server. Some databases, including whois.denic.de permit you to specify the encoding or the query type by own query prefix, but not normalized parameters. Due to its architecture queries can be performed as in the following example with a Telnet client.

History

In the early days of the Internet, the registration and administration of all domains of the ARPANET was in the hands of DARPA. This centralization made ​​it possible for a single server information on all assigned IP addresses, domains, and individuals to obtain. The small number of data sets also allowed fuzzy search for a name or any content. With the increasing opening of networks, the addition of new registrars and abuse by spammers who search criteria were increasingly restricted. A trend that has continued to this day, so use today's Whois query server restrictive quotas define at times and some web Whois service providers to protect their spelling or by other routes of bot detection.

As the ARPANET went up in the late 1980s, the Internet, DARPA initially remained as a registrar until the National Science Foundation commercial entrusted this task to third parties.

On 1 December 1999, the jurisdiction of the ICANN began for the three popular. Com, . Net and. Org domains, it was being changed over to a model that delegates the full set of data to the respective registrars ( " thin" ) and only limited by traditional client work. From 1 January 2003 took over the Public Interest Registry ( led by Afilias ) operating. Org, again in the model of a centralized data storage ( "thick ").

Today, with the existence of new generic and sponsored top-level domains and even new country domains, there is a complex, patchy braid which requires for a successful domain - lookup to know the appropriate whois server.

To eliminate existing inequalities, in 2004 an IETF working group was formed to ( Registry Information Service Protocol Cross) to develop a new standard with the working title CRISP. A first result of these efforts is the XML-based IRIS protocol, whose classes RPSL remember structures. Previous attempts to make Whois information via LDAP accessible or Whois were unsuccessful.

Problems

Neither structure and encoding the return still subject to error handling standards, resulting in difficult cross-domain machine evaluation. Domänenlookups responsibility of the persons tasked with the management organization or NIC and are not available for each top-level domain. As a rule, view detailed information that must be specified at domain registration, query. The public provision of telephone numbers in the context of whois entries subject to a constant debate that flared up again by a proposal of the ICANN 2006. Since an administrative contact for any misuse is also provided, some providers limit already on a list of name server or information on the registrability.

Since there are no naming conventions for whois server, perform popular clients such as GNU jwhois correspondence with lists that require at every change of configuration updates.

Example of a domain query

• The query on the IP is the additional information in which IP range the address is, and where these IPs are registered:

IP and AS lookups

Databases for IP lookups (IPv4 and IPv6) are cared for and maintained by the five RIRs ( Regional Internet Registry ).

The Regional Internet Registries databases are usually available on their websites also available for download. The information contained in these packages include the prevention of abuse any person classes.

Information on Autonomous systems are also provided by the RIRs.

Generic Top Level Domains ( gTLDs )

The listed servers is whois servers that provide their information on port 43/TCP, but not for web front ends of the respective provider.

Second Level Domain Whois

Chance can operate their own whois servers second- level domains. In some countries, " co.uk ". Follow the similar pattern, this is done by the competent NIC. Also, some commercial vendors such as Centralnic ( among others. De.com ) ausregistry ( among others. Com.au ) or info.at ( info.at among others. ) Represent Whois information ready.

Query Whois databases

To make Whois information available via web browser, there are a variety Whois proxy services. In many cases, it is operated by dealers and domain registrars services, which cover only isolated domains and rarely IP or AS information. For more Search the use of an appropriate client in the command line is recommended.

For most common home - and server operating systems, a whois client is either included or at least freely available. Simple queries can be issued from the command line with the whois program. The following is an example of the syntax:

$ Telnet whois.internic.net 43 example.com Web Links

• The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
• The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
• Links WHOIS web clients in the Open Directory Project
• Official IANA ccTLD list
• Report on data protection discussion at heise online of 3 July 2006
• JWhoisServer

List of whois servers of the five RIRs

Requests For Comments (RFC )

Whois:

• RFC 812, NICNAME / WHOIS (1982, superseded )
• RFC 954, NICNAME / WHOIS (1985, superseded )
• RFC 1714 RWhois (1994, superseded )
• RFC 2167 RWhois 1.5 ( 1997)
• RFC 3912 WHOIS Protocol Specification (2004)

As Ablöser traded protocols:

• Whois : RFC 1834, RFC 1835, RFC 1913, RFC 1914, RFC 2957, RFC 2958
• CRISP / IRIS: RFC 3707, RFC 3981, RFC 3982, RFC 3983