Whois tool for registrar

[Murray]

DaveP once made me a whois desktop tool using delayed dac where I as a registrar could put in 5000 daily and do whois checks

It would be nice to still have something like this, does anyone have something they already made they could sell me? or make me easily

 

[astutiumRob]

DAC is going (possibly already gone, I don't recall the sunset date offhand)

If you're doing basic "availability" checks, then accessing

https://rdap.nominet.uk/uk/domain/[domain]

will return the details
or {"errorCode":404,"title":"Domain [domain] not found"}

 

[Murray]

Thanks, tbh I had assumed it was already gone, the tool I had doesn't work anyway but maybe that's for another reason I am not aware of

Could I use https://rdap.nominet.uk/uk/domain/[domain] for bulk whois?

 

[astutiumRob]

do you mean whois (as in "registrant data") as the dac didn't provide that info ?

 

[ben]

I'm pretty sure the lookup tool has very aggressive, IP-based rate limits for RDAP queries, you won't be able to use it for bulk checks. But someone feel free to correct me.

 

[Murray]

do you mean whois (as in "registrant data") as the dac didn't provide that info ?

No registrant details you're right

The tool I had just showed me whether a domain was registered, tag, created, expiry, status

I'm mostly just interested if a domain is registered or available

 

[atlas]

I think Dale (@aZooZa) had a tool way back - this tool worked on a local Windows machine and allowed you to query the DAC in bulk. It may be worth reaching out to him.

I believe DAC is still around, at least for a few more months.

 

[Murray]

I think Dale (@aZooZa) had a tool way back - this tool worked on a local Windows machine and allowed you to query the DAC in bulk. It may be worth reaching out to him.

I believe DAC is still around, at least for a few more months.

Thanks and ohhh a memory just came back to me, it was like an extra £20 a year or something for dac wasn't it? I stopped paying for it when we didn't need it for dropcatching anymore

I just looked under "apply for services" and I can't see it to apply for though

 

[astutiumRob]

From the consultation
To close new applications for access to the DAC from Monday, 3rd June 2024.
To retire the .UK real-time DAC and time-delay DAC on Wednesday, 29th January 2025.

 

[ben]

Thanks and ohhh a memory just came back to me, it was like an extra £20 a year or something for dac wasn't it? I stopped paying for it when we didn't need it for dropcatching anymore

I just looked under "apply for services" and I can't see it to apply for though

£30 inc. VAT IIRC, though if they are phasing it out you probably won't be able to subscribe to it. Though I am almost certain I remember them saying that DAC will still be available to use, just won't be useful for catching.

This might be worth looking at though: https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registration-and-domain-management/query-tools/uk-whois2/

 

[seemly]

£30 inc. VAT IIRC, though if they are phasing it out you probably won't be able to subscribe to it. Though I am almost certain I remember them saying that DAC will still be available to use, just won't be useful for catching.

This might be worth looking at though: https://registrars.nominet.uk/uk-namespace/registration-and-domain-management/query-tools/uk-whois2/

"Please note that the WHOIS2 service is not intended to be used for your own personal use. Clause 4.1 of the contract states that you may not use the WHOIS2 service in such a way that you are both the end user and the WHOIS gateway, nor may you falsify the client data that is sent to us."

 

[ben]

"Please note that the WHOIS2 service is not intended to be used for your own personal use. Clause 4.1 of the contract states that you may not use the WHOIS2 service in such a way that you are both the end user and the WHOIS gateway, nor may you falsify the client data that is sent to us."

Bit shit that, really isn’t it. So you build your own tool and can’t use it?

 

[seemly]

Bit shit that, really isn’t it. So you build your own tool and can’t use it?

Crazy, right?

It's ridiculous that they ever had such a stingy WHOIS query limit in the first place, then the WHOIS2 prevents you creating and using the tool for personal use, followed by having a similar query limit for the RDAP service is unnecessarily restrictive (acceptable use policy).

I understand if someone is hammering your servers, but just put safeguards in place and block their requests when they truly are taking the piss.

 

[ben]

Even better, they should really natively support bulk WHOIS queries. I mean realistically, it’s only going to make them more money, isn’t it?

 

[Murray]

Thanks guys, so are there no options? without the dac I am limited to 1000 a day? the same as any general member of the public

 

[ben]

You could try a 3rd part solution, but out of the box these are more often than not, setup for .com or other stuff but can still work for .uk. I have found in the past that they just end up returning stuff like "could not check" or "available" when they're not, they're just being rate limited and the software is not handling the response properly.

Something like this I have used with some success in the past: https://whois.whoisxmlapi.com/bulk-whois-lookup

For example: https://my.eurodns.com/das/search



We know for sure, def.uk is not available, but it says it is, because it has likely been rate limited.