[wg-c] Whois

[Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>]

At 10:05 AM 8/17/99 , A.M. Rutkowski wrote:
"Whois" has become a generic term for a client-server
>database for DNS zones.  No one has any objections to

Among the Internet technical and operations community, "Whois" is a 
specific reference to a specific protocol, serviced on a specific port.

It is not a "generic" term at all.

The Whois service is an essential part of DNS TLD and inter-organization 
operations.  When there is a problem accessing a site, network 
administrators use the Whois entry for the associated domain name is used 
to find a point of contact at that site.

>The issue on the server side is whether all or some subset
>of the 19 million some DNS zones are obligated to create

In the fora discussing TLDs, the discussion is ONLY about TLDs, or at most 
about "entry point" domain names.  That is, the discussion is about the 
right-hand portion of a domain name which refers to an end-user 
organization.  This excludes the mass of the referenced 19 million (or 
whatever) zones.

         Example:  For global Internet operations,

             brandenburg.com's DNS data, including Whois, is important.

             www.brandenburg.com is not.

In other words, the DNS inside an end-user organization is not of 
equivalent concern with respect to Internet operations as is the portion 
that connects together (and distinguishes) those organizations.

d/

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Dave Crocker                                         Tel: +1 408 246 8253
Brandenburg Consulting                               Fax: +1 408 273 6464
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