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:
Select the Whois tab.
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.”
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.
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.
