Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.26
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31: .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
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1.26 ! sobrado 33: .Dd $Mdocdate: May 31 2007 $
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
1.23 jmc 41: .Op Fl 6AadgilmQRr
1.19 millert 42: .Oo
43: .Fl c Ar country-code | Fl h Ar host
44: .Oc
45: .Op Fl p Ar port
1.26 ! sobrado 46: .Ar name ...
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
1.23 jmc 56: .It Fl 6
57: Use the IPv6 Resource Center
58: .Pq Tn 6bone
59: database.
60: It contains network names and addresses for the IPv6 network.
61: .It Fl A
62: Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
63: .Pq Tn APNIC
64: database.
65: It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
66: New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
1.3 deraadt 67: .It Fl a
68: Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
69: .Pq Tn ARIN
1.13 aaron 70: database.
71: It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
1.3 deraadt 72: covered neither by
1.19 millert 73: .Tn APNIC
74: nor by
1.3 deraadt 75: .Tn RIPE .
1.19 millert 76: .Pp
77: (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
78: .Tn ARIN
79: whois database end with
80: .Qq Li -ARIN . )
1.18 millert 81: .It Fl c Ar country-code
82: This is the equivalent of using the
83: .Fl h
84: option with an argument of
85: .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
1.3 deraadt 86: .It Fl d
1.19 millert 87: Use the US Department of Defense database.
1.13 aaron 88: It contains points of contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 89: .Tn \&.MIL .
1.8 millert 90: .It Fl g
91: Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
92: contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 93: .Tn \&.GOV .
1.3 deraadt 94: .It Fl h Ar host
95: Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
1.8 millert 96: (whois.crsnic.net).
1.3 deraadt 97: Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
1.19 millert 98: .Pp
99: By default
100: .Nm
101: constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
102: .Pq Tn TLD
103: of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
104: .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
105: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
106: automatically for a large number of
107: .Tn TLDs .
108: .Pp
109: In the event that an IP
1.21 jmc 110: address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
1.19 millert 111: Registry for Internet Numbers
112: .Pq Tn ARIN .
113: If a query to
114: .Tn ARIN
115: references
116: .Tn APNIC , LACNIC ,
117: or
118: .Tn RIPE ,
119: that server will be queried also, provided that the
120: .Fl Q
121: option is not specified.
122: .Pp
123: If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
124: .Nm
125: will fall back to
126: .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
1.8 millert 127: .It Fl i
128: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
1.19 millert 129: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
1.13 aaron 130: database.
1.19 millert 131: Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
132: for most of
1.8 millert 133: .Tn \&.COM ,
134: .Tn \&.NET ,
135: .Tn \&.ORG
136: and
137: .Tn \&.EDU
138: domains.
1.19 millert 139: However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
140: independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
141: on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
142: Also, note that the
143: .Tn InterNIC
144: database
145: .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
146: is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
1.21 jmc 147: For details, see
1.19 millert 148: .Pa http://www.internic.net/ .
149: .Pp
150: (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
151: .Em handle ,
152: can be looked up by prefixing
1.22 jmc 153: .Qq Li \&!
1.19 millert 154: or
1.22 jmc 155: .Qq Li handle\ \&
1.19 millert 156: to the
157: .Tn NIC
158: handle in the query.)
1.17 fgsch 159: .It Fl l
1.19 millert 160: Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
1.17 fgsch 161: .Pq Tn LACNIC
162: database.
1.19 millert 163: It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
1.21 jmc 164: Caribbean.
1.6 deraadt 165: .It Fl m
166: Use the Route Arbiter Database
167: .Pq Tn RADB
1.14 aaron 168: database.
169: It contains route policy specifications for a large
1.6 deraadt 170: number of operators' networks.
1.19 millert 171: .It Fl p Ar port
172: Connect to the whois server on
173: .Ar port .
174: If this option is not specified,
175: .Nm
176: defaults to the
177: .Dq whois
178: port listed in
179: .Pa /etc/services
180: (port 43).
1.9 millert 181: .It Fl Q
1.13 aaron 182: Do a quick lookup.
183: This means that
1.9 millert 184: .Nm
1.24 jmc 185: will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
1.9 millert 186: server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
1.13 aaron 187: fails.
188: This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
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.
1.23 jmc 201: .It Fl r
202: Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
203: .Pq Tn RIPE
1.18 millert 204: database.
1.23 jmc 205: It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
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
1.22 jmc 221: .Ql \&!
1.19 millert 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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