WHOIS tool that knows to query the most specific whois server

Question

When I run a WHOIS query on ARIN's website for a particular IP address or block that is international, they often list information in the comments field for where to go to run another specific query. For example, I just looked up 200.24.7.x, and it referred me to LACNIC.

Is there a tool that automatically parses this (or knows it ahead of time) and queries the correct WHOIS server that would have the most specific information for the address or block I am querying with?

Favouriting this question, because this one always irritates me when I just get directed to another WHOIS site. — Mark Henderson, Mar 29 '11 at 00:36
I suppose if there isn't a utility yet, perhaps I will just make one... — Brad, Mar 29 '11 at 01:22
jwhois should try, at least, to follow or use it's builtin lookup to find the right whois server. I just tried it on the LACNIC addr you mentioned, and it performed correctly. — malcolmpdx, Mar 29 '11 at 03:18

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 01 '11 at 21:32

4

Try using jwhois, it will follow the referral chain to the 'right' end whois server.

answered Aug 01 '11 at 21:32

Aaron

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 19 '16 at 17:18

The RIRs are moving to a new scheme called RDAP. It uses http queries and JSON results. Redirects to different RIRs happen automagically through http redirects. The current servers are all nominally experimental but for the most part they work as well as the WHOIS servers and since it's JSON, parsing the result is a one line subroutine call.

It's defined in RFCs 7480 through 7485. I've written some python code to do lookups and found it was pretty easy. (Not good enough to distribute yet, sorry.) The hardest part is that the JSON schema is fairly complex and has some options that aren't used very often so it can take a while to be sure your code covers all the cases.

WHOIS tool that knows to query the most specific whois server

2 Answers2