Network Working Group R. Wesson
Internet-Draft Alice's Registry, Inc.
Expires: July 27, 2001 January 26, 2001
Whois Export and Exchange Format
draft-wesson-whois-export-03.txt
Status of this Memo
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo presents a technique for using XML (Extensible Mark-up
Language) as a source format exchanging WHOIS data related to Domain
Registration Information, for the purpose of exporting Registry,
Registrar, or Registrant data into a portable and verifiable
format.
Discussion on this Internet-Draft is to be held on the mailing list
ietf-whois@imc.org, which is hosted by the Alice's Registry, Inc. To
subscribe, send an email to ietf-whois-request@imc.org, with the
text "subscribe" as the only word in the body of the mail. There is
an archive of the mailing list at [7]
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Export Format Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1 Whois Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Contact Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.1 Name Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.2 Title Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.3 Organization Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.4 Address Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4.1 Street Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4.2 City Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4.3 State Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4.4 Postal Code Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.4.5 Country Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.5 Phone/Fax Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.6 E-Mail Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Name Server (ns) Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.3.1 IP Address Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 Date Created/Modified Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.5 Domain Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5.1 Registrant Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5.2 Domain Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5.2.1 status Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5.2.2 fqdn Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3. Query Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1 The Query Element . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2 Query Attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.1 The type Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.2.2 The flags Attribute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
A. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
B. The Whois DTD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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1. Introduction
The whois service [4] has been distributed among ICANN approved
registrars since the breakup of the NSI monopoly on Domain
Registrations. This data is now served up my many non-interpolating
WHOIS servers.
The data contained in a WHOIS response is consist and but the
formatting varies from Registrar to Registrar. This document
proposes a XML encapsulation of WHOIS data what will add the
necessary structure to support the exchange of WHOIS records among
Registrars.
This format is also suitable for Registrant data escrow required by
ICANN for all Registrars.
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2. Export Format Description
2.1 Whois Element
"whois" example.
....
The "whois" element is the outer most element in the XML DTD. This
element MUST contain a mixture of "contact", "ns", or "domain"
elements.
The "registrar" attribute is a unique string identifying the
Registrar of record for the data presented in the "whois" element.
The "whois" element may also deligate authority for any object to
another host. this is done by placing a hostname in the "referal"
attribute as in the example below.
"whois referal" example.
....
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2.2 Contact Element
Contact example.
Rick H.Wesson
geek
704 Almar Ave.
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
US
+1.800.555.1212
rick@ar.com
The "contact" element consists of all ICANN required data elements
describing a technical, admin, or billing contact. The contact is
required to have the following elements:
2.2.1 Name Element
Example "name" element.
Rick H. Wesson
The "name" element contains the contacts full name.
2.2.2 Title Element
Example "title" element.
Geek
The "title" element contains the contacts title. This element is
optional and not required by ICANN.
2.2.3 Organization Element
Example "organization" element.
Alice's Registry, Inc.
The "organization" element contains the name of the organization
that the contact belongs to. this element is not required by ICANN
but is used by most Registrars.
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2.2.4 Address Elements
Postal Addresses SHOULD be normalized into address, street, city,
state, country and postal code elements. If for some reason address
elements need to support RIPE style address formats the "line"
element can be used in the place of the normalized address
elements.
2.2.4.1 Street Element
Example "street" element.
555 N. Main St.
The "street" element contains the 'address' lines of a postal
address.
2.2.4.2 City Element
Example "city" element.
Santa Cruz
The "city" element contains the city or area of the contact if the
contacts locality uses such descriptors in a postal address. This
element is REQUIRED by ICANN but some nation-states use no "city"
elements.
2.2.4.3 State Element
Example "state" element.
California
The "state" element contains the state or province of the contact if
the contacts locality uses such descriptors in a postal address.
This element is REQUIRED by ICANN but some nation-states use no
"state" elements.
2.2.4.4 Postal Code Element
Example "postalcode" element.
94117-1234
The "postalcode" element contains a delivery indicator unique to the
address of the contact. This is often referred to as the Zip Code in
the USA. Other nation-states my have other delivery indicators.
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2.2.4.5 Country Code
Example "country" element.
US
The "country" element is an ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 two (2) letter
country code for the country of origin of the contacts postal
address.
2.2.5 Phone/Fax Elements
Example "phone" and "fax" elements.
+1.831.423.2595
+1.831.423.2596
The "phone" element contains an international telephone number of
the contact.
The "fax" element contains an international telephone number for
facsimile of the contact.
The following MAY be included '.', '-' and ' ' in the phone
number for readability. The number must be a full E.164 number
starting with '+' and then country code.
2.2.6 E-Mail Element
Example "email" element"
rick@example.com
the "email" element contains a valid RFC 822[3] E-Mail address of
the contact.
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2.3 Name Server (ns) Element
Example "ns" element.
207.44.204.34
31-Jan-2000
Name Servers are required by ICANN and MUST be referenced in all
"domain" elements.
The "ns" element MUST contain the names and IP Addresses of
authoritative name servers for the domain. The "ns" element MUST
contain at zero (0) or more "ip" elements. The "ns" element MUST
have a valid Fully Qualified Domain Name in its "fqdn" attribute.
The "created" and "modified" elements contain the date the Name
Server record was Created or Modified. These elements are NOT
REQUIRED. The "ns" element MAY contain an optional "contact" element
as a reference to the contact that is administratively responsible
for the Name Server.
2.3.1 IP Address Elements
Example "ip" element
10.10.10.1
::FFFF:10.10.10.2
The "ip" element contains IP version 4 or version 6 address
information. The attribute "type" can either be 'ipv4' or 'ipv6',
this attribute defaults to ipv4 if it is not listed.
2.4 Date Created/Modified Elements
Creation and Modification dates are NOT REQUIRED for Name Server
(ns) elements; However the "created" element IS REQUIRED for the
"domain" element and The "modified" element is NOT REQUIRED. It is
understood that many Registrars currently publish the date the
object was last updated and has been included for that reason.
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2.5 Domain Element
Example "domain" element.
Alice's Registry, Inc.
704 Almar Ave.
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
US
The "domain" element MUST contain a "fqdn" and "status" attribute.
The Contact element IS REQUIRED for domains that are ACTIVE.
2.5.1 Registrant Elements
The "contact" element must be listed for the Administrative and
Technical contacts for the domain. The "type" attribute of the
contact element must be set for each contact listed.
At least one Admin and one Technical contact are required for each
domain.
2.5.2 Domain Attributes
A domain element is required to have a "status" attribute and a
"fqdn" attribute.
2.5.2.1 status Attribute
For shared registry gTLDs supporting RRP version 1.1[5] and greater,
the the "status" Attribute SHOULD be set for the "domain" element.
The status attribute MUST be set to one of the following attributes:
active: This is the default status of a domain at registration time.
The registry sets the domain to this status. The domain is
modifiable by the registrar. The domain can be renewed. The
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domain SHALL be included in the zone file when in this status if
the domain has at least one associated name server.
registry-lock: The registry sets the domain to this status. The
domain cannot be modified or deleted by the registrar. The
registry MUST remove the REGISTRY-LOCK status for the registrar
to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain SHALL
be included in the zone file when in this status if the domain
has at least one associated name server.
registry-hold: The registry sets the domain to this status. The
domain cannot be modified or deleted by the registrar. The
registry MUST remove the REGISTRY-HOLD status for the registrar
to modify the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain SHALL
NOT be included in the zone file when in this status.
registrar-hold: The registrar of the domain sets the domain to this
status. The domain can not be modified or deleted when in this
status. The registrar MUST remove REGISTRAR-HOLD status to modify
the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain SHALL NOT be
included in the zone file when in this status.
registrar-lock: The registrar of the domain sets the domain to this
status. The domain cannot be modified or deleted when in this
status. The registrar MUST remove REGISTRAR-LOCK status to modify
the domain. The domain can be renewed. The domain SHALL be
included in the zone file when in this status.
registry-delete-notify: A domain is set on this status if it has
expired and has child name servers that are hosting other
domains. Only the registry may set this status. The domain SHALL
be included in the zone file when in this status if the domain
has at least one associated name server.
2.5.2.2 fqdn Attribute
The "fqdn" attribute specifies the Fully Qualified Domain that the
whois record is defining.
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3. Query Format
The ability to structure queries to XML enabled whois servers is
critical for the ability to retrieve XML encapsulated results. Some
of the objects MAY be implemented by Registries or Registrars, not
all objects are required.
3.1 The Query Element
The "query" element provides a structured means to request an object
from a XML capable Whois server. Query results MAY contain a Referal
insted of a complete object.
3.2 Query Attributes
3.2.1 The type Attribute
The "type" attribute of a query MUST be set to one of the following
values.
Finds a domain record. When the type attribute is set to "domain"
this will restrict the query and result set to only domin objects.
For example, "domain example.com"
When the type attribute is set to "nameserver" this will restrict
the query and result set to only host objects. For example,
"nameserver ns1.example.com"
Finds records for "registrar". Find out Registrar name, mail
address, phone number and contact information. For example,
'registrar Network Solutions, Inc.' This value is only required by
Registries.
Finds records for Individuals or Roles.
A value of "any" is the default, searching as many object types as
available.
3.2.2 The flags Attribute
The "flags" attribute modify how the server responds to queries.
Queries will only be presented to other registrars and only will be
applied to the authortative data stored in the registrars database.
This gives a complete response for each matching record, not just
when there's only a single match. The results from a query resulting
in large volumes of result sets, MAY impose a limit on how many
result may be returned for a single query.
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4. Security Considerations
The Whois protocol doesn't include any security functions at all,
and this paper raises no security issues nor adds any such security
features.
If this export format is used for Data Escrow of a Registrars WHOIS
data, the movement of the data from the registrar to ICANN or an
ICANN representative tasked with performing the job of Data Escrow,
the connection should be secured.
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5. Acknowledgments
Patrik Faltstrom made significant contribution to the review of this
document.
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References
[1] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement
Levels", RFC 2119, BCP 14, March 1997.
[2] Postel, J. and J. Reynolds, "Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC
2223, October 1997.
[3] Crocker, D., "STANDARD FOR THE FORMAT OF ARPA INTERNET TEXT
MESSAGES", RFC 822, August 1982.
[4] Harrenstien, K., Stahl, M. and E. Feinler, "NICNAME/WHOIS", RFC
954, October 1985.
[5] Hollenbeck, S., "NSI Registry Registrar Protocol (RRP) Version
1.1.0", RFC 2832, May 2000.
[6] World Wide Web Consortium, "Extensible Mark-up Language (XML)
1.0", W3C XML, February 1998,
.
[7] http://www.imc.org/ietf-whois/
Author's Address
Rick H. Wesson
Alice's Registry, Inc.
704 Almar Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
US
Phone: +1 831 423 2595
EMail: rick@ar.com
URI: http://www.ar.com/
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Appendix A. Examples
This section lists some example whois objects. There are many ways
to associate the various objects, this example shows but one
potential for domain registrant data.
Example "domain" elements.
Rick H. Wesson
geek
704 Almar Ave.
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
US
+1.800.555.1212
rick@ar.com
Matt Ho
CTO
Xtreme Realities
701 Broderick st.
San Francisco
CA
94117
US
+1.800.555.1212
matt@xtreme.com
Alice's Registry, Inc.
704 Almar Ave.
Santa Cruz
CA
95060
US
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Appendix B. The Whois DTD
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Full Copyright Statement
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
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Acknowledgement
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Internet Society.
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