Internet Draft R. Rader Document: draft-rader-dnwhois-defn-00.txt Tucows Inc. Category: Informational January, 2001 Domain Name Whois Data Element and Related Definitions Status of this Memo This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with all provisions of Section 10 of RFC 2026 [1]. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. 1. Abstract Efforts are currently being undertaken to review the role of Whois (as defined in RFC 954 [2] and formalize registry/registrar communications protocols in light of the current and evolving scope and utility of DNS, domain name registries and related entities. In order for this work to be truly effective and broadly applicable, it is important that accepted definitions act as the foundation. This document is an attempt to create a starting point for the requisite dialogue that will ultimately foster the determination and acceptance of these definitions. 2. Conventions used in this document The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [3]. 3. Definitions Contact: Contacts are individuals or entities associated with domain name records. Typically, third parties with specific inquiries or concerns will use contact records to determine who should act upon Rader Informational - June, 2001 1 Domain Name & Related Def'n January, 2001 specific issues related to a domain name record. There are typically three of these contact types associated with a domain name record, the Administrative contact, the Billing contact and the Technical contact. Contact, Administrative: The administrative contact is an individual, role or organization authorized to interact with the registry or registrar on behalf of the SLD Holder. The administrative contact should be able to answer non-technical questions about the domain name's registration and the SLD Holder. In all cases, the Administrative Contact is viewed as the authoritative point of contact for the domain name, second only to the Registrant. Contact, Billing: The billing contact is the individual, role or organization designated to receive the invoice for domain name registration and re-registration fees. Contact, Technical: The technical contact is the individual, role or organization who is responsible for the technical operations of the delegated zone. This contact likely maintains the domain name server(s) for the domain. The technical contact should be able to answer technical questions about the domain name, the delegated zone and work with technically oriented people in other zones to solve technical problems that affect the domain name and/or zone. Domain Holder: The individual or organization that registers a specific domain name. This individual or organization holds the right to use that specific domain name for a specified period of time, provided certain conditions are met and the registration fees are paid. This person or organization is the "legal entity" bound by the terms of the relevant service agreement with the registry operator for the TLD in question. NIC: Network Information Center. ICANN: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A non- profit organization founded to assume responsibility for IP address space assignment, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management and root server system management. InterNIC: The InterNIC, a registered service mark of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is a concept for an integrated network information center that was developed by several companies, including Network Solutions, in cooperation with the U.S. Government. Until recently, the term InterNIC is being used in conjunction with a neutral, stand alone web page (located at http://www.internic.net) that has been established to provide the public with information regarding Internet domain name registration. ICANN has recently undertaken an agreement with the United States Department of Commerce to undertake operation of the effort. The InterNIC was originally created by NSF to provide specific Internet Rader Informational - Expires June, 2001 2 Domain Name & Related Def'n January, 2001 services; directory & database services (by AT&T), registration services (by Network Solutions) and information services (by General Atomics/CERFnet). [4] NIC Handle: A NIC Handle is an identifier in use by some registrars and registries that is assigned to various records in the domain name database. Globally, they do not have a common format or application. Further, they are not globally unique. Registrant: See Domain Holder Registrar: A person or entity that contracts with SLD holders and a registry, collecting registration data about the SLD holders and submitting zone file information for entry in the registry database. Registry: A Registry is the person(s) or entity(ies) responsible for providing registry services. Registry services include customer database administration, zone file publication, DNS operation, marketing and policy determination in accordance with the general principles outlined in RFC 1591 [5]. A Registry may outsource some, all, or none of these services. Registry Operator: Usually synonymous with the term Registry, however a Registry Operator may also be an organization or individual acting operating the Registry under an outsourced technical services management contract. SLD: An "SLD" is a second-level domain of the DNS SLD Holder: The individual or organization that registers a specific domain name. This individual or organization holds the right to use that specific domain name for a specified period of time, provided certain conditions are met and the registration fees are paid. This person or organization is the "legal entity" bound by the terms of the relevant service agreement with the registry operator for the TLD in question. SLD Sponsor: The Registrar responsible for the submission of the domain name to the Registry. Whois: a TCP transaction based query/response server, that providing netwide directory service to network users. Originally defined in RFC 954, the earlier implementations were centralized systems run first by SRC-NIC and then later InterNIC/Network Solutions. The SRI- NIC and InterNIC implementations are more formally referred to as "NICNAME/Whois" services. Whois is not purely a domain name or IP address directory service, but has been deployed for a wide variety of uses, both public and private. Other variants of this service include RWhois and the newer Verisign Referral LDAP Whois service. Whois, Bulk: A data retrieval mechanism required by ICANN that specifies that all ICANN accredited Registrars must make their Whois Rader Informational - Expires June, 2001 3 Domain Name & Related Def'n January, 2001 dataset available as a single machine readable file. Put another way, Bulk Whois is the entire Registrar Whois dataset available for download via FTP, HTTP or other mechanism. Whois, Command-line: A Whois query executed from the command line of an operating system such as Linux or MS-DOS. Whois Record: The information or payload returned to the client as a result of a Whois query. Whois, Referral: RWhois (Referral Whois) extends and enhances the Whois concept in a hierarchical and scaleable fashion. In accordance with this, RWhois focuses primarily on the distribution of "network objects", or the data representing Internet resources or people, and uses the inherently hierarchical nature of these network objects (domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) networks, email addresses) to more accurately discover the requested information. [6] Whois, Registrar: Whois services made available by specific registrars for the domain names that they sponsor at the Registry. Whois, Registry: Whois services made available by specific registries for the domain names that they are authoritative for. Registry Whois often do not provide the comprehensive contact information that Registrar Whois services do, but they usually contain contact information for the Sponsoring Registrar. Whois, Web based: A World Wide Web interface to Registrar or Registry Whois services. 4. Security Considerations This memo provides definitions for administrative terms related to DNS and does not raise or address security issues. 5. References [1] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP 9, RFC 2026, October 1996. [2] Harrenstein, Stahl & Feinler, "NICName/Whois", RFC 954, October 1985. [3] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 [4] Kristula, D., "History of the Internet", http://davesite.com/webstation/net-history.shtml, 1996. Rader Informational - Expires June, 2001 4 Domain Name & Related Def'n January, 2001 [5] Postel, J., "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation", RFC 1591, March, 1994. [6] Williamson, Kosters, Blacka, Singh & Zeilstra, "Referral Whois (Rwhois) Protocol V1.5", RFC 2167, June 1997. 6. Acknowledgments This document is the result of input and motivation from a wide variety of individuals and entities. Rick Wesson, Scott Allan and Tim Jung provided the primary motivators with ICANN, IANA and Network Solutions providing the history and context. Additionally, the various terms and conditions, operating contracts and frequently asked questions documents produced by various Registries and Registrars were instrumental in the production of this document. Where appropriate, these contributions will be specifically acknowledged in the References portion of future iterations of this draft. 7. Author's Address Ross Wm. Rader Tucows Inc. 96 Mowat Avenue Toronto, Ontario M9C 3M1 t. 416.538.5492 f. 416.531.2516 e. ross@tucows.com Rader Informational - Expires June, 2001 5 Domain Name & Related Def'n January, 2001 Full Copyright Statement "Copyright (C) The Internet Society 2001. All Rights Reserved. This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implmentation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English. The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Rader Informational - Expires June, 2001 6