Whois is a network tool that lets you obtain information on names from the Network Information Center.
A Whois request displays a contact name, mailing address, telephone number, and network mailbox for all users and organizations that are registered with one of the official Whois servers, such as the Internet Network Information Center (interNIC) database.
You can use the Whois tool to find administrative contacts from a Whois database.
To use the Whois tool, do the following:
| 1. | Select the Whois tab. |
| 2. | Enter in the Query text box a query text (for example, intel.com). |
Enter the name or “handle” (unique identifier assigned to a Whois record) of a person or an organization. The drop-down list shows the previous queries entered. The query searches all records of the Whois database for an exact match of the name or handle.
If you don’t know the name or handle, you can enter a partial query string followed by one or more dots. For example, entering “Mack.” finds “Mack,” “Mackall,” “Mackey.”
If there is more than one occurrence of the name, Whois returns a summary of each. You can then extract the handle (shown in parentheses) of the name you want more information on and enter it as the query string, preceded by an exclamation mark, for example “!ABC.”
| 3. | Set in the Options dialog box any of the options you want to use. |
NetInfo now includes a new feature, which will automatically determine the Whois server to query based upon the country extension found in the query string. You can uncheck the Autodetect check box to force your queries to go to the server specified in Whois Setup:
whois.internic.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Internet Network Information Center (interNIC).
whois.arin.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the American Registry for Internet Numbers.
whois.nic.gov
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Government-Wide Registration Service.
whois.nic.mil
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Department of Defense Network Information Center.
whois.cdnnet.ca
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.
whois.ripe.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the European Network Coordination Center.
whois.nic.uk
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the United Kingdom Network Information Center.
whois.ripn.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Russian Network Information Center.
whois.apnic.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Asia Pacific Network Information Center.
whois.aunic.net
Provides information about users and organizations registered with the Australian Network Information Center.
Tip: You can choose from the current list of known Whois servers and add a new server to the list.
| 4. | Click the Start button. |
The Whois client establishes a connection with the specified Whois server. The results of the query appear in the Response area. If the query finds a single occurrence of the search string (person or organization), it displays the detailed information for that person or organization. If it finds more than one occurrence of the search string, it displays a summary of each record that matches the search string.
Tips:
| • | To display help information on using the services that the NIC provides through Whois, send a Whois query with "help" text. |
| • | You can right-click the Response area to display the pop-up menu. |
Whois example:
