Annotation of src/usr.bin/whois/whois.1, Revision 1.32
1.32 ! sthen 1: .\" $OpenBSD: whois.1,v 1.31 2012/09/26 16:12:14 jmc Exp $
1.1 deraadt 2: .\" $NetBSD: whois.1,v 1.5 1995/08/31 21:51:32 jtc Exp $
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31: .\" @(#)whois.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 6/20/94
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1.32 ! sthen 33: .Dd $Mdocdate: September 26 2012 $
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
1.32 ! sthen 41: .Op Fl AadgilmPQRr
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 A
57: Use the Asia/Pacific Network Information Center
58: .Pq Tn APNIC
59: database.
60: It contains network numbers used in East Asia, Australia,
61: New Zealand, and the Pacific islands.
1.3 deraadt 62: .It Fl a
63: Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers
64: .Pq Tn ARIN
1.13 aaron 65: database.
66: It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world
1.3 deraadt 67: covered neither by
1.27 henning 68: .Tn AfriNIC ,
69: .Tn APNIC ,
70: .Tn LACNIC ,
1.19 millert 71: nor by
1.3 deraadt 72: .Tn RIPE .
1.19 millert 73: .Pp
74: (Hint: All point of contact handles in the
75: .Tn ARIN
76: whois database end with
77: .Qq Li -ARIN . )
1.18 millert 78: .It Fl c Ar country-code
79: This is the equivalent of using the
80: .Fl h
81: option with an argument of
82: .Qq Ar country-code Ns Li .whois-servers.net .
1.3 deraadt 83: .It Fl d
1.19 millert 84: Use the US Department of Defense database.
1.13 aaron 85: It contains points of contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 86: .Tn \&.MIL .
1.8 millert 87: .It Fl g
88: Use the US non-military federal government database, which contains points of
89: contact for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 90: .Tn \&.GOV .
1.3 deraadt 91: .It Fl h Ar host
92: Use the specified host instead of the default NIC
1.8 millert 93: (whois.crsnic.net).
1.3 deraadt 94: Either a host name or an IP address may be specified.
1.19 millert 95: .Pp
96: By default
97: .Nm
98: constructs the name of a whois server to use from the top-level domain
99: .Pq Tn TLD
100: of the supplied (single) argument, and appending
101: .Qq Li .whois-servers.net .
102: This effectively allows a suitable whois server to be selected
103: automatically for a large number of
104: .Tn TLDs .
105: .Pp
106: In the event that an IP
1.21 jmc 107: address is specified, the whois server will default to the American
1.19 millert 108: Registry for Internet Numbers
109: .Pq Tn ARIN .
110: If a query to
111: .Tn ARIN
112: references
113: .Tn APNIC , LACNIC ,
114: or
115: .Tn RIPE ,
116: that server will be queried also, provided that the
117: .Fl Q
118: option is not specified.
119: .Pp
120: If the query is not a domain name or IP address,
121: .Nm
122: will fall back to
123: .Pa whois.crsnic.net .
1.8 millert 124: .It Fl i
125: Use the Network Solutions Registry for Internet Numbers
1.19 millert 126: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
1.13 aaron 127: database.
1.19 millert 128: Historically, it contained network numbers and domain contact information
129: for most of
1.8 millert 130: .Tn \&.COM ,
131: .Tn \&.NET ,
132: .Tn \&.ORG
133: and
134: .Tn \&.EDU
135: domains.
1.19 millert 136: However, the registration of these domains is now done by a number of
137: independent and competing registrars and this database holds no information
138: on the domains registered by organizations other than Network Solutions, Inc.
139: Also, note that the
140: .Tn InterNIC
141: database
142: .Pq Pa whois.internic.net
143: is no longer handled by Network Solutions, Inc.
1.21 jmc 144: For details, see
1.29 schwarze 145: .Lk http://www.internic.net/ .
1.19 millert 146: .Pp
147: (Hint: Contact information, identified by the term
148: .Em handle ,
149: can be looked up by prefixing
1.22 jmc 150: .Qq Li \&!
1.19 millert 151: or
1.22 jmc 152: .Qq Li handle\ \&
1.19 millert 153: to the
154: .Tn NIC
155: handle in the query.)
1.17 fgsch 156: .It Fl l
1.19 millert 157: Use the Latin American and Caribbean IP address Regional Registry
1.17 fgsch 158: .Pq Tn LACNIC
159: database.
1.19 millert 160: It contains network numbers used in much of Latin America and the
1.21 jmc 161: Caribbean.
1.6 deraadt 162: .It Fl m
163: Use the Route Arbiter Database
164: .Pq Tn RADB
1.14 aaron 165: database.
166: It contains route policy specifications for a large
1.6 deraadt 167: number of operators' networks.
1.32 ! sthen 168: .It Fl P
! 169: Use the PeeringDB database of AS numbers.
! 170: It contains details about presence at internet peering points
! 171: for many network operators.
1.19 millert 172: .It Fl p Ar port
173: Connect to the whois server on
174: .Ar port .
175: If this option is not specified,
176: .Nm
177: defaults to the
178: .Dq whois
179: port listed in
180: .Pa /etc/services
181: (port 43).
1.9 millert 182: .It Fl Q
1.13 aaron 183: Do a quick lookup.
184: This means that
1.9 millert 185: .Nm
1.24 jmc 186: will not attempt to lookup the name in the authoritative whois
1.9 millert 187: server (if one is listed) nor will it contact InterNic if a lookup
1.13 aaron 188: fails.
189: This flag has no effect when combined with any other flag.
1.8 millert 190: .It Fl R
191: Use the Russia Network Information Center
192: .Pq Tn RIPN
1.13 aaron 193: database.
194: It contains network numbers and domain contact information
1.8 millert 195: for subdomains of
1.21 jmc 196: .Tn \&.RU .
1.19 millert 197: This option is deprecated; use the
1.21 jmc 198: .Fl c
1.19 millert 199: option with an argument of
200: .Qq Li RU
201: instead.
1.23 jmc 202: .It Fl r
203: Use the R\(aaeseaux IP Europ\(aaeens
204: .Pq Tn RIPE
1.18 millert 205: database.
1.23 jmc 206: It contains network numbers and domain contact information for Europe.
1.1 deraadt 207: .El
208: .Pp
209: The default action, unless directed otherwise with a special
210: .Ar name ,
211: is to do a very broad search, looking for matches to
212: .Ar name
213: in all types of records and most fields (name, nicknames, hostname, net
214: address, etc.) in the database.
215: For more information as to what
216: .Ar name
217: operands have special meaning, and how to guide the search, use
218: the special name
1.13 aaron 219: .Dq help .
1.19 millert 220: .Ss Special cases
221: Queries beginning with an exclamation point
1.22 jmc 222: .Ql \&!
1.19 millert 223: are assumed to be
224: .Tn NSI
225: contact handles.
226: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
227: .Pq Tn whois.networksolutions.com
228: will be used as the
229: .Nm
230: database.
231: .Pp
232: Similarly, queries beginning with
233: .Dq COCO-
234: are assumed to be
235: .Tn CORE
236: contact handles.
237: Unless a host or domain is specified on the command line,
238: .Pq Tn whois.corenic.net
239: will be used as the
240: .Nm
241: database.
1.18 millert 242: .Sh EXAMPLES
243: Most types of data, such as domain names and
244: .Tn IP
245: addresses, can be used as arguments to
246: .Nm
247: without any options, and
248: .Nm
249: will choose the correct whois server to query.
250: Some exceptions, where
251: .Nm
252: will not be able to handle data correctly, are detailed below.
253: .Pp
254: To obtain contact information about an
255: administrator located in the Russian
256: .Tn TLD
257: domain
258: .Qq Li RU ,
259: use the
260: .Fl c
261: option as shown in the following example, where
262: .Ar CONTACT-ID
263: is substituted with the actual contact identifier.
264: .Pp
265: .Dl "whois -c RU CONTACT-ID"
266: .Pp
267: (Note: This example is specific to the
268: .Tn TLD
269: .Qq Li RU ,
270: but other
271: .Tn TLDs
272: can be queried by using a similar syntax.)
1.19 millert 273: .Pp
274: The following example demonstrates how to query
275: a whois server using a non-standard port, where
276: .Dq Li query-data
277: is the query to be sent to
278: .Dq Li whois.example.com
1.21 jmc 279: on port
1.19 millert 280: .Dq Li rwhois
281: (written numerically as 4321).
282: .Pp
283: .Dl "whois -h whois.example.com -p rwhois query-data"
1.31 jmc 284: .Sh STANDARDS
1.18 millert 285: .Rs
1.30 jmc 286: .%A K. Harrenstien
287: .%A M. Stahl
288: .%A E. Feinler
289: .%D October 1985
290: .%R RFC 954
1.18 millert 291: .%T NICNAME/WHOIS
1.30 jmc 292: .Re
1.31 jmc 293: .Pp
1.30 jmc 294: .Rs
295: .%A L. Daigle
296: .%D September 2004
297: .%R RFC 3912
298: .%T WHOIS Protocol Specification
1.18 millert 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 .