GeekTools update Part 1 - whois-servers.net
Based on suggestions, we've now added a new set of nameservers which will serve up data on known whois servers. Requests in the form: dig xxx.whois-servers.net where xxx = tld (de, jp, com, ch, int, etcetera) will return a record with the correct CNAME and dns values. dig xxx.whois-servers.net any will return additional TXT records with the 'common' name for the TLD, for logic checking (Germany, Japan, Switzerland, International, etcetera). Obviously these answers will only be valid for the whois servers we are aware of. nslookup xxx.whois-servers.net will return the valid ip address and aliases, of course. Additionally, zone transfers (axfr) may be made for whois-servers.net if you prefer to proxy this data internally. I suggest you do this at least once to see which tld's we know about. I will also post the latest updates and features to the whois.geektools.com proxy shortly. These include: - AS numbers via APNIC, RIPE, and ARIN. Queries are routed to the proper server. - ARIN, RIPE, and APNIC "handle" and netblock lookups - RADB queries - Queries can be forced to specific NIC servers if needed while still using the proxy. - IP block lookups using the correct registry. - Self-contained - no external programs (unix whois or other lookup utility) required. - "Smart" whois server handling for those servers that tend to spew output in strange forms. The same features will also appear in the web-based whois tool at www.geektools.com. Finally, as usual, please send updates, feature requests and comments to complaints@centergate.com Rodney Joffe CenterGate Research Group www.centergate.com www.geektools.com
[ On Sunday, April 25, 1999 at 22:24:41 (-0700), Rodney Joffe wrote: ]
Subject: GeekTools update Part 1 - whois-servers.net
Based on suggestions, we've now added a new set of nameservers which will serve up data on known whois servers.
Cool! I was wondering when someone would do this. You're seemingly missing a few TLDs that I've had listed in my awhois script for some time though (some are just additional pointers to whois.ripe.net, but they seemed to work last time I tested them). Have a peek at (which I updated today to fall back on your list!): ftp://ftp.planix.com/pub/Planix/awhois.sh You should probably have mentioned the obvious too -- i.e. how to use your list with a simple whois client: whois -h TLD.whois-servers.net QUERY-STRING
dig xxx.whois-servers.net any will return additional TXT records with the 'common' name for the TLD, for logic checking (Germany, Japan, Switzerland, International, etcetera).
Ah, that's not going to work very well for most folks. It's illegal to have any other records with CNAME records. My own tests show that host(1) [Version 980903], and probably other tools, get extremely confused with this -- it won't return just the TXT RR, even if asked for explicitly. (Actually I'm surprised host doesn't flag it as illegal right away, but perhaps the problem's with the server at your end, not with host.) I'm surprised you even got your BIND-8.1.1 and BIND-8.1.2 named's to load that zone -- I thought they would reject zones with illegal data. I would agree that TXT RRs are much less confusing when seen with CNAMEs than most any other RR would be, but I don't really see any way to work around the rules. It would be far better to split off a sub-zone for additional information, such as {TLD}.info.whois-servers.net. You could even split the CNAMEs into their own zone {TLD}.cname.whois-servers.net, but that defeats the convenience a bit for those using it by hand I suppose. It does have the advantage of forever avoiding any possible namespace collision between the sub-zone and a potential TLD.
- "Smart" whois server handling for those servers that tend to spew output in strange forms.
Personally I like the rwhois output format best -- it's even more machine-friendly than RIPE's format. ;-) -- Greg A. Woods +1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <gwoods@acm.org> <robohack!woods> Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>
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