North American Network Operators Group

Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical

Whois Query Changes in the .ORG Registry, 20 August 2005 (2-day Notice)]

  • From: Rick Wesson
  • Date: Thu Aug 18 16:26:07 2005


FYI

-rick

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Org-Registrars] Whois Query Changes in the .ORG Registry, 20 August 2005 (2-day Notice)
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 13:47:36 -0400
From: PIR Technical Support <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]

Dear Registrars,

Please be advised that on 20 August 2005 between 15:00 and 17:00 UTC,
the .ORG Whois (including port 43 and www.pir.org) is scheduled for
downtime and will be unavailable.

Please note that the .ORG Registry System will continue to operate
normally and the Shared Registration System (SRS) and the Web-based
Admin Interface will remain available. Registering and manipulating
domain names and other registry objects will be possible. Domains will
continue to resolve normally.

During this downtime, PIR will implement the following changes to the
Whois function for the .ORG Registry System.

1. Whois access for public Port 43 will be restricted to 4 queries per
minute per unique IP address.
2. Registrars will be provided with additional access to Whois via a
dedicated Whois server, whois2.publicinterestregistry.net.

These changes are being made in response to the requests we have
received from registrars and registrants to minimize the potential for
data mining the .ORG Registry's Whois records.

Whois Access for Public Port 43
*******************************

To reduce abusive use of the public Whois and ensure access for
legitimate users, PIR is executing changes necessary to restrict Whois
access to the public Port 43 to a maximum of 4 queries per minute per IP
address. When a user exceeds the lookup quota allocated, the system will
respond with an appropriate message.

Registrar Specific Whois Access
********************************

All .ORG registrars will be provided with a dedicated Whois access
server, whois2.publicinterestregistry.net. Registrars will still be able
to access the public Port 43 Whois server, though the 4 queries per
minute limitation will exist if this access mechanism is used. It is
recommended that registrars utilize the separate dedicated Whois server
that will be explicitly for registrar use. This access will allow
registrars to have a less restrictive access of 50 queries per minute
per source IP to Whois information. This dedicated Whois server will be
available from a different hostname/IP address than the public Whois
service. Additional information regarding registrar access to the
dedicated Whois server and IP/Subnet requirements are located at
https://www.pir.org/registrars/registrar_relations/faqs/whois_limitation.
Registrars may choose to utilize both the public Whois on Port 43 and
the separate dedicated server concurrently.

Should you have any questions, please contact PIR Technical Support.

Sincerely,

PIR Technical Support
<[email protected]>
+1.416.646.3308