small vent

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1

Date: Sat, 27 Jun 1998 23:55:20 +0800
To: brian@meganet.net
From: "David R. Conrad" <davidc@apnic.net>
Subject: Re: small vent

One reason might be that clueless folk in the US that complain to APNIC or
RIPE (or NANOG) directly instead of looking stuff up in the appropriate
whois database ("ARIN has all the IP information, right?") and complaining
to the people who can actually do something about the problem.
  [...]

Having to specify the proper database host on the whois command always
struck me a bit like requiring every user to specify the appropriate server
for, e.g. ".com", every time the user makes a DNS request.

Why can't the registry folks get their collective act together and provide
users with a system that allows a simple request like "whois name" to
find the appropriate [piece] of the database.

-tjs

2

Why can't the ISPs get their act together and use a whois client that
allows a simple request like "whois name" to find the appropriate
database? This is simple enough that it could be done with a PERL script
frontend to the regular whois client and as an added bonus it could lookup
info in the country-code TLD databases as well.

3

[ On Sat, June 27, 1998 at 10:11:54 (-0700), Michael Dillon wrote: ]

Subject: Re: small vent

Why can't the ISPs get their act together and use a whois client that
allows a simple request like "whois name" to find the appropriate
database? This is simple enough that it could be done with a PERL script
frontend to the regular whois client and as an added bonus it could lookup
info in the country-code TLD databases as well.

Perl shmerl (though as you'll see below shell scripts still don't have
very good facilities for dealing with inet numbers):

(this isn't internationalized, yet; apologies to non-English speakers)

---------- cut here ----------
#! /bin/sh
:

4

Possibly because that would be a backwards way to approach to the
issue. What you propose would require that every person running a machine
that has a version of whois install this new version of whois, rather than
handling it intelligently at the registry level which would require no
action on the part of the hundreds of thousands of machines out there.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Patrick Greenwell (800) 299-1288 v
         Systems Administrator (925) 377-1414 f
                           NameSecure
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

5

I believe in distributed intelligence rather than making everyone rely on
a single central point of failure. If the default registry compiled into
your whois client fails then you can no longer reach any registry database
at all whereas an intelligent client would still be able to reach most
databases. There is also the problem that the default registry in most
whois clients is the Internic run by NSI and the management of that
company has shown themselves time and time again to be utterly clueless
about these kinds of issues. I don't hold out much hope that pleading
on hands and knees with the royal Internic will lead to them implementing
a whois proxy service.

6

Tim,

Having to specify the proper database host on the whois command always
struck me a bit like requiring every user to specify the appropriate server
for, e.g. ".com", every time the user makes a DNS request.

I agree.

Why can't the registry folks get their collective act together and provide
users with a system that allows a simple request like "whois name" to
find the appropriate [piece] of the database.

There have been many discussions along similar lines, all come to nothing.
It would not appear to be a high priority. Hopefully, this will change in
the near future.

Regards,
-drc

7

Michael Dillon writes:

8

> > Why can't the ISPs get their act together and use a whois client that
> > allows a simple request like "whois name" to find the appropriate
> > database?
>
> Possibly because that would be a backwards way to approach to the
> issue. What you propose would require that every person running a machine
> that has a version of whois install this new version of whois, rather than
> handling it intelligently at the registry level which would require no
> action on the part of the hundreds of thousands of machines out there.

I believe in distributed intelligence rather than making everyone rely on
a single central point of failure.

First off, the whois database *is* a single point of failure for all
intents and purposes. There is no "distributed intelligence" contained
within. Rwhois fits the distributed intelligence model much more closely.

If the default registry compiled into your whois client fails then you
can no longer reach any registry database at all whereas an intelligent
client would still be able to reach most databases.

And again, this can be handled intelligently at the registry level. It's
not like none of us have ever seen a proxy server. :slight_smile:

Also, all these splits have come "after the fact." How many more will
occur? Should we all run out and grab a new whois client every time a
change occurs? And really, why should this be necessary?

There is also the problem that the default registry in most whois
clients is the Internic run by NSI and the management of that
company has shown themselves time and time again to be utterly clueless
about these kinds of issues.

Well, there is one thing I won't argue about. I could however tell you
about my experience with ARIN a little over a month ago and how it took
being transferred 5 times before I got to someone that knew what I was
talking about when I said "arin.net is not resolving" but I'll spare you.

I don't hold out much hope that pleading on hands and knees with the
royal Internic will lead to them implementing a whois proxy service.

I don't think that it will be up to NSI in a few months.

The point I believe the original poster was making, and one that I agree
with is that it is quite possible to make all these internal issues and
changes transparent to the end user by some simple coordination by the
various number registries.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Patrick Greenwell (800) 299-1288 v
         Systems Administrator (925) 377-1414 f
                           NameSecure
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

9

[ On Sat, June 27, 1998 at 14:12:48 (-0400), I wrote: ]

Subject: Re: small vent

#ident "@(#)LOCAL:awhois.sh 1.8 98/05/02 22:07:14 (woods)"

BTW, New versions of this script will always be at:

  ftp://ftp.planix.com/pub/Planix/awhois.sh

(recent updates mailed to me have already been incorporated.... Thanks!)