Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.21
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31: .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
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1.19 millert 33: .Dd January 6, 2003
1.1 deraadt 34: .Dt WHOIS 1
1.5 aaron 35: .Os
1.1 deraadt 36: .Sh NAME
37: .Nm whois
1.3 deraadt 38: .Nd Internet domain name and network number directory service
1.1 deraadt 39: .Sh SYNOPSIS
40: .Nm whois
1.19 millert 41: .Op Fl aAdgilmQrR6
42: .Oo
43: .Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
44: .Oc
45: .Op Fl p Ar port
1.4 aaron 46: .Ar name Op Ar ...
1.1 deraadt 47: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.19 millert 48: The
1.13 aaron 49: .Nm
1.19 millert 50: utility looks up records in the databases maintained by several
1.3 deraadt 51: Network Information Centers
1.21 ! jmc 52: .Pq Tn NICs .
1.1 deraadt 53: .Pp
54: The options are as follows:
55: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.3 deraadt 56: .It Fl a
57: Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
58: .Pq Tn ARIN
1.13 aaron 59: database.
60: It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
1.3 deraadt 61: covered neither by
1.19 millert 62: .Tn APNIC
63: nor by
1.3 deraadt 64: .Tn RIPE .
1.19 millert 65: .Pp
66: (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
67: .Tn ARIN
68: whois database end with
69: .Qq Li -ARIN . )
70: .It Fl A
71: Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
72: .Pq Tn APNIC
73: database.
74: It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
75: New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
1.18 millert 76: .It Fl c Ar country-code
77: This is the equivalent of using the
78: .Fl h
79: option with an argument of
80: .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
1.3 deraadt 81: .It Fl d
1.19 millert 82: Use the US Department of Defense database.
1.13 aaron 83: It contains points of contact for subdomains of
1.21 ! jmc 84: .Tn \&.MIL .
1.8 millert 85: .It Fl g
86: Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
87: contact for subdomains of
1.21 ! jmc 88: .Tn \&.GOV .
1.3 deraadt 89: .It Fl h Ar host
90: Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
1.8 millert 91: (whois.crsnic.net).
1.3 deraadt 92: Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
1.19 millert 93: .Pp
94: By default
95: .Nm
96: constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
97: .Pq Tn TLD
98: of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
99: .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
100: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
101: automatically for a large number of
102: .Tn TLDs .
103: .Pp
104: In the event that an IP
1.21 ! jmc 105: address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
1.19 millert 106: Registry for Internet Numbers
107: .Pq Tn ARIN .
108: If a query to
109: .Tn ARIN
110: references
111: .Tn APNIC , LACNIC ,
112: or
113: .Tn RIPE ,
114: that server will be queried also, provided that the
115: .Fl Q
116: option is not specified.
117: .Pp
118: If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
119: .Nm
120: will fall back to
121: .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
1.8 millert 122: .It Fl i
123: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
1.19 millert 124: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
1.13 aaron 125: database.
1.19 millert 126: Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
127: for most of
1.8 millert 128: .Tn \&.COM ,
129: .Tn \&.NET ,
130: .Tn \&.ORG
131: and
132: .Tn \&.EDU
133: domains.
1.19 millert 134: However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
135: independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
136: on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
137: Also, note that the
138: .Tn InterNIC
139: database
140: .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
141: is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
1.21 ! jmc 142: For details, see
1.19 millert 143: .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
144: .Pp
145: (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
146: .Em handle ,
147: can be looked up by prefixing
148: .Qq Li "!"
149: or
150: .Qq Li "handle\ "
151: to the
152: .Tn NIC
153: handle in the query.)
1.17 fgsch 154: .It Fl l
1.19 millert 155: Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
1.17 fgsch 156: .Pq Tn LACNIC
157: database.
1.19 millert 158: It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
1.21 ! jmc 159: Caribbean.
1.6 deraadt 160: .It Fl m
161: Use the Route Arbiter Database
162: .Pq Tn RADB
1.14 aaron 163: database.
164: It contains route policy specifications for a large
1.6 deraadt 165: number of operators' networks.
1.19 millert 166: .It Fl p Ar port
167: Connect to the whois server on
168: .Ar port .
169: If this option is not specified,
170: .Nm
171: defaults to the
172: .Dq whois
173: port listed in
174: .Pa /etc/services
175: (port 43).
1.9 millert 176: .It Fl Q
1.13 aaron 177: Do a quick lookup.
178: This means that
1.9 millert 179: .Nm
180: will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoratative whois
181: server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
1.13 aaron 182: fails.
183: This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
1.3 deraadt 184: .It Fl r
185: Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
186: .Pq Tn RIPE
1.13 aaron 187: database.
188: It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
1.8 millert 189: .It Fl R
190: Use the Russia Network Information Center
191: .Pq Tn RIPN
1.13 aaron 192: database.
193: It contains network numbers and domain contact information
1.8 millert 194: for subdomains of
1.21 ! jmc 195: .Tn \&.RU .
1.19 millert 196: This option is deprecated; use the
1.21 ! jmc 197: .Fl c
1.19 millert 198: option with an argument of
199: .Qq Li RU
200: instead.
1.18 millert 201: .It Fl 6
202: Use the IPv6 Resource Center
203: .Pq Tn 6bone
204: database.
205: It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
1.1 deraadt 206: .El
207: .Pp
208: The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
209: .Ar name ,
210: is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
211: .Ar name
212: in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
213: address, etc.) in the database.
214: For more information as to what
215: .Ar name
216: operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
217: the special name
1.13 aaron 218: .Dq help .
1.19 millert 219: .Ss Special cases
220: Queries beginning with an exclamation point
221: .Ql !
222: are assumed to be
223: .Tn NSI
224: contact handles.
225: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
226: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
227: will be used as the
228: .Nm
229: database.
230: .Pp
231: Similarly, queries beginning with
232: .Dq COCO-
233: are assumed to be
234: .Tn CORE
235: contact handles.
236: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
237: .Pq Tn whois.corenic.net
238: will be used as the
239: .Nm
240: database.
1.18 millert 241: .Sh EXAMPLES
242: Most types of data, such as domain names and
243: .Tn IP
244: addresses, can be used as arguments to
245: .Nm
246: without any options, and
247: .Nm
248: will choose the correct whois server to query.
249: Some exceptions, where
250: .Nm
251: will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
252: .Pp
253: To obtain contact information about an
254: administrator located in the Russian
255: .Tn TLD
256: domain
257: .Qq Li RU ,
258: use the
259: .Fl c
260: option as shown in the following example, where
261: .Ar CONTACT-ID
262: is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
263: .Pp
264: .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
265: .Pp
266: (Note: This example is specific to the
267: .Tn TLD
268: .Qq Li RU ,
269: but other
270: .Tn TLDs
271: can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
272: .Pp
273: The following example demonstrates how to obtain information about an
274: .Tn IPv6
275: address or hostname using the
276: .Fl 6
277: option, which directs the query to
278: .Tn 6bone .
279: .Pp
280: .Dl "whois -6 IPv6-IP-Address"
1.19 millert 281: .Pp
282: The following example demonstrates how to query
283: a whois server using a non-standard port, where
284: .Dq Li query-data
285: is the query to be sent to
286: .Dq Li whois.example.com
1.21 ! jmc 287: on port
1.19 millert 288: .Dq Li rwhois
289: (written numerically as 4321).
290: .Pp
291: .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"
1.1 deraadt 292: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.18 millert 293: .Rs
294: .%A Ken Harrenstien
295: .%A Vic White
296: .%T NICNAME/WHOIS
297: .%D 1 March 1982
298: .%O RFC 812
299: .Re
1.1 deraadt 300: .Sh HISTORY
301: The
1.13 aaron 302: .Nm
1.1 deraadt 303: command appeared in
304: .Bx 4.3 .
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