When searching for domain names, you might have come across the term whois, someone might have suggested that you do a whois lookup. So, what is whois and how is it useful?
Looking Up Website Info with Whois
Whois is just what it sounds like, it’s the concatenation of two words, who and is. In short, it is like asking “who is the person/organisation responsible for managing this domain name?”
What is Whois?
Whois is a database of registered domain names and other related information and it is also a protocol that helps lookup this information. When you register a domain name, you are obliged to provide your contact information to the domain name registrar. This is required by ICANN, or the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
The Information You Can Get From a Whois Query
At the basic level, when you search domain names information with Whois, it will give you the registrar of the domain, the creation and expiration date, the nameservers etc. This is the information you can get from a thin data model, associated with TLDs like .com, .net etc. For other TLDs like .biz, or .info, you get more details, from a Thick Whois. So, besides the above mentioned data, you may also get the contact details of the website owner, and the administrative and technical contact details.
However, if the domain owner has chosen private registration, these contact details are not shown. Instead, the organisation providing the privacy facility shows its own contact details in the place of the domain owner contact details. The real contact information is still available in the domain registry, but it is not publicly visible. This helps protect the privacy of the registrant.
The Uses of Whois
Whois records can be useful in many ways.
For Routing
Technical details related to the domain are shared with TLD registries and Domain Name Servers. This information is used to identify and direct traffic to the relevant server that hosts the website and to load the correct website when the website’s name is typed into the address box of a browser.
For Investigation into Cybercrimes and Threats
An investigation to track a cyber crime or a website attack can use the Whois service to identify the server or network details associated with the domain name or email id that initiated the attack. This also helps the investigators trace a path used by the hacker.
For Resolving Networking Issues
Whois searches can also help in rectifying network glitches. A whois search can help identify the domain or network where the problem originates and get the contact details of the network administrators to resolve the issue.
Maintaining the Security of the Internet
By helping to trace the path of cyber attacks and other offenses, by providing contact information for the offending domain or network, the Whois system helps track down crimes and those responsible for these crimes. By helping law enforcement apprehend cyber criminals, the Whois system also helps to make networks and domains more secure.
Tracing the History of Domains
You can lookup the history of a domain name before registering it to see if it has already been used, whether it has been blacklisted for any illegal activities etc. This helps individuals and organisations steer clear of inheriting a bad reputation through the domain name that will affect their business through no fault of their own.
Getting Contact Information to Buy the Domain Name
You may be able to get the contact information for the owner of a domain. How is this helpful?
If you have been brainstorming domain names and when you search domain names you find that one or two you like is already owned by someone else, you might do a Whois lookup for that domain.
If the registrant (domain owner) has not used private registration service, and the TLD registry uses a thick Whois model, you can get the owner contact details. In this case, you can send a query to that contact to see if the owner will be interested in selling the domain name. If the expiration date is near and the owner is willing to sell, you can get the domain name you want.
At the very least, even if the contact info is not available, you can see when the domain name expires and then get that name quickly after expiry if the current owner does not renew it.
Be sure to lookup the Whois history for the domain, to ensure you will not be buying a domain that has a bad reputation.
If you cannot acquire the domain name you want, you can search domain names ideas using a good tool like the Shopify Domain Name Generator. This tool can generate domain names close to the one you want. Shopify is also a good place to register the domain and setup your ecommerce site.