Howto install and use whois client

  whois is a client for the whois directory service. This is the most powerful *NIX/Linux client. The registrants details provides adresses, names, e-mail addresses, DNS server names, IPs and so on. So if you follow this process  carefully, you will have no problem finding registrant details for any (public) domain name on the planet.
NOTE: Domains like *.gov and *.mil are not accessoble via the public WHOIS database.

Lets compile and use the best whois client ever ( By the way there are gui tools and websites that attempt to automate this process with varying degrees of success:

http://allwhois.com
http://uwhois.com

 Once you have homed in on the correct WHOIS server for your target, you might be able to perform more detailed searches if the register allows it. You might be able to find all the domains that a particular DNS server hosts, for instance or any domain name that contains a certain string. This kind of searches are often being dissallowed by the most WHOIS server, but it is still worthed to give a try on the register's permissions. It might be just what you are after.

Installation :

NOTE: whois is available through the official three of every distribution, so the installation is easy:

Ubuntu/Debian : apt-get install whois
Gentoo : emerge whois
Sabayon : equo install whois
ArchLinux : pacman whois
and so on ... it depends on the distribution!

After installing it let's try our first whois. The output will be something like this:
We are giving example with our domain, this is public avaivable so :)

kickar@linnewbies ~ $ whois linnewbies.com         

Whois Server Version 2.0

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.                                             

   Domain Name: LINNEWBIES.COM
   Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
   Whois Server: whois.godaddy.com
   Referral URL: http://registrar.godaddy.com
   Name Server: NS21.DOMAINCONTROL.COM      
   Name Server: NS22.DOMAINCONTROL.COM      
   Status: clientDeleteProhibited           
   Status: clientRenewProhibited            
   Status: clientTransferProhibited         
   Status: clientUpdateProhibited           
   Updated Date: 18-mar-2009                
   Creation Date: 18-mar-2009               
   Expiration Date: 18-mar-2010             

>>> Last update of whois database: Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:42:51 UTC <<<

NOTICE: The expiration date displayed in this record is the date the
registrar's sponsorship of the domain name registration in the registry is
currently set to expire. This date does not necessarily reflect the expiration
date of the domain name registrant's agreement with the sponsoring            
registrar.  Users may consult the sponsoring registrar's Whois database to    
view the registrar's reported date of expiration for this registration.       

TERMS OF USE: You are not authorized to access or query our Whois
database through the use of electronic processes that are high-volume and
automated except as reasonably necessary to register domain names or     
modify existing registrations; the Data in VeriSign Global Registry      
Services' ("VeriSign") Whois database is provided by VeriSign for        
information purposes only, and to assist persons in obtaining information
about or related to a domain name registration record. VeriSign does not 
guarantee its accuracy. By submitting a Whois query, you agree to abide  
by the following terms of use: You agree that you may use this Data only 
for lawful purposes and that under no circumstances will you use this Data
to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass      
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail, telephone,
or facsimile; or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes   
that apply to VeriSign (or its computer systems). The compilation,         
repackaging, dissemination or other use of this Data is expressly          
prohibited without the prior written consent of VeriSign. You agree not to 
use electronic processes that are automated and high-volume to access or   
query the Whois database except as reasonably necessary to register        
domain names or modify existing registrations. VeriSign reserves the right 
to restrict your access to the Whois database in its sole discretion to ensure
operational stability.  VeriSign may restrict or terminate your access to the
Whois database for failure to abide by these terms of use. VeriSign
reserves the right to modify these terms at any time.

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and
Registrars.The data contained in GoDaddy.com, Inc.'s WhoIs database,
while believed by the company to be reliable, is provided "as is"
with no guarantee or warranties regarding its accuracy.  This
information is provided for the sole purpose of assisting you
in obtaining information about domain name registration records.
Any use of this data for any other purpose is expressly forbidden without the prior written
permission of GoDaddy.com, Inc.  By submitting an inquiry,
you agree to these terms of usage and limitations of warranty.  In particular,
you agree not to use this data to allow, enable, or otherwise make possible,
dissemination or collection of this data, in part or in its entirety, for any
purpose, such as the transmission of unsolicited advertising and
and solicitations of any kind, including spam.  You further agree
not to use this data to enable high volume, automated or robotic electronic
processes designed to collect or compile this data for any purpose,
including mining this data for your own personal or commercial purposes.

Please note: the registrant of the domain name is specified
in the "registrant" field.  In most cases, GoDaddy.com, Inc.
is not the registrant of domain names listed in this database.


Registrant:
   Josh Heintz
   38333 Amaganst Ln
   Ocean View, Delaware 19945
   United States

   Registered through: GoDaddy.com, Inc. (http://www.godaddy.com)
   Domain Name: LINNEWBIES.COM
      Created on: 18-Mar-08
      Expires on: 18-Mar-12
      Last Updated on: 11-Mar-09

   Administrative Contact:
      Josh Heintz  josh@yahoo.com
      38333 Amaganst Ln
      Ocean View, Delaware 19945
      United States
      (302) 228-0428      Fax --

   Technical Contact:
      Heintz, Josh  didkoddd@yahoo.com
      38333 Amaganst Ln
      Ocean View, Delaware 19970
      United States
      (302) 228-0428      Fax --

   Domain servers in listed order:
      NS21.DOMAINCONTROL.COM
      NS22.DOMAINCONTROL.COM

Now, you see my name (kickar) and my address ( Don't worry, for a Security Purposes NONE of this info is valid ).
Here you see all the info that GoDaddy asked me when was registering this domain. I could hide it for an additional $9.99 per year, but since this is a non profit website(no company or so...), there is no point. So if you are a newbie admin and work for some company that has a web based bussiness, it is a good idea to hide all the information that is available for your domain.

whois can also do a searches for IP addresses and even better. It will give you very useful information about the range of the IPs( if you are willing to ban somebody from your server a good idea is to ban the whole range in case that person does not have a static IP), the person responsible for the network (ofthen ISP admin), phone number, fax and so on... To see how the things work simply pick up a random IP and

$ whois 00.00.00.000
where 0 is digit from 0 to 9.

This is just a basic output, there are also "advanced" options that can be used and some of them are :

    -h HOST Connect to HOST.

    -H      Do not display the legal disclaimers some registries like to show you.

    -p PORT Connect to PORT.

    --verbose Be verbose.


There is also a config file : /etc/whois.conf :
If  the /etc/whois.conf config file exists, it will be consulted to find a server before applying the normal rules. Each line of the file should contain a regular expression to be matched against the query text and the whois server to use, separated by white space.


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