Many people have probably heard of the word WHOIS when considering acquiring
a domain
. However, it is also true that many people do not understand the outline of WHOIS or do not know how to research it.
Therefore, in this article, we will explain the overview, history, and purpose of WHOIS. We will also explain terms such as registry and registrar, which are terms that often appear together with WHOIS, so please use this as a reference.
What is WHOIS?
First, I will explain about WHOIS. WHOIS is a service that allows anyone on the Internet to view information such as domain and IP address registrants. WHOIS is provided by the registries and registrars mentioned below, and is used for purposes such as avoiding trouble.
Also, many people may be concerned about whether their IP address or domain is disclosed on WHOIS. In conclusion, when acquiring an IP address or domain, it is mandatory to submit the information to be disclosed to WHOIS. If you acquired a domain from a major domain company, in most cases information is automatically provided to WHOIS.
Therefore, when acquiring a domain or IP address, you should fully understand that your registration information will be disclosed on the Internet.
History of WHOIS
So far, we have provided an overview of WHOIS. Here, we will explain the history of WHOIS. The operational rules and specifications for WHOIS were first established in 1982 in “RFC812 (NICNAME/Whois),” which is a document that summarizes standard Internet technologies. Initially, it was published as a way to contact people in case of technical problems with domains or IP addresses, but now it is also used to prevent problems with trademarks.
However, as WHOIS is likely to be useful information for
marketing
, an increasing number of companies and individuals are requesting large amounts of information to be disclosed to WHOIS. Since then, there has been a growing movement to restrict mass access to WHOIS in order to limit such mass disclosure. Furthermore, from the perspective of personal information protection, the principles of disclosure of information registered in WHOIS are being reviewed on a daily basis.
What is the purpose of WHOIS?
WHOIS has three main purposes.
- To be able to check whether the same domain or similar domain exists
- Provide us with the information necessary to contact you in the event of a technical problem;
- Promote autonomous resolution of trademark-related problems
When establishing a new company and creating a homepage, you will need to obtain a new domain. Even in such cases, WHOIS allows you to search for similar domains, reducing the risk of your domain being compromised.
What kind of information is published on WHOIS?
WHOIS is required by ICANN (Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers) to provide the following information:
- registered domain name
- Registrar name
- Name servers for registered domain names
- Domain name registration date
- Domain name expiration date
- Information about registrants
- Technical contact information
- Registration contact information
- If you only want to acquire a .asia domain, please provide information regarding CED (Charter Eligibility Requirement)
Based on this, it is important to deepen your understanding of the following three points.
- registry
- registrar
- reseller
I will briefly explain each of them.
registry
A registry is an organization that manages top-level domains such as “.com”, “.net”, and “.jp”, each of which has only one domain. Additionally, registries are the highest level of domain management institutions. All registered information for top-level domains is stored in the registry as a database. There are as many registries as there are top-level domains in the world, so one registry does not manage all top-level domains.
registrar
A registrar is an organization (operator) that has the authority to register domains with a registry. Generally, after acquiring a domain, you apply for registration with the registry through a registrar. Therefore, the registrar can also access the database maintained by the registry.
reseller
A reseller is a business that sells or manages domains through a registrar. In Japan, typical examples include Value Domain and Mumu Domain.
How to change WHOIS?
So far, we have provided an overview of WHOIS. You may also want to change the WHOIS information that is already registered. The method to change it depends on the type of domain you have acquired and the rental
server
company you are using.
For example, in the case of an X server, you can change the settings from “Default Whois Information Settings” in the service menu. However, this point also varies depending on the domain you have acquired and the circumstances such as when acquiring a new domain or transferring it.
Therefore, if you want to change WHOIS, we recommend that you first refer to the change manual of each rental server company. If you still don’t know, you can try using the rental server company’s customer support.
How to check two types of WHOIS information
If you want to search for WHOIS information yourself, there are two ways to do it: search on the relevant site for the domain, or search on a site that compiles WHOIS. Here, we will introduce each method and useful sites.
Check on the corresponding site of the domain
This is a method to access the registry that manages information for each top-level domain. For example, access “
Belize NIC Whois Lookup
” for a .biz domain, or “
Afilias Whois lookup
” for a .info domain. There is one for each top-level domain, so please search for the appropriate domain.
JPRS WHOIS
JPRS WHOIS
allows you to search WHOIS such as .jp/.co.jp/.or.jp all at once. Search types such as domain name information and contact information can also be specified in detail.
INTERNIC WHOIS
INTERNIC WHOIS
allows you to search WHOIS such as .com/.net/.org/.info all at once. Since this is an English site, we recommend using it in conjunction with a Japanese conversion tool.
WHOIS publishing agency
So far, we have explained how to check WHOIS. WHOIS also provides a publishing proxy service. Here, we will introduce an overview and points to note about WHOIS publishing agency.
Overview of publishing agency
WHOIS publishing agency is a service that can replace domain registrant information, which is normally required to be made publicly available, with domain company information and make it publicly available. For example, in the case of “Name.COM”, for about 1,000 yen per year, you can replace the registered information of the domain holder with the information of Name.COM and publish it.
The WHOIS publication agency is characterized by its provision primarily from the perspective of protecting the privacy of personal information. Therefore, if you do not want your registrant information to be made public, you may consider using the WHOIS publishing agency service.
Notes on publishing agency
The important thing to note about WHOIS publishing agency is that it is not possible to transfer the domain while it is being published on behalf of WHOIS. In addition, when transferring from the domain company you are currently using to another domain company, in most cases the WHOIS publication agency fee paid in advance is not refunded.
Therefore, if you are using WHOIS publishing agency when transferring your domain, please cancel the setting before proceeding with the transfer procedure.
summary
In this article, we explained about WHOIS. WHOIS is a service that allows anyone on the Internet to view domain information and information about owners. It is used to check whether the same domain or similar domain exists, or to contact you in case of technical problems. There are also WHOIS publication agency services.
Why not start by deepening your basic understanding of WHOIS?