How to use the whois service of fi-domain names

The name whois consists of two English language words - "who" and "is" - i.e. who is. This also explains the objective of the whois service. Anyone can fast and easily find out who the domain name holder of a certain domain name holder is, when the domain name was registered and what the status of the domain name is.

The whois service of fi-domain names is based on an Internet standard, RFC 3912, which is coordinated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Internet top-level domain administrators broadly use Whois services. The customer programme ‘whois’ of the whois service is a standard option in most Unix and Linux operating systems. The whois service can also be intergraded as part of the service provider's own system enabling customers to find out whether the domain name in question is available.

The Whois service displays the public information of the domain name holder. If the domain name holder is a private person, the holder's name is displayed as default, unless the domain name holder has specifically permitted the display of her of his information. If the domain name holder is a company or an organisation, the holder cannot prevent the display of the contact information. The e-mail address of the domain name holder is never public information.

The address of FICORA’s whois service for fi-domain names is whois.ficora.fi. If your operating system or customer programme will not recognize the address of the service, the search can be made in the following manner:

whois -h whois.ficora.fi domain.fi

In this example, "-h" aligns the whois query to the whois.ficora.fi service, "domain.fi" is the domain name applied.

Example reply of the whois service

The reply from the whois service looks as follows: the information concerns domain.fi

domain: domain.fi

descr: FICORA

descr: 07090192

address: Information technology

address: P.O. Box 313

address: 00181

address: Helsinki

phone: +358969661

status: Granted

created: 1.3.2004

expires: 1.3.2010

nserver: ns1.songnet.fi [OK]

nserver: ns2.songnet.fi [OK]

nserver: ns3.songnet.fi [OK]

More information is available at https://domain.ficora.fi/

Copyright (c) Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority

The contact information of a private person will not be displayed, unless the domain name holder has specifically allowed that. If the domain name holder is a private person, the whois service reply looks as follows:

domain: model.fi

descr: Matti Malli

descr:

address:

address:

address:

address:

phone:

status: Granted

created: 1.3.2006

expires: 1.3.2009

nserver: ns1.nimipalvelin.com [OK]

nserver: ns1.nimipalvelin.com [OK]

More information is available at https://domain.ficora.fi/

Copyright (c) Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority

Explanations to reply fields

The reply consists of three pieces of information: the domain name holder's information, information related to the status of the domain name and the name server information of the domain name.

domain: domain name

descr: Holder

descr: Registration number of the holder

address: Department

address: Postal address

address: Postal code

address: Post office

phone: Telephone number

status: Status of the domain name

created: The date of granting of the domain name

expires: Period of validity ends

nserver: Name server [result of the last name server control]

nserver: Name server [result of the last name server control]

nserver: Name server [result of the last name server control]

The statuses of the domain name

The domain name can have seven different statuses. The status tells, for example, whether the domain name is valid or whether its validity period has run out. All seven statuses are listed as follows.

The statuses of the domain name:

Granted Granted

Technical Error Technical error

Revoked Revoked

Suspended Suspended

Relinquished Relinquished

Registration Expired Registration expired

Frozen Frozen

The status of the domain name in the whois service (status)

Domain names can have different statuses, which affect how the domain name functions and when it will be available for application.

The following lists the statuses of domain names, whether the domain name is available for application in the status in question and when the domain name possibly becomes available for application:

Granted

Granted ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: Expiration date + 3 months

Technical Error

Technical error ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: - Expiration date

Revoked

Revoked ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: Expiration date + 3 months

Suspended

Suspended ==> Cannot be applied for until further notice

Relinquished

Relinquished ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: Expiration date + 3 months

Registration Expired

Validity has expired ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: Expiration date + 3 months

Frozen

Frozen ==> Cannot be applied for, expires: Expiration date + 3 months

The other replies of the whois service

In certain situations, the whois service will not return the domain name information at all. Then, one of the following replies is sent:

Domain not available

==> Domain name cannot be applied for at all

System error. Please notify < fi-domain-tech@ficora.fi >.

==> System malfunction

Domain not found

==> Domain name is not found, DOMAIN NAME IS AVAILABLE FOR APPLICATION