ftp://sipb.mit.edu/pub/whois/whois-servers.list List of Internet whois servers, 8 March 2000 (Version 4.19) This list was collected and compiled by Matt Power of M.I.T. Questions or comments about this list should be sent to the address: mhpower@mit.edu Preferred server name Associated institution --------------------------------------------------------------------- whois.alabanza.com Alabanza, Inc C=US whois.compuserve.com CompuServe Interactive Services, Inc C=US whois.discount-domain.com interQ Inc. C=JP dns411.com Name.Space C=US whois.domaindiscover.com TierraNet, Inc. C=US whois.domainpeople.com NetNation Communications Inc. C=CA whois.easyspace.com EasySpace Ltd. C=GB whois.enom.com eNom, Inc. C=US whois.geektools.com CenterGate Research Group, LLC C=US whois.ibm.com IBM C=US whois.internetnamesww.com Melbourne IT C=AU whois.names4ever.com A+Net Registrar C=US whois.namesecure.com Maaznet Directory Service Inc. C=US whois.networksolutions.com Network Solutions, Inc. C=US whois.pacbell.com Pacific Bell C=US whois.register.com Forman Interactive Corp C=US whois.registrars.com Internet Domain Registrars C=US whois.sunquest.com Sunquest Information Systems C=US whois.berkeley.edu University of California at Berkeley C=US www.binghamton.edu State University of New York at Binghamton C=US finger.caltech.edu California Institute of Technology C=US csufresno.edu California State University - Fresno C=US csuhayward.edu California State University - Hayward C=US csus.edu California State University - Sacramento C=US whois.cwru.edu Case Western Reserve University C=US cc.fsu.edu Florida State University C=US directory.gatech.edu Georgia Institute of Technology C=US gettysburg.edu Gettysburg College C=US gmu.edu George Mason University C=US whois.dfci.harvard.edu Dana-Farber Cancer Institute C=US hmc.edu Harvey Mudd College C=US indiana.edu Indiana University C=US nii.isi.edu US Domain Registry C=US whois.isi.edu .INT Whois Service C=US whois.messiah.edu Messiah College C=US whois.rsmas.miami.edu University of Miami, Rosentiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences C=US mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology C=US directory.msstate.edu Mississippi State University C=US vax2.winona.msus.edu Minnesota State University - Winona C=US info.nau.edu Northern Arizona University C=US whois.ncsu.edu North Carolina State University C=US nd.edu University of Notre Dame C=US earth.njit.edu New Jersey Institute of Technology C=US vm1.nodak.edu North Dakota State University C=US austin.onu.edu Ohio Northern University C=US ph.orst.edu Oregon State University C=US osu.edu Ohio State University C=US whois.oxy.edu Occidental College C=US info.psu.edu Pennsylvania State University C=US whois.cc.rochester.edu University of Rochester C=US whitepages.rutgers.edu Rutgers University C=US whois.sdsu.edu San Diego State University C=US stanford.edu Stanford University C=US camis.stanford.edu Stanford University C=US stjohns.edu St. John's University C=US sunysb.edu State University of New York, Stony Brook C=US whois.bcm.tmc.edu Baylor College of Medicine C=US whois.ubalt.edu University of Baltimore C=US directory.ucdavis.edu University of California at Davis C=US uchicago.edu University of Chicago C=US ucsd.edu University of California at San Diego C=US weber.ucsd.edu University of California at San Diego, Division of Social Sciences C=US cgl.ucsf.edu University of California at San Francisco, School of Pharmacy C=US whois.uh.edu University of Houston C=US whois.umass.edu University of Massachusetts at Amherst C=US lookup.umd.edu University of Maryland C=US umn.edu University of Minnesota C=US ns.unl.edu University of Nebraska at Lincoln C=US whois.upenn.edu University of Pennsylvania C=US x500.utexas.edu University of Texas at Austin C=US netlib2.cs.utk.edu na-net (linear algebra on computers) C=US whois.virginia.edu University of Virginia C=US whois.wfu.edu Wake Forest University C=US wisc.edu University of Wisconsin C=US wpi.wpi.edu Worcester Polytechnic Institute C=US ibc.wustl.edu Washington University C=US vm1.hqadmin.doe.gov U.S. Department of Energy Headquarters C=US wp.doe.gov U.S. Department of Energy C=US llnl.gov Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory C=US x500.arc.nasa.gov NASA Ames Research Center C=US x500.gsfc.nasa.gov NASA Goddard Space Flight Center C=US whois.hq.nasa.gov NASA Headquarters C=US x500.ivv.nasa.gov NASA Software Independent Verification & Validation Facility C=US whois.jpl.nasa.gov NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory C=US x500.jsc.nasa.gov NASA Johnson Space Center C=US larc.nasa.gov NASA Langley Research Center C=US whois.larc.nasa.gov NASA Langley Research Center C=US x500.msfc.nasa.gov NASA Marshall Space Flight Center C=US x500.ssc.nasa.gov NASA Stennis Space Center C=US x500.wstf.nasa.gov NASA White Sands Test Facility C=US x500.nasa.gov National Aeronautics and Space Administration C=US wp.nersc.gov National Energy Research Supercomputer Center C=US whois.nic.gov Center for Email Technology C=US seda.sandia.gov Sandia National Laboratories C=US whois.nic.mil DoD Network Information Center C=US whois.nrl.navy.mil Naval Research Laboratory C=US whois.6bone.net 6bone Registry C=US whois.abuse.net Network Abuse Clearinghouse C=US whois.aco.net Austrian Academic Computer Network C=AT whois.apnic.net Asia Pacific Network Information Center C=SC whois.arin.net American Registry for Internet Numbers C=US whois.aunic.net The .AU Registry C=AU whois.awregistry.net All West Communications C=US whois.cary.net CARYNET & HK eDNS Whois server C=HK whois.corenic.net CORE Internet Council of Registrars C=CH whois.crsnic.net Network Solutions, Inc. for Shared Registration System C=US whois.cw.net Cable & Wireless USA C=US wp.es.net Energy Sciences Network C=US whois.hinet.net Chunghwa Telecom C=TW ds.internic.net Network Solutions, Inc. (non-MILNET/non-POC) C=US whois.internic.net Network Solutions, Inc. C=US whois.ja.net JANET C=GB whois.krnic.net Korea Network Information Center C=KR whois.lac.net Latin America & Caribbean Whois Server C=EC companies.mci.net RFC 2345 TLD-WHOIS demonstration server C=US whois.nameit.net nameIT C=US whois.netnames.net NetNames (.AF, .BT, .PW, .TM) C=GB whois.nomination.net NomiNation (.GB.COM, .GB.NET, .UK.COM, .UK.NET) C=GB whois.nsiregistry.net Network Solutions, Inc. C=US whois.oleane.net OLEANE SA C=FR whois.opensrs.net Open Shared Registration System C=US pcdc.net Pacific Communications Development Corp. C=TW whois.ra.net The Routing Arbiter Project C=US whois.ripe.net Reseaux IP Europeens C=NL whois.ripn.net Russian Institute for Public Networks C=RU whois.thnic.net Thailand Network Information Center C=TH whois.twnic.net Taiwan Network Information Center C=TW whois.dhs.org Domain Host Services C=AU whois.morris.org Morris Automated Information Network C=US whois.nic.ac nic.ac C=AC whois.nic.am AM Network Information Centre C=AM whois.nic.as ASNIC C=AS wp.tuwien.ac.at Technische Universitat Wien C=AT whois.risc.uni-linz.ac.at Research Institute for Symbolic Computation, University of Linz C=AT whois.wu-wien.ac.at Wirtschaftsuniversitaet Wien C=AT archie.au Australian Academic and Research Network C=AU whois.connect.com.au Connect.com.au Pty Ltd C=AU whois.adelaide.edu.au University of Adelaide C=AU whois.monash.edu.au Monash University C=AU uwa.edu.au University of Western Australia C=AU sserve.cc.adfa.oz.au University College, Australian Defense Force Academy C=AU whois.kuleuven.ac.be Katholieke Universiteit Leuven C=BE whois.belnet.be Belgian National Research Network C=BE whois.registro.br registro.br C=BR whois.camosun.bc.ca Camosun College, Victoria, B.C. C=CA whois.canet.ca Bell Canada Internet Transit Service C=CA whois.cdnnet.ca CDNnet C=CA whois.queensu.ca Queen's University, Kingston, Canada C=CA ac.nsac.ns.ca Nova Scotia Agricultural College C=CA whois.unb.ca University of New Brunswick C=CA panda1.uottawa.ca University of Ottawa C=CA dvinci.usask.ca University of Saskatchewan, Engineering C=CA whois.usask.ca University of Saskatchewan C=CA phys.uvic.ca University of Victoria, Physics & Astronomy C=CA whois.uwo.ca University of Western Ontario C=CA whois.nic.cc NIC.CC Registration Services C=CC whois.nic.ch SWITCH Swiss Academic and Research Network C=CH whois.nic.ck Cook Islands Network Information Centre C=CK whois.nic.cl U. de Chile (NIC Chile) C=CL whois.cnnic.net.cn Computer Network Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences C=CN whois.ci.ucr.ac.cr University of Costa Rica Computer Center C=CR whois.cuni.cz Charles University, Prague C=CZ whois.mff.cuni.cz Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics C=CZ www.fce.vutbr.cz Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Brno C=CZ gopher.fme.vutbr.cz Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technical University of Brno C=CZ whois.fee.vutbr.cz Faculty of Elec. Eng. and Computer Sci., Technical Univ. of Brno C=CZ whois.vutbr.cz Technical University of Brno C=CZ whois.fh-koeln.de Fachhochschule Koeln C=DE whois.fzi.de Forschungszentrum Informatik C=DE hermes.informatik.htw-zittau.de HTW Zittau/Goerlitz Elektrotechnik/Informatik C=DE whois.nic.de DEutsches Network Information Center C=DE whois.th-darmstadt.de Darmstadt University of Technology C=DE whois.tu-chemnitz.de Technische Universitaet Chemnitz C=DE whois.uni-regensburg.de Universitaet Regensburg C=DE whois.uni-c.dk Danish Computing Centre for Research and Education C=DK whois.ut.ee University of Tartu C=EE whois.eunet.es EUnet, Goya, Spain C=ES whois.dit.upm.es Tech. Univ. Madrid, Telecommunications Highschool C=ES cs.hut.fi Helsinki University of Technology C=FI oulu.fi Oulu University C=FI vtt.fi Technical Research Centre of Finland C=FI whois.nic.fr Association Francaise pour le Nommage Internet en Cooperation C=FR whois.nordnet.fr NordNet C=FR whois.univ-lille1.fr University of Sciences and Technologies of Lille - France C=FR whois.hknic.net.hk HKNIC C=HK whois.registry.hm HM Domain Registry C=HM whois.iisc.ernet.in Indian Institute of Science C=IN whois.ncst.ernet.in National Centre for Software Technology C=IN isgate.is Association of Research Networks in Iceland C=IS isgate3.isnet.is Internet a Islandi C=IS pgebrehiwot.iat.cnr.it Nigerian TLD Registration Service C=NG dsa.nis.garr.it GARR-NIS c/o CNR-CNUCE C=IT whois.nic.it Italian Network Information Center C=IT whois.nic.mx Network Information Center - Mexico C=MX whois.aist-nara.ac.jp Nara Institute of Science and Technology C=JP whois-server.l.chiba-u.ac.jp Chiba University C=JP whois.hiroshima-u.ac.jp Hiroshima University C=JP gopher.educ.cc.keio.ac.jp Science and Technology Computing Center, Keio University C=JP whois.cc.keio.ac.jp Keio University C=JP whois.cc.uec.ac.jp University of Electro-Communications C=JP whois.yamanashi.ac.jp Yamanashi University C=JP whois.nic.ad.jp Japan Network Information Center C=JP www.orions.ad.jp Osaka Regional Information and Open Network Systems C=JP whois.domain.kg Kyrgyzstan TLD C=KZ sorak.kaist.ac.kr Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology C=KR whois.nic.or.kr Korea Network Information Center C=KR whois.domain.kz Kazahstan Domain Name Registry C=KZ whois.nic.li SWITCH Swiss Academic and Research Network C=LI whois.nic.lk Sri Lanka Domain Registry C=LK www.restena.lu RESTENA C=LU whois.nic.mm MM-NIC C=MM www.nic.mx NIC-Mexico C=MX condor.dgsca.unam.mx Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, D.G. de Servicios de Computo Academico C=MX domain-registry.nl Stichting Internet Domeinregistratie Nederland C=NL whois.norid.no UNINETT FAS (NORID) C=NO whois.nic.nu .NU Domain Ltd C=NU whois.canterbury.ac.nz University of Canterbury C=NZ directory.vuw.ac.nz Victoria University, Wellington C=NZ waikato.ac.nz Waikato University C=NZ whois.patho.gen.nz PATHOGEN C=NZ whois.domainz.net.nz Domainz -- The New Zealand Internet Registry Ltd C=NZ whois.rcp.net.pe Red Cientifica Peruana C=PE whois.icm.edu.pl Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Modelowania Matematycznego i Komputero C=PL whois.elka.pw.edu.pl Faculty of Electronic Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology C=PL whois.ia.pw.edu.pl Institute of Automatic Control, Warsaw University of Technology C=PL whois.dns.pt Fundacao para a Computacao Cientifica Nacional C=PT dsa.fccn.pt Fundacao para a Computacao Cientifica Nacional C=PT chalmers.se Chalmers University of Technology C=SE kth.se Royal Institute of Technology C=SE whois.nic-se.se Network Information Centre Sweden C=SE sics.se Swedish Institute of Computer Science C=SE whois.nic.net.sg Singapore Network Information Centre C=SG whois.nic.sh NIC.SH Domain Registry C=SH whois.uakom.sk SANET (WAN of Slovak academic institutions) C=SK whois.nic.st Domain Council of Sao Tome and Principe C=ST whois.adamsnames.tc AdamsNames (.GS, .MS, .TC, .TF, .VG) C=TC whois.nic.tj TJ-NIC C=TJ whois.tonic.to Tonic Domain Name Registry C=TO whois.metu.edu.tr Middle East Technical University C=TR whois.seed.net.tw Seednet C=TW whois.iii.org.tw Institution for Information Industry C=TW src.doc.ic.ac.uk Imperial College C=GB whois.lut.ac.uk Loughborough University C=GB whois.nic.uk Nominet UK (.UK Domain Registrar) C=GB dsa.shu.ac.uk Sheffield Hallam University C=GB whois.state.ct.us Department of Administrative Services, State of Connecticut C=US info.cnri.reston.va.us Corporation for National Research Initiatives, Knowbot interface C=US whois.frd.ac.za National Research Foundation C=ZA whois.und.ac.za University of Natal (Durban) C=ZA whois.co.za Foundation for Research Development C=ZA -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Documentation", and other comments... Redistribution -------------- If you redistribute this list, or excerpt a significant number of entries from it, be sure to also pass along the original anonymous-FTP location, and request that updates be sent to my e-mail address, as specified at the top of this file. This will allow users to obtain updated versions at a later time, and will help ensure that I get the information I need to do the updating. Also, keep in mind that accessing a whois server requires a direct connection to the Internet. In general, sites that have access to the Internet via tcp/whois will also have access to the Internet via tcp/ftp, and will thus be able to obtain this file directly. Making the file available via a mail-based server is therefore largely unnecessary. Updates ------- I am interested in any corrections to the above listing, and in reports of other whois servers. Please send them via e-mail to the address listed at the top of this file. Unless the maintainer of the server has already announced his whois service publicly, I will attempt to contact the postmaster or system maintainer prior to including a new entry. Scope ----- Whois servers, at least by my definition, provide directory information in response to TCP queries on port 43, in a manner roughly analogous to the DDN NIC whois service described in RFC 954. I realize that many sites instead provide this directory service via the finger protocol, or accept queries by mail for directory information. Although I'd be happy to receive reports of these, the scope of this particular listing is limited to the TCP whois service. There are a few hosts that accept tcp/whois connections, but respond with information identical to that given by a standard finger server. Since I don't consider this a directory service, I have been omitting these hosts. Unlisted servers ---------------- I know of some other whois servers that aren't listed above (at their maintainers' requests), even though they allow access to at least a small amount of directory information. Currently, this includes twenty-two in North America, six in Europe, and one in Asia. Typical reasons include: service is about to be shut down, service is still being developed and will be announced later, or another server provides the same data in a better supported manner. Server names ------------ There are currently three popular naming conventions for whois servers. The most common practice is to put whois service on a host as far up as possible in the organization's domain hierarchy. For example, the highest-level domain name associated with M.I.T. is MIT.EDU, and M.I.T.'s whois service is operated on the host named mit.edu. Another common practice is to choose 'whois' or 'wp' as the first part of the domain name ('wp' stands for "White Pages"). This would be the case if M.I.T.'s whois service were on a host named whois.mit.edu or wp.mit.edu. In these cases, the listed name is often an alias, not the host's canonical name. In selecting the name to be listed, I've given preference to aliases starting with whois or wp. I personally prefer the first-mentioned convention, since it results in shorter command lines, and ones I believe are less confusing to beginning Internet users. In particular, the top-level host often supports organization-wide mail service, and thus the same host name can be used for whois queries and for e-mail. Usage ----- The most common access approach involves separately querying each server of interest, via a direct tcp/whois connection. However, there are currently a number of active projects concerned with improved interfaces to these servers, either by more intelligent client software, or by standardization of the server behavior. Eventually, this should eliminate the need for end users to have the complete collection of server names; at this point, though, distributing the server list to individual Internet users is still worthwhile. The procedure for accessing the whois servers will vary depending on your host's operating system, and on what software is installed. On UNIX systems, the preferred method is whois -h _server_name_ _name_of_person_ If there is no whois program, sometimes it will work to type telnet _server_name_ 43 and then type the "name of person" on a separate line. (The usefulness of this will vary depending on the details of the telnet client implementation installed on your system.) Alternatively, you may be able to compile a whois program yourself, starting from source code available at various anonymous FTP sites. As a start, you might try searching archie for files named 'whois.tar.Z'. Programs named 'whois' and 'telnet' may also be available on VMS systems. Typing 'HELP WHOIS' or 'HELP TELNET' at the DCL prompt may be useful. Whois programs may also be installed on other operating systems, or may be available for these systems via anonymous FTP. Searching archie for file names matching 'whois' (case insensitive) might be worthwhile. Also, system administrators interested in starting new whois servers will probably be able to find one or more separate source-code packages on anonymous FTP sites. In addition to checking archie, you may wish to look in the file whois-servers.source, available at the anonymous-FTP location listed at the top of this file. Other Formats of This List -------------------------- Whenever this whois-servers.list file is updated, it is automatically converted to a few other formats. One that might be of common interest is a "Summary" version that contains just the server names and locations, one per line, and a few comment lines that each begin with ';'. This version can be obtained via whois -h sipb.mit.edu whois-servers or from a few replication sites that can be found by doing whois -h sipb.mit.edu whois-list-servers It's intended mainly for people who have a program to copy the server list occasionally (e.g., once a week) for local redistribution. If you're able to redistribute via whois (i.e., by supporting the query whois -h _your_server_name_ whois-servers), please let me know and I'll add you to the list of replication sites. Gopher Access ------------- The data in this list are also available via the Internet Gopher system. Gopher clients should connect to the host sipb.mit.edu, port 70, and choose the selection "Internet whois servers". The whois-server entries accessible in the sipb.mit.edu Gopher server are automatically updated whenever this file is changed. Alternatively, one can access this same Gopher menu by connecting to a root Gopher server at the University of Minnesota and selecting "Phone Books" then "WHOIS Searches". AFS Access ---------- Sites using Transarc's AFS (Andrew File System) software can access the whois-servers.list file using the AFS global name space pathname /afs/sipb.mit.edu/project/gopher-links/whois-servers.list (i.e., it is in the directory project/gopher-links relative to root.cell for the sipb.mit.edu cell.) Access Restrictions ------------------- In general, these servers should only be used for isolated queries about specific individuals of interest. Typically, it is not acceptable to make an extended series of queries in an attempt to obtain large sections, or the entirety, of the directory. Such a strategy is objectionable both because of excessive consumption of server resources, and because the directory itself is usually considered proprietary. In particular, deriving lists of persons for distribution of commercial advertisements or solicitations is expressly prohibited by site policies in many cases, and could easily cause sites to curtail the current open access to their whois servers. Server problems --------------- Not all of the whois-server entries constitute a "supported" service within their respective domains. Even at sites where the service is supported, there may be occasional changes in the server host name. Also, at any given time, you will probably find one or more of the servers not operational, or apparently unusable. I have not purposefully included any servers that I believe have been permanently shut down. In all cases, either I have personally seen the server provide useful information within the last few months, or else the maintainers of the server have asked me to include it anyway, while they work on resolving usage problems. Collection ---------- The list was collected primarily via an active resource-discovery approach involving polling selected Internet hosts for possible support of tcp/whois service. This was done with some attention to minimizing consumption of resources on other Internet hosts and networks. In particular, no DNS zone transfers were used to generate lists of polling candidates. Instead, a small number of host names in most second-level domains were selected, using various heuristics, and whois queries were attempted to each of these. All queries originated from hosts in the MIT.EDU domain. Also, I've been maintaining versions of this list since August 1990, and since then a number of persons have mailed me reports of new whois servers, or updates on the servers already listed here.