Guides

Whois Wizard

How to run a Whois query to find out all the public information of a registered domain

It is possible to know thee public information of a registered domain querying the databases of the relevant registries through the Whois protocol. Queries can be made at the command line, or through web tools made available by the registries of the specific extensions. The tool to be used, therefore, may change depending on the extension of the domain being queried.

Domains .com, .net

For these domains, a Whois query can be carried out usign the relevant registry web page: Verisign Search WHOIS

Example 1. Suppose you're looking for information on the microsoft.com domain. If you enter the domain name (without www) on the indicated Verisign page, you get the following result:

Domain Name: MICROSOFT.COM
Registrar: MARKMONITOR INC.
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 292
Whois Server: whois.markmonitor.com
Referral URL: http://www.markmonitor.com
Name Server: NS1.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS2.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS3.MSFT.NET
Name Server: NS4.MSFT.NET
Status: clientDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientDeleteProhibited 
Status: clientTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientTransferProhibited 
Status: clientUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#clientUpdateProhibited 
Status: serverDeleteProhibited https://icann.org/epp#serverDeleteProhibited 
Status: serverTransferProhibited https://icann.org/epp#serverTransferProhibited 
Status: serverUpdateProhibited https://icann.org/epp#serverUpdateProhibited 
Updated Date: 09-oct-2014
Creation Date: 02-may-1991
Expiration Date: 03-may-2021

This information is sufficient to know the situation of the domain. The main ones are:

  • Domain Name: it indicates the name of the domain.
  • Registrar: it indicates the international authority that manages the registration.
  • Whois Server: it indicates the server that responds to the Whois, that is the server that contains the database of names registered by MARKMONITOR INC.
  • Referral URL: it allows you to consult the domain registration contacts.
  • Name Server:it indicates the name servers delegated to resolve the name; the first in the list is the main name server, the others are the secondary servers.
  • Status: it indicates the status of the domain and therefore whether or not a domain can be transferred.
  • Expiration date: it indicates the expiration date of the registration.

Example 2. Suppose you need to search for the domain registration contacts. This is done by following the link given in the Referral URL line, in this case http://www.markmonitor.com. On the next page you will need to locate the field in which to perform the Whois query - follow any instructions given on the site. For microsoft.com we obtain the following result (the data shown above has been omitted):

Registrant Date
Registry Registrant ID: 
Registrant Name: Domain Administrator
Registrant Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Registrant Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Registrant City: Redmond
Registrant State/Province: WA
Registrant Postal Code: 98052
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.4258828080
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: +1.4259367329
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email: domains@microsoft.com

Administrative Contact Data			
Registry Admin ID: 
Admin Name: Domain Administrator
Admin Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Admin Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Admin City: Redmond
Admin State/Province: WA
Admin Postal Code: 98052
Admin Country: US
Admin Phone: +1.4258828080
Admin Phone Ext: 
Admin Fax: +1.4259367329
Admin Fax Ext: 
Admin Email: domains@microsoft.com

Technical Contact Data
Registry Tech ID: 
Tech Name: MSN Hostmaster
Tech Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Tech Street: One Microsoft Way, 
Tech City: Redmond
Tech State/Province: WA
Tech Postal Code: 98052
Tech Country: US
Tech Phone: +1.4258828080
Tech Phone Ext: 
Tech Fax: +1.4259367329
Tech Fax Ext: 
Tech Email: msnhst@microsoft.com

Name Server: ns4.msft.net
Name Server: ns1.msft.net
Name Server: ns2.msft.net
Name Server: ns3.msft.net

This information shows the registration data of the domain. Among the most significant are:

  • Registrant: owner of the domain and legally responsible for the use of the site;
  • Admin-C: administrative contact of the domain on which depends the outcome of transfer requests. In the case of a request for a change of registrar, the new registrar sends an email requesting authorisation for the transfer to this administrative contact, asking for confirmation. If the Admin-C does not reply to this request, the transfer procedure will fail and the domain will not be transferred.

Domains .it, .eu, .org, .info, .biz

For these domains, it is possible to consult the registration details with a single Whois request, made directly to the respective Registry of each TLD (ccTLD, gTLD). In particular, for the above extensions:

Again, it is possible to identify the email address of the administrative contact, the registrar they belong to, the status of the registration and the expiry date.