.BIZ Registry Agreement | Whois Specifications

.BIZ Agreement Appendix 5 Whois Specifications (8 December 2006)

Public Whois Specification

RFC954-Conformant Whois

As a thick registry, the standard Whois service will provide a central location for all authoritative .biz TLD data. Registrars will be able to provide a front-end web interface to the standard Whois service. In addition, the Registry provides its own front-end web interface to allow user access to the Whois service.

Due to the nature of the NeuStar thick registry model, the RFC954-conformant Whois service will be engineered to handle high transaction load and be integral to the standard suite of registry services. The service will return a single response per domain name or nameserver query. The RFC954-conformant Whois service will conform to established service level agreements.

The RFC954-conformant service provided by the registry will have the following features:

• Standard protocol accessible over port 43.
• Consistent format (fields and formatting) for all registrars.
• Near real-time updates, eliminating "timing" problems when modifying registry information.
• Extensible field capability.

Whois Service Data Elements

The RFC954-conformant service will include the following data elements:

• The name of the domain name registered;
• The IP addresses of the primary nameserver and secondary nameserver(s) of the name registered;
• The corresponding names of those nameservers;
• The identity of the registrar;
• The original creation date and term of the registration;
• The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax number of the domain name registrant;
• The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax number of the technical contact for the name registered; and
• The name, postal address, e-mail address, voice telephone number, and (where available) fax number of the administrative contact for the name registered.

Extensible-Field Capability

NeuStar gives the ability for registrars to use EPP to add customized fields to a record in the registry database. These fields will appear in an "additional information" section of the Whois data.

Query Control - Object Type Control

The following keywords restrict a search to specific object type:

Domain: Search only by domain objects. The input string is searched in the Name field.

Contact: Search only contact objects. The input string is searched in the ID field.

Nameserver: Search only by nameserver objects. The input string is searched in the nameserver field or the IP address field.

Registrar: Search only registrar objects. The input string is searched in the Name field.

By default, if no object type control is specified, then the Name field of the Domain object is searched.

Whois Output Fields

Domain Record:

A Whois query that results in domain information will return the following fields from the Domain object and the associated data from host and contact objects. This set of data is also referred to as the Domain Record.

Note: For domains on PendingDelete Status, the Registry’s front-end web interface will provide an additional explanation of the status as follows:

Nameserver Record:

Contact Record:

A Whois query that results in contact information will return the following. This set of information is referred to as the Contact Record.

Registrar Record:

A Whois query that results in Registrar information will return the following. This set of information is referred to as the Registrar Record.

Sample Whois Output

This section provides sample output from the Whois server for each type of Registry Object: Domain, Contact, Nameserver, and Registrar. The output is structured as key/value pairs, which simplifies machine-readability.

Domain Record:

Contact Record:

Nameserver Record:

Registrar Record:

Whois Provider Data Specification

Registry Operator will provide bulk access to up-to-date data concerning domain name and nameserver registrations maintained by Registry Operator in connection with the .biz TLD on a daily schedule, only for purposes of providing free public query-based access to up-to-date data concerning domain name and nameserver registrations in multiple TLDs, to a party designated from time to time in writing by ICANN (the "Designated Recipient"). Any agreement between ICANN and a Designated Recipient for the license of such data (a "Whois License Agreement") will provide NeuStar with the right to enforce the Designated Recipient's obligations under this Appendix and the Whois License Agreement directly against the Designated Recipient, whether through being made a party to or third-party beneficiary of such agreement or through such other means as may be appropriate. In addition, any Whois License Agreement will include the following provisions governing the use of such data by the Designated Recipient:

1. The Designated Recipient shall only use the data provided by Registry Operator for the purpose of providing free public query-based Whois access. The Designated Recipient may not use such data for any other purpose.

2. The Designated Recipient shall use best efforts to implement any corrections to the data provided by Registry Operator as soon as practicable.

3. The Designated Recipient must take such technical and organizational security measures as are, at a minimum, equivalent to those implemented by Registry Operator with respect to such data.

4. Except for providing free public query-based access according to item 1 above, the Designated Recipient shall not transfer the data to any third party for any purpose except in the event that such third party becomes bound in the same manner as a Designated Recipient by the provisions of this Appendix and the Whois License Agreement.

Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the procedures for providing access, and the specification of the content and format of this data, will be as stated below,

A. Procedures for Providing Access

Registry Operator shall prepares (i) full data sets for one day of each week (the day to be designated by ICANN) and (ii) incremental data sets for all seven days of each week. Full and incremental data sets shall be up-to-date and coherent as of 1200 UTC on the day to which they relate. Until a different day is designated by ICANN, the full data sets will be prepared for Sundays. (Note that on the ICANN-designated day both an incremental and a full data set are prepared.)

1. Preparation of Files Containing Data Sets. Each full and incremental data set consists of an XML document meeting the content and format requirements of Parts B and C of this document. Once the XML document is generated, the following preparation steps will be performed:

a. The XML document will be placed in a file named according to the following convention:

For full data sets: "wfYYMMDD" where "YYMMDD" is replaced with the date (YY=last two digits of year; MM=number of month; DD=day; in all cases a single-digit number should be left-padded with a zero).

For incremental data sets: "wiYYMMDD" where "YYMMDD" follows the same format.

b. Registry Operator may optionally split the document using the Unix SPLIT command (or equivalent) to produce files no less than 1GB each (except the final file). If files are split, an MD5 file (produced with MD5SUM or equivalent) must be included with the resulting files to isolate errors in case of transfer fault. Registry Operator may optionally compress the document using the Unix GZIP command (or equivalent) to reduce the file size.

c. The file(s) will then be encrypted and signed using PGP, version 6.5.1 or above, with a key of DH/DSS type and 2048/1024-byte length. (Note that PGP compresses the escrow file in addition to encrypting it.) The Data Recipient's public key will be used for the encryption and Registry Operator's private key will be used for the signature. Public keys will be exchanged between Registry Operator and the Designated Recipient by e-mail, physical delivery of floppy diskettes, or other agreed means.

2. Transmission of Full Data Sets. Once prepared, full data sets will be provided either by the procedures for incremental data sets described in item A (3) below or, at the option of either Registry Operator or the Designated Recipient, by writing the full data set to DAT tape (or other media mutually agreed by Registry Operator and the Designated Recipient) and sending it to the Designated Recipient by expedited delivery service (such as FedEx or DHL). If sent by expedited delivery service, the full data set will be scheduled for arrival no later than the second calendar day following the day to which the full backup relates.

3. Transmission of Incremental Data Sets. To permit the transmission of incremental data sets, Registry Operator shall make them available for download by the Designated Recipient by Internet File Transfer Protocol. Incremental data sets will be made available for download no later than 2000 UTC on the day to which they relate.

4. Objects Contained in Full and Incremental Data Sets. Full data sets include one domain object for each Registered Name within the Sponsored TLD; and nameserver, contact, and registrar objects for each nameserver, contact, and registrar referred to in any domain object. Incremental data sets consist of (a) those of the objects constituting a full data set that have been added or updated since the last incremental data set and (b) notations of deletion of any objects since the last incremental data set.

B. Format

Full and incremental data sets will be XML version 1.0, UTF-8 encoded documents conforming to the following document type definition:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<schema targetNamespace="urn:NeuStar:whoisdb-1.0"
xmlns:whoisdb="urn:NeuStar:whoisdb-1.0"
xmlns:eppcom="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:eppcom-1.0"
xmlns:epp="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0"
xmlns:contact="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:contact-1.0"
xmlns:domain="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0"
xmlns:host="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:host-1.0"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema"
elementFormDefault="qualified">

<!--
Import EPP Element Types
-->
<import namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:eppcom-1.0" schemaLocation="eppcom-
1.0.xsd"/>
<import namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:epp-1.0" schemaLocation="epp-
1.0.xsd"/>
<import namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:contact-1.0" schemaLocation="contact-
1.0.xsd"/>
<import namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:domain-1.0" schemaLocation="domain-
1.0.xsd"/>
<import namespace="urn:ietf:params:xml:ns:host-1.0" schemaLocation="host-
1.0.xsd"/>

<annotation>
<documentation>
XML Schema for WHOIS Data Escrow From NeuStar
</documentation>
</annotation>

<!--
Child Element
-->
<element name="whois-data" type="whoisdb:whoisDbType"/>

<complexType name="whoisDbType">
<choice>
<element name="full" type="whoisdb:fullsetType"/>
<element name="incremental" type="whoisdb:partialType"/>
</choice>
<attribute name="tld" type="whoisdb:tldType" use="required"/>
<attribute name="date" type="dateTime" use="required"/>
</complexType>
<simpleType name="tldType">
<restriction base="string">
<enumeration value="biz"/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
<complexType name="fullsetType">
<sequence>
<element name="contact" type="contact:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="domain" type="domain:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="host" type="host:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="registrar" type="whoisdb:registrarType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
<complexType name="partialType">
<sequence>
<element name="contact" type="contact:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="domain" type="domain:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="host" type="host:infDataType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="registrar" type="whoisdb:registrarType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="del-contact" type="contact:sIDType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="del-domain" type="domain:sNameType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="del-host" type="host:sNameType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
<element name="del-registrar" type="whoisdb:registrarIDType"
minOccurs="0" maxOccurs="unbounded"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
<complexType name="registrarIDType">
<sequence>
<element name="registrar-id" type="eppcom:clIDType"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>

<!--
Registrar Type derived from EPP Specification
-->
<complexType name="registrarType">
<sequence>
<element name="roid" type="eppcom:roidType"/>
<element name="registrar-id" type="eppcom:clIDType"/>
<element name="name" type="whoisdb:registrarNameType"/>
<element name="address" type="contact:addrType"/>
<element name="referral-url" type="whoisdb:registrarWebUrlType"
minOccurs="0"/>
<element name="whois-server" type="whoisdb:registrarWebUrlType"
minOccurs="0"/>
<element name="iana-id" type="whoisdb:registrarIanaIDType"/>
<element name="contact" type="whoisdb:registrarContactType"
maxOccurs="5"/>
<element name="crDate" type="dateTime"/>
<element name="upDate" type="dateTime" minOccurs="0"/>
</sequence>
</complexType>
<simpleType name="registrarNameType">
<restriction base="string">
<minLength value="1"/>
<maxLength value="128"/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
<simpleType name="registrarWebUrlType">
<restriction base="string"/>
</simpleType>
<simpleType name="registrarIanaIDType">
<restriction base="string"/>
</simpleType>
<complexType name="registrarContactType">
<simpleContent>
<extension base="eppcom:roidType">
<attribute name="type" use="required">
<simpleType>
<restriction base="string">
<enumeration value="administrative"/>
<enumeration value="billing"/>
<enumeration value="technical"/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
</attribute>
</extension>
</simpleContent>
</complexType>
<simpleType name="registrarStatusType">
<restriction base="string">
<enumeration value="active"/>
<enumeration value="suspended"/>
<enumeration value="defunct"/>
</restriction>
</simpleType>
</schema>

Whois Data Specification – ICANN

Registry Operator will provide bulk access by ICANN to up-to-date data concerning domain name and nameserver registrations maintained by Registry Operator in connection with the .biz TLD on a daily schedule, only for purposes of verifying and ensuring the operational stability of Registry Services, the DNS, and the Internet.

Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties, the procedures for providing access, and the specification of the content and format of this data, will be as stated below.

A. Procedures for Providing Access

Upon request by ICANN, Registry Operator shall prepare a full data set for one day of each week (the day to be designated by ICANN). Full data sets shall be up-to-date and coherent as of 1200 UTC on the day to which they relate. Until a different day is designated by ICANN, the full data sets will be prepared for Sundays.

1. Preparation of Files Containing Data Sets. Each full data set consists of an XML document meeting the content and format requirements of Parts B and C of this document. Once the XML document is generated, the following preparation steps will be performed:

a. The XML document will be placed in a file named according to the following convention:

"wfYYMMDD" where "YYMMDD" is replaced with the date (YY=last two digits of year; MM=number of month; DD=day; in all cases a single-digit number should be left-padded with a zero).

b. Registry Operator may optionally split the document using the Unix SPLIT command (or equivalent) to produce files no less than 1GB each (except the final file). If files are split, an .MD5 file (produced with MD5SUM or equivalent) must be included with the resulting files to isolate errors. Registry Operator may optionally compress the document using the Unix GZIP command (or equivalent) to reduce the filesize.

c. The file(s) will then be encrypted and signed using PGP, version 6.5.1 or above, with a key of DH/DSS type and 2048/1024-byte length. (Note that PGP compresses the escrow file in addition to encrypting it.) An ICANN public key will be used for the encryption and Registry Operator's private key will be used for the signature. Public keys will be exchanged between Registry Operator and ICANN by e-mail, physical delivery of floppy diskettes or other agreed means.

2. Transmission of Full Data Sets. Once prepared, full data sets will be provided according to paragraph a below or, at ICANN and Registry Operator's option, according to paragraph b below:

a. Registry Operator shall make full data sets available for download by ICANN by Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP) (FTP access will be password protected and limited to prespecified IP ranges). The data sets will be made available for download beginning no later than 2000 UTC on the day to which they relate and until the next full data set becomes available for download.

b. Registry Operator shall write the full data set to DAT (DDS-4) tape (or other media specified by ICANN) and sends it to ICANN by expedited delivery service (such as FedEx or DHL). The full data set will be scheduled for arrival at ICANN no later than the second calendar day following the day to which the data set relates.

B. Content

The full data sets will consist of four types of the objects and contents described above.

C. Format