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The Internet

Network Solutions Changes WHOIS 126

Jeckle noted that NSI has massively revamped whois. Gone is the contact information, unless of course you use whois.networksolutions.com. (thanks to chrisd for pointing that out). The other servers only contain sketchy information. Less spam, but more control means I guess NSI was just kidding dropping that whole monopoly thing.
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Network Solutions Changes WHOIS

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  • I just alias whois="whois -h whois.geektools.com" and let the excellent Geektools whois proxy sort out which registrar. You can fling most any domain name at it, or an IP, and it'll work out the best place to get the data, then go and get it. Excellent stuff.

    Alternatively, visit http://www.geektools.com/whois.html [geektools.com] to do the same thing.
  • by Fastolfe ( 1470 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @09:19AM (#1489828)
    As part of the NSI's agreement with the ICANN (http://www.icann.org/ns i/nsi-registry-agreement-04nov99.htm [icann.org]), registry information like this is being split up.

    Instead of having everything lumped into one database, you have one centralized database (which this has turned into) containing only information about the domain itself and the responsible registrar that introduced it.

    If you want details about the domain, you then need to query the appropriate registrar's WHOIS server to retrieve it (this is why querying whois.networksolutions.com gets you the information you're used to getting). This is the most efficient way of handling information like this. Each registrar is responsible for keeping its own database of contact information and the "main" centralized database is responsible only for the domain and the registrar that set it up.

    Let's please THINK a bit about a topic and wonder if there might be a perfectly logical explanation for something instead of immediately insisting that someone is being evil and intends to destroy our lives or our Internet.

    A little bit of research won't kill you.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    I can understand that Network Solutions changed whois output and why they changed it the way they did. What pisses me off is the fact that they regularly and randomly make these unannounced changes. Working for an ISP, we (and 99% of the Internet for that matter) rely on this kind of info and even have a script or two based on whois output.
  • Don't be stupid. There are only around a dozen registrars. That's not nearly enough to go round the major Western industrialised nations, let alone all the other industrialised countries. For example, note the absence of registrars based in the United Kingdom, which is the closest thing the United States actually has to a puppet within the West. (Most of the west hates the USA, and rightly so). Furthermore, the locality of registrars doesn't matter.

    Also, when did Taiwan stop being a USA puppet? Last time I checked, their little rebellion from the People's Republic of China would have been stopped a long time ago, if it hadn't been for the US.

  • I want to get it...whois with RedHat 6.0 doesn't.
  • I got bored one afternoon, decided to piece together a little script to automate this. Understand that NETSOL is NOT hiding the contact info at all, they have merely changed the default lookup to the 'generic' lookup.

    If you prefer not to use the default generic lookup and want your old lookup back, try this script. For your info, I called it 'nwhois' on my box - if you name it 'whois' then you can't use whois for ARIN and APNIC and international NICs and the like. Note that the following script may require slight modification as the internic page is subject to change. Yes, this could have been made MUCH better, and i'm sure that some day this will be incorporated into the whois program itself. Simple shell script, should be one line.
    /usr/bin/whois $1@`lynx -dump http://nsiregistry.com/cgi-bin/whois?whois_nic=$1 |head -18|tail -1|sed -e's/\ \ \ Whois\ Server\://'|sed -e's/\ //'`
    Enjoy, for what it's worth.
  • I would like to know why on earth they went to this mainly freetext output frm the at least somewhat machine-parseable output of before.

    I'd also like to know what is wrong with using rwhois for this, since it has all the nice referral stuff built right into it.

    I think they let a suit design how the new whois works, instead of an actual programmer, and that is a BAD thing. Protocol implementations should not be changed by clueless bureaucrats, damnit.
  • This is why I made my Whois-client (jwhois) first ask whois.internic.net and then redirect the query to whatever server it replies knows about it.
    But I must say that I don't mind them separating the Whois registries like this.
  • Sure, live and let live.

    But remember that it works both ways. Your mentioning that having sex was disgusting can be considered discrimination. So I'd be careful and not prejudge.

    But just a word of warning: You may have some difficulty persuading any court that your beliefs are justified. They just may say you are wrong and it's case closed. If they were to make amends for any and all minorities, the law would be thrown out the window.

  • I doubt very much that jurisdiction over trademark disputes has anything to do with the locality of the registrar. This is because the registrars are all working in the same namespace.

    What country are you from?


  • > fwhois pantheras.org@whois.networksolutions.com
    [ ... ]
    Administrative Contact:
    Wallace, Nancy (NW1361) darkrose@SHORE.NET
    [ ... ]

    Looks like you have a different whois client than the redhat-style fwhois. You might want to read the manpage for it. I hear documentation's pretty helpful in figuring out how to use software.

  • Specifically:

    Geektools (a "public domain" project from CenterGate Research Group [centergate.com] ) has:

    a) a whois proxy which proxies all known tlds, including gTLDs, ccTLDs. It is available as a command line proxy at whois.geektools.com. If you send a blank request, it will display a basic help screen.

    b) A web UI at GeekTools WHOIS [geektools.com]

    c) Under the software link, a generic *nix source tarball if you want to run your own local proxy. GeekTools Software [geektools.com] .

    d) Also under software, a windows binary that runs out of your system tray.

    They all operate in a similar way, except that the ui version will allow you to hotlink to elements of the answer (contact, nameservers, etc).

    Importantly, they know about .com .net. org. edu. .mil .gov and about 95 Country Codes automagically. It also knows about ip addresses, handles, arin records, radb policies, AS numbers, obfuscated ip addresses (spammers hack) etc.

    We try and keep on top of the new whois changes around the world. If anyone can fill holes for us in the list, please email us!

    We limit the number of queries per day to 50 from any ip address to thwart spammers. If you have a good legitimate reason for more queries a day, and give us your real contact information, we'll lift the restriction. Just email the address on the site.
  • The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network Solutions for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record.

    Network Solutions does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to:

    (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to Network Solutions (or its systems). Network Solutions reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.


    WHAT AN EXTRA-ORDINARY CONCEPT

    I cannot believe that NSI is try to posit that anyone submitting a Whois query is in fact agreeing to the above contract, whose terms may be changed by NSI at any time! Man, I wish I had this kind of imagination. Just think - under the above they could change the terms and claim a retroactive charge of $1 per Whois query!

    Let's see if I can extend this to my own purposes.. hmmm

    The Information in this message is provided by the eric conspiracy inc. for the sole purpose of filling up the MySQL database running on servers owned by Andover Net. By accepting this posting into its database, Andover Net agrees to pay the poster 60% of all revenues associated with displaying this post on it's web pages, and supply the author a monthly accounting of such displays and associated revenue to enable accurate invoicing. Any other use including entertainment value, or attracting readers who may also be concurrently shown advertising for renumerative purpose is forbidden. By reading the text of any postings by the eric conspiracy inc., you agree to the terms of this license.

    This license may be changed at any time without notice. Changes to the license may include requirements for retroactive license fees associated with the posting, transferrence, display or reading of any data created by the eric conspiracy.

    Any transmission of this data over any electronic media whatsoever consitiutes agreement by the carrier to the terms of this license.

    No warranty as to the validity or fitness for use of this data is made. All implicit warrantees for fitness for use are disclaimed.



  • The US should form a quasi-governmental, NON-PROFIT organization along the lines of the USPS. It should be required to be self-sustaining (ie costs = revenue), but a non-profit. Call this org the USDR (US Domain Registrar).


    I assume you mean that this registrar should have responsibility for .com, .net and .org?


    Too bad about the 10-30% of domain name owners who are not in the US, then....


    OTOH, if what you are proposing is the forcible closing of .com and the move of all the US companies to the .US domain, that might be a good idea....

  • Actually, this is an anti-monopolistic change!

    The whois command is meant to be used as "whois name@server" where name is a domain name or handle, and server is the server that has information on that name. At present, "whois name" tells you the name of the correct whois server to use to complete the lookup request, so long as the name is for a .com, .net, .org, .edu, or a handle for a contact for one of those. It used to be that if no server was specified, rs.internic.net, the default, used Network Solutions' data, but this is inappropriate now that there are other registrars.

    The data previously available is still fully available so long as the correct server is queried - and that won't always be whois.networksolutions.com. Some may prefer that
    rs.internic.net did the heavy lifting and made
    the request to the correct server and presented
    the originator with the final query, but I wouldn't expect that to happen.


  • The only thing that has changed at all is that now we need to do two queries in order to get to the contact info. Observe:

    $ whois slashdot.org

    [useless conversation deleted]

    Domain Name: SLASHDOT.ORG
    Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
    Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com
    Name Server: NS1.ANDOVER.NET
    Name Server: NS2.ANDOVER.NET
    Name Server: NS3.ANDOVER.NET

    Now using Whois Server from above we can get to the same old contact info we all know and love:

    $ whois slashdot.org@whois.networksolutions.com

    Of course, we could just assume that whois.networksolutions.com has all the registries (I know, not technically true) and skip the first step. Just more typing.

    My point really is that anyone thinking that this is good because it will hide the contact info from spam gatherers is simply wrong. And those who think that this is bad because they will not be able to determine the contact info for legit purposes are also wrong.

    We just need to specify which server we want to get the info from. I suppose this is about as good a situation as we could have hoped for in the event of multiple registries.

  • This is a great victory in ending NSI's monopoly. They constantly tried to confuse people into thinking that InterNIC and NSI were the same thing. Now InterNIC is properly represented as the database of domain names and NSI as the company that maintains the database under contract ("InterNIC" is a registered trademark of the US Dept. of Commerce)

    The whois server at internic.net will tell you which registrar serves that name, and the address of that registrar's whois server for more information.


    -
    <SIG>
    "I am not trying to prove that I am right... I am only trying to find out whether." -Bertolt Brecht

  • The change was made as part of the agreement with the US govt. and other registrars.

    Previously, a whois query on the default server would return information about a domain only if Network Solutions was the registrar for that domain, and a negative result if the domain was registered elsewhere.

    Now, all registrars are at an equal distance from the default whois server. To look up a domain, first do a 'whois' with the default server, and see what whois server serves that domain; then do a second query against that server, and you'll get all information you expect.

    A script to parse the output of the first "whois" and issue a second query is trivial and is left as an exercise for the reader.

    This is a good thing. The default "whois" is no longer NSI-only, and we no longer have to guess where the other whois servers are to track down a domain contact.
  • by Leto2 ( 113578 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @10:47AM (#1489855) Homepage
    > So we'll have to do this until we hack whois to support it:

    I heard about a very very handy whois server:
    geektools.com

    whois -h geektools.com dommain
    gives info on whatever domain, even if it's a countrycode TLD.

    (try whois -h geektools.com tudelft.nl)
  • One-stop WHOIS. OK, this isn't a real big problem, but it would be nice to go back to a single repository for domain info. All domain info.

    Rest assured that this will appear in good time. Obviously it would be a huge boon to administrators to have such a tool, and it's pretty easy to code such a service that queries the central server and then queries the registrar, giving you all of the information available.

    which only gives me MORE spam, BAD service, MORE paperwork, MORE lawsuits, and invades my privacy.

    Maybe it's time you switched registrars then? The whole idea behind multiple registrars is so they can act competitively. Things like spam, bad service and excessive paperwork are detractors. People aren't going to want to do business with registrars like this, and will take their business to registrars that don't have these issues. It's simple economics. Contrast this with a government-subsidized monopoly over the system, where spam, bad service and excessive paperwork are the norm because they don't *have* to do any better. I wouldn't even have had a problem with them raising rates a bit if it meant fixes to these issues, but they were never under any obligation to do so, so it never happened. Competition in this area isn't necessarily a bad thing and will only lead to better and smarter ways for people to manage their domains.

    If you're truly concerned about your privacy, find a registrar that respects it. Do some investigating and find the registrar you want to do business with. If none exist, make it known that this is a major factor. Eventually someone will step up.

    ARIN assigns IP address blocks. It works (very well). If the "private" sector was so much better, why aren't we assigning IPs that way?

    The number of requests for IP's going through ARIN is a tiny fraction compared to domain names going through registrars. ARIN doesn't really assign IP's out to individual ISP's all over the world. More often than not, they will delegate large swaths of IP's to larger ISP's (or countries), who then sub-delegate to their own customers/ISP's.

    It works out to more of a top-level tree system, with ARIN delegating large chunks of IP space and letting those people delegate as necessary. The result is a minimal amount of work and overhead on ARIN's part, which makes their work inexpensive and perfect for a relatively small (even if government-sponsored) organization. Privatizing this wouldn't make much of a difference.
  • 0-12:49 dannyman@europa ~> whois dannyland.org
    [...]
    Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
    [...]
    0-12:49 dannyman@europa ~> whois dannyland.org@whois.networksolutions.com
    [...]
    Administrative Contact:
    Howard, Daniel Joseph (DJH26) dannyman@DANNYLAND.ORG
    650 559 0302
    [...]

    Rocket science it aint.
  • Unfortunately, whois.networksolutions.com will not contain information about domains registered through other competing registrars. Slashdot.org is registered with NSI, which is why it shows up there.
  • And to follow up on my own post:

    whois -h geektools.com quad.dotted.ip.addy

    also works for looking up ARIN contacts.
  • bleh...you dont need perl for this, just a couple gnu utils:

    fwhois @`whois | grep "Whois Server:" | cut -f2 -d':' | tr -d \[:blank:\]`

    or

    whois -h `whois | grep "Whois Server:" | cut -f2 -d':' | tr -d \[:blank:\]`

    --Siva

    Keyboard not found.

  • The US government is already regulating this market without asking the rest of the world what they think, so the line between that and them controlling it is really hair thin.

    If the americans are so afraid of their national tld, they might as well have the non-national ones as far as I care.

    -
    We cannot reason ourselves out of our basic irrationality. All we can do is learn the art of being irrational in a reasonable way.
  • [Preview] is your friend.
  • Allow me to correct myself..
    They have to pay NSI $19, not $70...
    NSI is still ringing their CASH register
    everytime someone registers a domain.
  • swhois.net is much better than geektools.

    it does contact handles, and IP netblocks,
    and auto-redirects the whois to the right
    registry for a one-click whois showing
    contact info..
  • OTOH, if what you are proposing is the forcible closing of .com and the move of all the US companies to the .US domain, that might be a good idea....

    Also, close .org, .net, .gov and .mil while you're at it. I have no problems with .int, as long as the organisations which operate in that domain have a UN charter or similar.

    Apparently the poor (state-by-state) organisation of the .us domain was the late Jon Postel's doing - not something that was mentioned often in the hagiographic works that were written following his death.

  • Name.Space does the redirection for you. Use their dns411 tool.
    It is simply the best one on the net.
    www.dns411.com [dns411.com] You can also transparently look up ARIN netblocks and all kinds of handle info. Available via command line with:

    $ alias swhois="whois -h namespace.org"
    $ swhois corenic.net
  • Rodney Joffe (who runs geektools.com) noted on NANOG yesterday (or maybe the day before) that his whois has, indeed, been modified to deal correctly with the whois referrals.

    There's even a Windows client, for those who haven't looked around there, yet.

    Rodney is one of the Good Guys.

    Cheers,
  • Didn't the government take away their monopoly power? Didn't they grant other orginazations the right to give out .com, .net & other domains. I thought that I read that somewhere a while ago. What happened?

    Pete
  • by tweek ( 18111 )
    At least the email addresses aren't available now and I like that considering all the domains I host. I just recently made a ton of changes that stopped my contact email from being printed but this is hella better.
  • it looks the same to me except minus the netsol spam

    all the info i gave them on where to send snail and normal mail are still there

    (normal mail == email :)
  • by Danny Rathjens ( 8471 ) <slashdot2.rathjens@org> on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @08:58AM (#1489879)
    Doing a whois to rs.internic.net will no longer give
    you the info about a domain on Dec 1st. It will just
    tell you who that domain is registered with.

    So we'll have to do this until we hack whois to
    support it:

    alias whois 'whois \!*@`/usr/bin/whois \!*@whois.nsiregistry.net |grep Whois\ Server: |
    cut -f2- -d:`'

    note: This syntax is specific to fwhois which is what is on Redhat boxen
    by default(whois is a symlink to fwhois.)
    fwhois user@host instead of whois -h host user

    p.s. Is there any kind of group/mailing list that is somewhere
    between flux(user level) and nanog(backbone level). I guess I
    should look for some kind of ISP operator's list.

    Posted on NANOG:
    "Newell, Tom" wrote:
    >
    > An FYI of an operational nature.......
    >
    > --Tom
    > Director of gTLD Programs
    > NSI Registry
    >
    > ##########################################
    >
    > Redirecting Port 43 Whois
    >
    > The following change is being made to comply with the recently
    > negotiated and signed agreements between the U.S. Department of
    > Commerce, ICANN, and NSI.
    >
    > Effective December 1, 1999 Network Solutions will be redirecting
    > port 43 (rs.internic.net) Whois from the NSI Registrar Whois to
    > the NSI Registry Whois. The NSI Registry Whois can currently be
    > found at whois.nsiregistry.net. After this occurs, port 43 Whois
    > will show the following information: domain name, registrar, Whois
    > server, registrar referral URL and the names of the name servers
    > associated with the domain. To obtain registrant and domain name
    > contact information, users will need to refer to the Whois service
    > provided by the registrar for the domain name.
    >
    > Send questions or comments to whois@nsiregistry.net.
    --
  • by Gilbert Coville ( 62505 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @08:59AM (#1489880)
    This is the whois server that was formerly available only at whois.nsiregistry.net. For the past few months, I had always appended either -h whois.nisregistry.net (or @whois.nsiregistry.net depending on the flavor of whois) to my whois queries. I used the shared registry, because it would also give information on domains registered with the new registrars (register.com, joker, etc...).

    I'm glad to see that the "default" whois.internic.net has now been switched over.

    I doubt Network Solutions did this on their own without some pressure. Does anyone know what particular event caused this change?
  • by seebs ( 15766 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @08:56AM (#1489881) Homepage
    Sorry, but no. We *need* every domain to have real, live, active contact addresses and phone numbers. It's a responsibility and accountability thing, just like postmaster@example.com. (Not having a working postmaster@ is an RBL'able offense, in some cases.)

    The solution is to stop the spammers, not to hide contact information which is *NECESSARY* to keep the system running.
  • by drwiii ( 434 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @08:57AM (#1489883) Homepage
    Also, be sure to also check out the newly updated, mostly NSI-less InterNIC Web Site [internic.net].
  • As an example:

    In the past, there have been "fan" sites for movies, revealed to have domains registered to companies marketing the movies. If you can't look up who registered a domain, how can you tell?

    (There was a slashdot.org story on this a few months ago.)
  • Well, I guess this'll mean I have less work to do when somebody probes my servers now.

    I used to make sure the contacts at the subnet where the probes came from knew, in case they'd been busted open and script kiddies were using them as a point to attack from.

    But now I don't know where to send, so less work for me, and blissful ignorance for them. Not that anyone ever replied, anyways.

  • I agree that we need the contact information but that information is still available but not via the quick and easy whois as stated in the original post. I don't mind people contacting me about my domains with serious issues at all. I DO mind the fact that I need to beware of the Microsoft cookie recipe that will erase my harddrive if I don't send the message to a hundred people or that I might be interested in this fantastic offer on finding long lost pets fgor only 19.95 ;)
  • At least the email addresses aren't available now and I like that considering all the domains I host.

    I suppose it better for you, but perhaps someone needs to contact a domain holder, good luck...

    -- iCEBaLM
  • by Moonwick ( 6444 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @09:01AM (#1489889) Homepage
    Rob, you should probably watch the sarcasm here. The only 'real' power that NSI has over domains now is the fact they run the central repository, the one that actually keeps the root servers inline.

    No matter what registrar registers a name (even NSI), NSI gets just $6 out of them, and it's the registrar's responsibility to run the WHOIS server for the domains of their customers.

    Can you come up with a better way to make whois work with multiple servers without totally revamping the utility and breaking everything out ther? The way things are now, (rs.internic.net just telling what WHOIS server to query for more information) is a fine solution, and it does little to 'prop up' NSI's perceived monopoly status.

    No matter what, someone's got to be in charge, and since NSI has had the most experience running (or screwing) things, this is probably the best way for things to be.
  • See the above reply.
  • If you are using Debian, you can 'whois -C ' to see the full info. This has the added benefit of looking up info for domains registered with other registrars.

    -C First query www.crsnic.net to find the registrar for a GTLD subdomain. This option overrides -h.

    (Other whois or rwhois clients may have a similar option. The whois client on a Redhat 6.0 box doesn't seem to have any way to do this though.)
  • got to this URL

    http://www.websajt.nu/whois/ [websajt.nu]

    It lets you do a grep across many international domains. If you want to search the full list of over 200 domain, it will send you an email with the full results.

    actually kinda neat

  • hmmm now that i do it again a bit later it has changed
    can i remove my post? :)
  • It definitely was different this morning, but seems to be back to normal now...no matter, i usewhodat [divisionbyzero.com] instead. /shameless plug. Actually i've used this for a while, since i work for an ISP that seems to attract register.com customers (Not only did they mess up whois, but try getting a verisign cert for a company registered there...)
  • I checked my four domains - I don't see any changes. Perhaps tomorrow. Hopefully, we can keep NSI from getting the same ego/power as WTO.
  • There were a few lines missing in the script.


    #!/usr/bin/perl
    # whois3 -- do a whois on the default server
    # then parse output to find the server of the
    # registrar that manages that name.
    # Re:solution (Score:1)
    # by hucke (matt@hucke.org) on Wednesday December 01, @01:07PM MDT (#68)
    # (User Info) http://www.graveyards.com/
    # fixed by Barbarian (conanford@hotmail.com)

    die ("Usage: $0 domainname\n") if ($#ARGV);

    $item = @ARGV[0];

    @results = `whois $item`;

    for $line(@results)
    {
    chomp($line);
    $line =~ s/^\s//g;
    if ($line =~ /^[[]/)
    {
    print "$line\n";
    } elsif ($line =~ m/(Domain Name|Registrar|Name Server): (.*)/) {
    print "$line\n";
    } elsif ($line =~ m/Whois Server: (.*)/) {
    $server=$1;
    print "$line\n";
    }
    }
    close(W);
    if ($server)
    {
    print "Server: $server\n";
    # system("whois $item\@$server"); ## for RIPE whois
    system("whois -h $server $item"); ## for other whois
    }

  • I agree completely. The DNS system is the gateway between human use of the internet and the machines that make it go. Without that translation layer the whole thing becomes immensely less usefull: can you imagine a Nike commercial telling you to check out their web site at 207.87.10.243 ?!. Most people have a hard enough time remebering phone numbers...

    Once upon a time, long before Microsoft knew there was an internet, the DNS system worked quite well to allow us to telnet, gopher, ftp and telnet our way around the world. With the explosion (exploitation?) of the World Wide Web, the same system that supported us so well before is truly showing its limitations and nothing has pointed this out quite as clearly as the recent privatization of the TLDs. I almost threw up the first time I registered a domain for a client and got a page from Network Solutions that said 'would you also like to register the .org and .net for that domain?'.

    Throw into the mix all the legal issues involving domain name disputes and such and the whole system becomes a raging mess! For a service that is so critical to the very usefullness of the internet in general, chaos in the system is a terrible thing! Personally, I felt that InterNIC (as funded by the NSF and such) worked quite well as a non-profit, government sanctioned orginization - no fuss, no muss. Since the transition, things have been a bit... less friendly.

    Granted, I would expect a few hiccups with such a massive change of paradigms, but I still think the problem will remain. What needs to be done is something truly different. How about coming up with a better system completely? Perhaps one built on the 'private' mentality from the ground up - perhaps a truly distributed system with a level playing field. I don't know what it'd be, but clearly, the system we have is showing stress fractures around the seams...

    Barring such a radical departure from the current mechanisms, I'd have to agree that things worked smoother with a 'public' organization in charge. This, however, brings up the same old arguments related to global politics: which orginization in which country?

    None of these issues are anywere near cut and dry. None of this is going to be easy. But I think that we as a community need to head off this nastiness I see coming as soon as possible. Without reliable DNS mechanisms, we all lose - including Network Solutions...

  • One of the provisions in the agreement with ICANN and the Dept. of Commerce is that NSI will give up all rights to the InterNIC trademark and domain names. The internic.net domains will then become home to the root-server whois info for all the gTLD registrars, with a pointer to the original registrar for the organizational and contact records. As someone pointed out, though, the internic.tld domains are currently back to pointing to NSI. Maybe we can get the DOC to point ds.internic.net at Everything. [blockstackers.com]
  • Sorry -- some of that was lost because it contained angle brackets (< >).

    The correct version is at http://www.cynico.com/whois2.txt [cynico.com]
  • Here's one that doesn't hide anything from the user, and works for non .com, .net, .org, and .edu domains:#!/usr/bin/perl
    # whois3 -- do a whois on the default server
    # then parse output to find the server of the
    # registrar that manages that name.
    # Re:solution (Score:1)
    # by hucke (matt@hucke.org) on Wednesday December 01, @01:07PM MDT (#68)
    # (User Info) http://www.graveyards.com/
    # fixed by Barbarian (conanford@hotmail.com)
    # made compatiable with non-US TLD's and a bit more verbose
    # now prints full response

    die ("Usage: $0 domainname\n") if ($#ARGV);

    $item = @ARGV[0];

    @results = `whois-real $item`;

    for $line(@results)
    {
    chomp($line);
    $line =~ s/^\s//g;
    print "$line\n";
    if ($line =~ m/Whois Server: (.*)/) {
    $server=$1;
    }

    }
    close(W);
    if ($server)
    {
    print "Querying Server: $server\n";
    # system("whois-real $dom\@$server"); ## for RIPE whois
    system("whois-real -h $server $item"); ## for other whois
    }


  • This works best with the whois from: http://freshmeat.net/appind ex/1999/10/30/941297803.html [freshmeat.net]
  • >It's no problem to get a new domain without
    >using nsi.

    hrm...I don't know about that...read the comments in this recent /. article [slashdot.org]. More people than not have had a bear of a time getting registered.

    Not that it's not a bitch to get registered through NSI.....


    -Wolfgang Spangler
  • Umm...

    > whois pantheras.org

    Domain Name: PANTHERAS.ORG
    Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC.
    Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
    Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com

    > whois pantheras.org@whois.networksolutions.com

    No match for "PANTHERAS.ORG@WHOIS.NETWORKSOLUTIONS.COM".


    I can read just fine, thanks.
  • Watch out for funding!

    The US Post Office is a good example of how a non profit govenment agency can cost more than it should and do less than it can.

    Don't you just hate junk mail?

  • Oh, I know, I know...
    I own three domains, and I CONSTANTLY get snail junk mail catalogs with my domain names on them!

  • No swhois.net is not much better.

    It trys to look up my contact handle on ARIN, when ARIN contact handles always end in -ARIN (duhh). In fact anything that looks like a contact handle it sends to ARIN.

    It adds a list of things of the links that are on the left hand side of their website to command line queries, which takes about 20 lines worth of crap on the top. Network Solutions disclaimer is bad enough.

    The only issue I see with geektool is that it doesn't get handles very well. But at least it can handle NSI's handles.

  • I don't know if it is available for slink?!? I'm running potato on my Alpha and it works fine with '-C'...

    LONG LIVE ALPHA!!!
  • The fwhois that Red Hat ships really sucks and seems to be unmaintained. The syntax is non-standard ('whois query@server' instead of the more standard 'whois -h server query'). This causes a lot of problem when you try to search an email address. It's about time they update this little pathetic tool with something that knows about the new NSI registry, arin, and the country top level domains.

  • If you ask me it's better that they did stop handing out all the information for each domain. Half the time you'd look up a record from their database and their servers would throw back error messages saying they were too busy. At $50 per year their hangups weren't acceptable anyway.
  • I believe that some (USA) web and FTP sites which offer encryption software use reverse DNS + whois lookups to determine if a download request comes from a domain known to be in the U.S.A. I had trouble downloading such software until my ISP added "US" to the street address in its whois entry.

    Aside from the fact that NSI has just hosed these sites' authentication mechanisms until they fix their scripts, I wonder how these sites will determine whose registry to check for contact information in the future?
  • Well, at least there's a way to find registered domains without having to check every single registrar's whois server. So who runs the registry? Still network solutions?
  • by The Dev ( 19322 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @09:08AM (#1489924)
    What has actually happened here is that all
    domains, even those registered by competing
    registrars are now visible in whois. if you use
    the -h option followed by the appropriate
    whois server you get the same details as before.


    Of course this should all be integrated into one
    whois lookup but it's a good step in the right
    direction.


    You can put away the guns now, no data has been
    hidden.

  • whatchutalkinaboutwilliss? They only changed the default lookup to a transition screen so that people looking up domains borkered by someone
    else can be told where to go.

    awhois lusis.org
    Registrant:
    lusis productions (LUSIS2-DOM)


    Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:


    Record last updated on 23-Nov-1999.
    Record created on 07-Dec-1998.
    Database last updated on 30-Nov-1999 13:00:16 EST.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    INFORMATION.BTSQA.COM 208.249.22.131
    NS.BTSQA.COM 208.249.22.139
  • by JBReynolds ( 89849 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @09:08AM (#1489926) Homepage
    This change is a consequence of NSI's agreements with the Dept. of Commerce and ICANN. NSI announced it [internic.net] more than two weeks ago.

    Whois on rs.internic.net is now "registry whois" (previously on whois.crsnic.net), which includes an entry for what server to use for "registrar whois", where one can find contact information. The change is part of the transition away from using "interNIC" (a US Government trademark) to refer to NSI's registrar business.

  • I've found myself yearning for the good 'ol days, when years would go between changes in the domain request forms, etc... These days working with InterNIC^H^H^H^H^H^HNetwork Solutions is such a
    moving target it's a pain in the butt to deal with. At this point, all of the scripts which I'd written for my systems staff to register/modify/whatever domains the "right way" (meaning using our correct information) are now completely useless. You can't even register domains by e-mail anymore.

    I understand the reasons for this, mind you (particularly the up-front-payment part,) but they really have got to settle down. I will not continue having to relearn their "process" each time I need to update a domain or something...

    Sigh...progress can bite the big one somedays.

    -buffy
  • The last bit should have read:

    Maybe we can get the DOC to point ds.internic.net at Everything. [blockstackers.com] < G >
  • This is a very good change... but not because the contact information has been removed.

    What's more important is that whois now queries the databases of the other registrars without having to type

    $ whois -h whois.register.com

    This is *much* better.

  • by trims ( 10010 ) on Wednesday December 01, 1999 @09:53AM (#1489930) Homepage

    OK, I can't stand NSI. However, as another poster pointed out, this is indeed a proper action on NSI's part - the "basic" whois information is available on a central server, and you querry the responsible registrar company for the particulars.

    HOWEVER, this whole boondoggle is stupid in the extreme. Honestly, I don't know who got it in their thick skull that multiple registrar agencies was a good idea. It's HORRIBLE. The DNS/Registrar system is a fundamental infrastructure requirement for the Internet to work. And, unlike virtually all other infrastructure of the Internet, it's already easily and logically divided along national boundaries. That is, DNS is segmented so that it's easy to figure out which nation (should) control which TLD.

    I hope this whole multiple Registrar thing turns into a massive mess, and the gov't has to step in. Now, I know everyone here doesn't like gov't regulation and is much more libertarian, but here me out:

    The US should form a quasi-governmental, NON-PROFIT organization along the lines of the USPS. It should be required to be self-sustaining (ie costs = revenue), but a non-profit. Call this org the USDR (US Domain Registrar).

    OK, once the USDR is in place, guess what problems go away:

    • Trademark fights. yes, you might still get A & B squabbling over who owns the domain, but guess what - the USDR gets to publish and force people (legally) to adhere to a Trademark policy. Current registrar's policies aren't worth the paper their written on, and can change at a whim (or for a "favored" client). USDR's rules would be legislated, and guess how hard it is to change them?
    • One-stop WHOIS. OK, this isn't a real big problem, but it would be nice to go back to a single repository for domain info. All domain info.
    • Elimination of Paperwork. yes, it is hard to believe that I'm saying that a gov't org would actually reduce paperwork, but think: look at all the hassles you have to go through to move a domain between registrars, especially if the owner is changing.
    • Privacy. By having a USDR, they could legally restrict people from using the WHOIS info for SPAM, etc. And actively pursue people who do. (When was the last time a Registrar even though about actively protecting your privacy?) The USDR isn't going to be selling your info to marketing companies. It's not going to be sending you spam mail about new services its offering to inflate its stock price.

    And, who knows, with a USDR, we might even get somebody to actually ENFORCE the TLD partitioning the way it should be (no more companies in .org!) and maybe even stop people from domain hording (you own the .com, .net, AND .org for your company???) Of course, this is dependent on having the USDR set up properly, with public input.

    Honestly, I think there are certain things that the government can do FAR better than private industry. The DNS system is one of them. I'm tired of being exploited by the for-profit Registrar system, which only gives me MORE spam, BAD service, MORE paperwork, MORE lawsuits, and invades my privacy.

    I'd trade the current system for a single gov't registrar in a heartbeat. Even if they doubled the domain fees, and made me wait twice as long to register something. My privacy is worth it, and so is the ease-of-use and efficiencies of a central authority.

    For those who don't agree, think about this: ARIN assigns IP address blocks. It works (very well). If the "private" sector was so much better, why aren't we assigning IPs that way?

    -Erik

  • Didn't they grant other orginazations the right to give out .com, .net & other domains.

    Take a look at www.corenic.net - or www.iana.org, you'll find the informations about alternative registrars there.

    It's no problem to get a new domain without using nsi.

    Ralph

  • No hacking needed:

    # whois -h whois.networksolutions.com slashdot.org
    The Data in Network Solutions' WHOIS database is provided by Network
    Solutions for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining
    information about or related to a domain name registration record.
    Network Solutions does not guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a
    WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful
    purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to:
    (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass
    unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail
    (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes
    that apply to Network Solutions (or its systems). Network Solutions
    reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. By submitting
    this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

    Registrant:
    Rob Malda (SLASHDOT2-DOM)
    116 E 18th St
    Holland, MI 49423

    Domain Name: SLASHDOT.ORG

    Administrative Contact:
    Malda, Rob (RM7054) malda@SLASHDOT.ORG
    616-994-0441
    Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    DNS Administrator (DA15693-OR) dnsadmin@ANDOVER.NET
    978-635-5300
    Fax- 978-635-5326
    Billing Contact:
    Malda, Rob (RM7054) malda@SLASHDOT.ORG
    616-994-0441

    Record last updated on 31-Aug-1999.
    Record created on 05-Oct-1997.
    Database last updated on 30-Nov-1999 13:00:46 EST.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS1.ANDOVER.NET 209.207.224.196
    NS2.ANDOVER.NET 209.207.224.197
    NS3.ANDOVER.NET 209.192.217.104

  • These guys still have to send the registration
    to NetworkSolutions and pay them the same $70...
    It's still a monopoly, NSI just doesn't have
    to do all of their own marketing anymore...

    In fact, it's impossible to get a 'new'
    globally recognized domain without NSI...

  • These guys still have to send the registration

    to NetworkSolutions and pay them the same $70...

    It's still a monopoly, NSI just doesn't have

    to do all of their own marketing anymore...



    In fact, it's impossible to get a 'new'

    globally recognized domain without NSI...

  • Do men have more than one wives? No. But it's allowed according to Deuteronomy. The rules change. Live with it.

    Technically, people aren't even allowed to look at themselves in mirrors.

  • Then why attack the beliefs of "99%" of the human population?

    News for ya, your parents don't share your beliefs. Well, that's just a guess. Unless there was some form of immaculate conception...

  • #!/usr/bin/perl

    # whois2 -- do a whois on the default server
    # then parse output to find the server of the
    # registrar that manages that name.

    die ("Usage: $0 domainname\n") if ($#ARGV)
    {
    chop($line);
    $line =~ s/^\s//g;
    if ($line =~ /^[[]/)
    {
    print "$line\n";
    } elsif ($line =~ m/(Domain Name|Registrar|Name Server): (.*)/) {
    print "$line\n";
    } elsif ($line =~ m/Whois Server: (.*)/) {
    $server=$1;
    print "$line\n";
    }
    }
    close(W);

    if ($server)
    {
    system("whois $dom\@$server"); ## LINUX
    # system("whois -h $server $dom"); ## BSD, Solaris
    }

    # Sorry for the formatting... slashdot editors, please add support for HTML <PRE>!
  • This was an announced change they have been publicly planning to do for two weeks.

    Next time read what's already been posted before posting your comment. Had you done that you would have seen:
    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=99/12/01/133 4235&cid=26
  • www.slashdot.com is basically held by a domain squatter. Yuck!
    --------
    "I already have all the latest software."
  • Hm, well, I'm late to this conversation, and probably no one will read it at this point, but thought I'd toss this in anyway:

    http://www.spinnwebe.com/whoitis/ [spinnwebe.com]

    A utility I wrote over the weekend to get whois info quickly. Yeah, you can script it yourself, I know, but I'm sure people are still typing -h whois.networksolutions.com like I was for a while. You can use the page until you get around to writing the script yourself.

    Although mine also has the neato feature of linking site names and contact handles, which I've already found pretty handy.

  • Boy, I'm an idiot. It's hard to be a squatter when you had the domain before anybody else. Sorry about that Chris!

    $ whois slashdot.org

    Registrant:
    Rob Malda (SLASHDOT2-DOM)
    116 E 18th St
    Holland, MI 49423

    Domain Name: SLASHDOT.ORG

    Administrative Contact:
    Malda, Rob (RM7054) malda@SLASHDOT.ORG
    616-994-0441
    Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    DNS Administrator (DA15693-OR) dnsadmin@ANDOVER.NET
    978-635-5300
    Fax- 978-635-5326
    Billing Contact:
    Malda, Rob (RM7054) malda@SLASHDOT.ORG
    616-994-0441

    Record last updated on 31-Aug-1999.
    Record created on 05-Oct-1997.
    Database last updated on 8-Dec-1999 15:24:38 EST.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS1.ANDOVER.NET 209.207.224.196
    NS2.ANDOVER.NET 209.207.224.197
    NS3.ANDOVER.NET 209.192.217.104


    $ whois slashdot.com

    Registrant:
    Chris Richardson (SLASHDOT-DOM)
    345 South Mathilda Ave.
    Sunnyvale, CA 94086
    US

    Domain Name: SLASHDOT.COM

    Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
    Richardson, Chris (CR1294) chris@SLASHDOT.COM
    +1 408 733 3326
    Billing Contact:
    Richardson, Chris (CR1294) chris@SLASHDOT.COM
    +1 408 733 3326

    Record last updated on 15-Nov-1999.
    Record created on 17-Nov-1996.
    Database last updated on 8-Dec-1999 15:24:38 EST.

    Domain servers in listed order:

    NS.2WIRE.COM 209.247.193.13
    NS4.2WIRE.COM 166.90.140.53
    NS3.2WIRE.COM 209.247.193.42

    --------
    "I already have all the latest software."
  • http://rs.internic.net/cgi- bin/whois/whois?slashdot.org [internic.net] which is redirected to http://www.network solutions.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois?slashdot.org [networksolutions.com] seems to give out the information that it always had.

    Just the other day I used it to find out that y0k.com through y11k.com are all taken. :-)

  • It's clear they really did the changeover so the majority of these kinds of lookups would be done over the web, where they conveniently have banner ads streaming while you use their convenient online database which takes 3-4 page loadings to get down to the real information.

    Profiteering gluttons, the American way.
  • I doubt it.

    This isn't about privacy, it's about commerce. I'm sure NSI will be very agressive about selling the contact names to bulk email and snail mail advertisers.

  • NSI is a cancer to the internet and should be disbanded and all of the executives should be publicly hung online at thehangingtree.com



  • My spell-checker suggests that the correct spelling of "whois" is actually "whoops." How appropriate.

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