usr.bin/whois/whois.1

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.\"     @(#)whois.1	8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
.\"
.Dd January 12, 2002
.Dt WHOIS 1
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm whois
.Nd TCP/IP Internet directory service, RIPE version
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm ""
.Op Fl 46aFSrR
.Op Fl h Ar host
.Op Fl p Ar port
.Op Fl i Ar attributes
.Op Fl s Ar sources
.Op Fl T Ns Ar \ types
.Op Fl L | m | M
.Ar identifier
.Nm ""
.Fl t Ar type
.Nm ""
.Fl v Ar type
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
program is a client implementation of the WHOIS protocol for querying
databases and directory services on the Internet.
Most often, it is used to query the domain name contact and administration
databases of Internet Domain Name Registrars.
.Pp
The WHOIS protocol does not specify very much of the format of
either the query or the servers' response.
In essence, the protocol calls for a
.Tn NETASCII
word or phrase to be sent on a
.Tn TCP
connection to a
.Tn WHOIS
server, which then sends some amount of
.Tn NETASCII
in response on the same connection,
closing the connection when it has finished sending.
Necessarily, both the format and the content of the response will be server-dependent
.Po
e.g. what you get back depends on who you ask, and what you ask
.Pc .
.Pp
By default,
.Nm
will send the query to
.Qq whois.internic.net .
.Pp
When
.Nm
is used to query an Internet domain name registrar's database, the
.Ar identifier
can be either a name
.Po
e.g.
.Qq Karrenberg
.Pc ,
a
.Tn NIC-handle
.Po
e.g.
.Qq DK58
.Pc ,
an IP network number
.Po
e.g.
.Qq 192.87.45.0/24
.Pc ,
or a domain name
.Po
e.g.
.Qq ripe.net
.Pc .
.Sh OPTIONS
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl h Ar host
Query a host other than the default.
.It Fl p Ar port
Connect to a
.Tn TCP
port other than 43 (the default).
.El
.Pp
By default,
.Nm
will attempt to connect to a WHOIS server with both IPv6 and IPv4,
in that order.
To force one or the other transport:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl 4
connect with IPv4/TCP only.
.It Fl 6
connect with IPv6/TCP only.
.El
.Ss RIPE specific extensions
This version of
.Nm
implements protocol extensions compatible with a version of the RIPE
database WHOIS server that supports classless IP addresses.
All IP network numbers are considered classless IP network numbers of
the form prefix/length, like 192.87.45.0/24 for a class C sized network
number and 128.86.0.0/16 for a class B sized network number.
Any length can be given.
If no length is given, the server assumes a host lookup (i.e. length 32).
.Pp
By default, the server will return the first less specific network
number, which can be an exact match if available in the database.
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It Fl a
This causes the server to include information from
non-RIPE WHOIS databases in the reply.
Currently these are the public parts of the US NIC and NSFnet databases.
Please note that the RIPE NCC does not maintain these databases.
The information is included for for your convenience only.
.It Fl F
fast output.
Force the WHOIS server to not reformat the output.
This can save time for large objects.
The output of the RIPE WHOIS server will be in two letter short form.
This option implies -r.
.It Fl L
lookup all less specific networks.
Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers.
.It Fl m
lookup first level more specific networks.
Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers.
.It Fl M
lookup all more specific networks.
Has effect only when looking up IP network numbers.
.It Fl r
non-recursive lookup.
This will cause the server to not lookup referenced objects.
.It Fl R
suppress referrals.
Forces local copy of a domain object to be shown even if it contains referral.
.It Fl i Ar attributes
attributes is a comma separated list of attributes.
the WHOIS server will return all objects that match the search keys
in one of these attributes.
.It Fl s Ar sources
sources is a comma separated list of database sources.
The WHOIS server will only search the databases that match the
specified sources.
.It Fl S
requests the server to leave out "syntactic sugar" that may normally
be inserted in some database objects.
.It Fl t Ar type
requests the server to send a template for an object with type "type".
.It Fl v Ar type
requests the server to send a verbose template for an object with type "type".
.It Fl T Ar types
types is a comma separated list of object types.
requests the server to only send back objects that match one of the "types".
.El
.Sh EXAMPLES
.Bd -literal -offset indent
$ whois karrenberg
person:  Daniel Karrenberg
address: RIPE Network Coordination Centre
address: Kruislaan 409
address: NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam
address: Netherlands
phone:   +31 20 5925065
fax-no:  +31 20 5925155
e-mail:  dfk@ripe.net
nic-hdl: DK58
changed: dfk@ripe.net 920407
changed: ripe-dbm@ripe.net 920407
source:  RIPE
$ whois -h whois.ripe.net -r 192.87.45.0/24
inetnum:     192.87.45.0
netname:     RIPE-NCC
descr:       RIPE Network Coordination Centre
descr:       Amsterdam, Netherlands
country:     NL
admin-c:     Daniel Karrenberg
tech-c:      Marten Terpstra
connect:     RIPE NSF WCW
aut-sys:     AS3333
ias-int:     192.87.45.80  AS1104
ias-int:     192.87.45.6   AS2122
ias-int:     192.87.45.254 AS2600
rev-srv:     ns.ripe.net
rev-srv:     ns.eu.net
notify:      ops@ripe.net
changed:     tony@ripe.net 940110
source:      RIPE
.Ed
.Ss Other Useful WHOIS Servers
Herewith follows an incomplete list of other potentially useful
WHOIS servers on the Internet.
.Pp
For information about IP address allocations,
the registrars who handle those allocations are:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It whois.arin.net
American Registry for Internet Numbers.
.It whois.apnic.net
Asia-Pacific Network Information Center.
.It whois.ripe.net
Reseaux IP Europeens - Network Coordination Center.
.El
.Pp
Internet domain names can now be registered through many different
competing registrars, many of whom (but probably not all of whom)
operate WHOIS servers:
.Bl -tag -width indent
.It whois.networksolutions.com
Network Solutions, operators of the InterNIC.
.It whois.ripe.net
RIPE domains, assignments, \*[Am] routing info.
.It whois.ra.net
Merit/IRR routing info.
.It whois.geektools.com
recursing proxies that query internic.net.
.It whois.fucknsi.com
a meta-WHOIS server that attempts to query all the registrars.
.It whois.opensrs.net
same as above, but also authoritative for OpenSRS domain names.
.El
.Sh RIPE VERSION
This is the RIPE version of the WHOIS client program.
For questions refer to
.Aq ncc@ripe.net .
For more information about the RIPE database please also refer to
.Aq ncc@ripe.net .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr networks 5 ,
.Xr bind 8 ,
.Pa http://www.domainbuyersguide.com/
.Rs
.%R RFC
.%N 812
.%D March 1982
.%T "NICNAME/WHOIS"
.%O (Obsolete)
.Re
.Rs
.%R RFC
.%N 954
.%D October 1985
.%T "NICNAME/WHOIS"
.Re
.Sh BUGS
Most of the extra flags are ONLY supported by the RIPE whois server,
or copies of the same version of the software.
Usage of these flags may cause errors on other whois servers.
.Pp
.Nm
uses
.Xr getaddrinfo 3
functions, thus search order depends on the function.