Php & databases

Using PHP classes to navigate distributed whois databases
By Mark Jeftovic
All materials Copyright © 1997−2002 Developer Shed, Inc. except where otherwise noted.

Using PHP classes to navigate distributed whois databases

Table of ContentsIntroduction.........................................................................................................................................................1 Overview of the whois landscape.......................................................................................................................2 Making sense of it with PHP classes..................................................................................................................3 Overview ofWhois2.php....................................................................................................................................4 Looking at the pieces..........................................................................................................................................5 Tying it all together.............................................................................................................................................8Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction
When we think of conducting whois lookups we're probably used to that meaning: querying the Internic database, usually for a domain record for a .com/.net/.org or .edu domain. We also knew that there were otherwhois servers out there, one for ..mil and .int for example, not to mention the ones for the myriad ccTLD's (country code TLD's) in existence, and we could look up domains in those TLD's by asking the approprate whois server about it. Things changed radically this year with the introduction of competition at the registrar level in the .com/.net/.org namespace and with it the advent of the SRS(Shared Registry System). ICANN set up shop to succeed the IANA and began accrediting other registrars while Network Solutions split into seperate business units to handle their registrar operation (which now competes with all the others, albeit with a nice head start) and the registry, which is still for all intents and purposes, a monopoly. After a period of holding out and refusing to sign theICANN registrar accreditation agreement, Network Solutions finally did so and as per the terms of the deal, began redirecting port 43 whois service from rs.internic.net over to whois.nsiregistry.net on December 1st/1999. What all this means is that on December 1st, running "whois devshed.com" stopped looking like this: InfoWest Global Internet Services, Inc. (DEVSHED−DOM) 1845 W. Sunset Blvd. St.George, UT 84770 US Domain Name: DEVSHED.COM Administrative Contact: Cosby, David R (DRC4) dcosby@INFOWEST.COM 801.674.0165 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Gifford, Aaron D (AG44) agifford@INFOWEST.COM 435−674−0165 (801) 634−9567 (FAX) 435−674−9654 Billing Contact: InfoWest Domain Services (IDS2−ORG) dns@INFOWEST.COM 435−674−0165 Fax− 435−674−9654 Record last updated on 06−Aug−1997. Record created on06−Aug−1997. Database last updated on 4−Dec−1999 12:14:06 EST. Domain servers in listed order: NS1.INFOWEST.COM 204.17.177.10 NS2.INFOWEST.COM 204.17.177.20

And started looking like this: Domain Name: DEVSHED.COM Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, INC. Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com Referral URL: www.networksolutions.com Name Server: NS1.INFOWEST.COM Name Server: NS2.INFOWEST.COMBasically, the default whois server ceased to be whois.internic.net (a.k.a rs.internic.net) which only carried records for domains registered via Network Solutions or Worldnic, and started to be the registry whois server which carried entries for all .com/.net/.org domains.

Introduction

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Overview of the whois landscape
Excepting for the moment .com/.net/.org, most TLD's have a whois...