Very Computer

Hello,

I posted a series of questions regarding the COM.ZONE (10/12/99 -
"Questions re: COM.ZONE - does anyone understand this file".

Thanks to those who answered, especially Barry Margolin.  I'm slowly
getting a better understanding of how this all comes together (or
doesn't).

As I stated in the earlier message, I am analyzing domain names for a
project.  I found that the COM.ZONE database (gotten from NSI) is
incomplete because it only lists domain names that are up-to-date.
However, if a name is not found in COM.ZONE, that doesn't mean that
the name is available - because it still might be found in the Whois
database.  Example:  00C.COM ("zero" "zero "c") is not in the COM.ZONE
file, but is found in a whois search.

New questions:

        Does anyone know of a way to download the whois database?  I
had to sign all kinds of stupid forms (in my opinion) so that NSI
would let me have access to the COM.ZONE.

        So how do I get to download the whois data?

If that's not possible, would anyone know of a method for a Visual
Basic programmer to write code to do a query of the Whois database?

In a perfect world it would look something like this:

        Function WhoisResult (DomainName as String) as String

                WhoisResult = GetWhoisData (DomainName)

        end function

Thanks in advance for any assistance/guidance.

Sincerely,

I suspect you can't.  NSI considers that their proprietary information, and
is very protective of it.

Quote:>If that's not possible, would anyone know of a method for a Visual
>Basic programmer to write code to do a query of the Whois database?

>In a perfect world it would look something like this:

>    Function WhoisResult (DomainName as String) as String

>            WhoisResult = GetWhoisData (DomainName)

>    end function

If you know how to open TCP connections from VB, it should be trivial.  RFC
954 describes the protocol:

   To access the NICNAME/WHOIS server:

      Connect to the SRI-NIC service host at TCP service port 43
      (decimal).

      Send a single "command line", ending with <CRLF> (ASCII CR and
      LF).

      Receive information in response to the command line.  The server
      closes its connection as soon as the output is finished.

SRI-NIC is obsolete information, but the protocol is basically still the
same.  If you want to access NSI's whios database, connect to
whois.internic.net.  If you want to query the combined registry that all
the registrars update, connect to whois.nsiregistry.net.

--

GTE Internetworking, Powered by BBN, Burlington, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.

No, it is complete. on-hokld names don't work, they're not in the DNS
they're an administrative concept. The com zone gives you names that
exist at the point in time the zone file was generated. On-hold
names are ""deleted, but we're giving them a month or two to
make good on a payment", but they do not work and are not considered
part of the com zone.

Quote:>New questions:

>    Does anyone know of a way to download the whois database?  I
>had to sign all kinds of stupid forms (in my opinion) so that NSI
>would let me have access to the COM.ZONE.

This absolutely cannot be done. It used to be available via
rwhois until fairly recently, but that was shut off. In the
new shared system you'd need to get whois data from all the
registrars. I don't know whether you can do this or not, but
I do know you cannot get whois data from NSI under any
circumstances.

Quote:>    So how do I get to download the whois data?

You can't. Period.

Quote:>If that's not possible, would anyone know of a method for a Visual
>Basic programmer to write code to do a query of the Whois database?

>In a perfect world it would look something like this:

>    Function WhoisResult (DomainName as String) as String

>            WhoisResult = GetWhoisData (DomainName)

>    end function

Technically that would work, but per the legal language that
NSI and the Department of Commerce stuck into the whoius
output, this is a no-no and it may result in the service being
made unavailable to you.

What is the goal here if I may ask? What are information
are you trying to extract and what for?

--

http://killifish.vrx.net    http://www.mbz.org    http://lists.aquaria.net
Bannockburn, Ontario, Canada,  70 & 72 280SE, 83 300SD   +1 (613) 473-1719

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   I saw the new verbiage on the output of "whois," but I have a
   question:  I run a web hosting company, and allow users to
   check to see if a domain is taken, and subsequently allow them
   to apply for the domain (we are allowed to use the email interface
   to NetSol).  We have been using the output of "whois" to check
   for the names that customers ask for, is this now illegal per
   the terms of the whois "agreement?"  I don't speak legalese.

   I would hate to be forced to become a registrar, since we don't
   have a lot of money, and since there don't seem to be that many
   that have made it throught the beta period, yet.  I just need to
   know if a domain that a customer asks for is available.

   Cap.

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--
"By the taping of my glasses,
something geeky this way passes"        Captain Nerd

                                  http://www.nerdwatch.com

If you run a company, you should have a lawyer.  He should be able to
translate legalese to English.

IANAL, but I don't see anything in the verbiage that prohibits you from
doing what you're doing.  As long you're just looking up individual records
as needed, and not doing high-volume WHOIS lookups (as *squatters do,
when they're looking for available names) or harvesting addresses to spam
to, I think you're OK.

--

GTE Internetworking, Powered by BBN, Burlington, MA
*** DON'T SEND TECHNICAL QUESTIONS DIRECTLY TO ME, post them to newsgroups.
Please DON'T copy followups to me -- I'll assume it wasn't posted to the group.

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   In the works!  8-)

Quote:> IANAL, but I don't see anything in the verbiage that prohibits you from
> doing what you're doing.  As long you're just looking up individual records
> as needed, and not doing high-volume WHOIS lookups (as *squatters do,
> when they're looking for available names) or harvesting addresses to spam
> to, I think you're OK.

   I guess I'd better not hope for enough customers making enough queries
   to qualify as "high volume" then.

   Thanks for the help.

   Cap.

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--
"By the taping of my glasses,
something geeky this way passes"        Captain Nerd

                                  http://www.veryComputer.com/

Quote:>   I saw the new verbiage on the output of "whois," but I have a
>   question:  I run a web hosting company, and allow users to
>   check to see if a domain is taken, and subsequently allow them
>   to apply for the domain (we are allowed to use the email interface
>   to NetSol).  We have been using the output of "whois" to check
>   for the names that customers ask for, is this now illegal per
>   the terms of the whois "agreement?"  I don't speak legalese.

No, thats a legitimate use. Harvesting spam addresses is
what they're concerned about.

Quote:>   I would hate to be forced to become a registrar, since we don't
>   have a lot of money, and since there don't seem to be that many
>   that have made it throught the beta period, yet.  I just need to
>   know if a domain that a customer asks for is available.

Whois won't tell you, that just tells you what domaoins
NSI has registered. If the domain was taken by another
registrar whois will show it as "no match".

--

http://killifish.vrx.net    http://www.mbz.org    http://lists.aquaria.net
Bannockburn, Ontario, Canada,  70 & 72 280SE, 83 300SD   +1 (613) 473-1719

The legalise on NSI Whois is basically intended to scare off spammers,
etc...with that said, for more accurate lookups of what domains are available
use NSIRegistry. Use whois.crsnic.net to do queries. I'd recommend that you not
display the information to your end users since it's basically meaningless for
them, but rather use it internally and just display a message that a particular
domain is *probably* Available or *probably* Not Available for registration.

Ron Bennett