Change to Whois Query Behavior [Archived]

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Posted: Monday, 19 September 2011

ARIN announces a pending change to Whois query behavior on port 43.

Prior to 25 June 2011, a query for an IP address in the ARIN region would return with that assignment/allocation within the ARIN region, and a query in the ARIN region for an IP address with no assignment/allocation would result in a “no match” response. On 25 June, a change was misapplied. The intent of this change was to return ARIN’s /8 for IP queries within ARIN’s region for which there is no assignment/allocation, a behavior meant to align ARIN’s Whois output with that of the other RIRs. However, this change introduced an unintended behavior of returning ARIN’s /8, in addition to the desired results, in responses where IP addresses had been assigned or allocated. This change in behavior has created some confusion. On 2 October, ARIN will reinstate the previous behavior for Whois IP queries so that results are returned the way they were before 25 June. ARIN has provided two examples of a Whois query for reference: one with ARIN’s /8 returned in the result set hierarchy, and one without ARIN’s /8 returned in the result set.

Whois-RWS behavior will not change as it was not affected by the configuration change made on 25 June.

We apologize for any confusion this has caused.

Regards,
Mark Kosters
Chief Technology Officer
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

This is an example of a Whois query with ARIN’s /8 returned in the result set hierarchy.

$ whois -h whois.arin.net '199.136.136.1'   
  
Query terms are ambiguous.  The query is assumed to be:   
    "n 199.136.136.1" # # Use "?" to get help. # # # The following results may also be obtained via:   
http://whois.arin.net/rest/nets;q=199.136.136.1?showDetails=true&showARIN=true   

American Registry for Internet Numbers NET199 (NET-199-0-0-0-0) 199.0.0.0 - 199.255.255.255 USDA Office of Operations USDA-CBLK (NET-199-128-0-0-1) 199.128.0.0 - 199.159.255.255
  
ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use available at: [https://www.arin.net/whois_tou.html](/resources/registry/whois/tou/)

This is an example of a Whois query without ARIN’s /8 returned in the result set.

$ whois -h whois.arin.net '199.136.136.1'   
  
Query terms are ambiguous.  The query is assumed to be:   
    "n 199.136.136.1"   
  
Use "?" to get help.

The following results may also be obtained via:
http://whois.arin.net/rest/nets;q=199.136.136.1?showDetails=true&showARIN=false

NetRange:       199.128.0.0 - 199.159.255.255   
 CIDR:           199.128.0.0/11   
 OriginAS: NetName:        USDA-CBLK   
 NetHandle:      NET-199-128-0-0-1   
 Parent:         NET-199-0-0-0-0   
 NetType:        Direct Allocation   
 RegDate:        1994-02-08   
 Updated:        2005-10-11   
 Ref:            [http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-199-128-0-0-1](http://whois.arin.net/rest/net/NET-199-128-0-0-1)

OrgName:        USDA Office of Operations   
 OrgId:          UOO-2   
 Address:        Suite 133, Building A  
 Address:        2150 Centre Ave   
 City:           Fort Collins   
 StateProv:      CO   
 PostalCode:     80526   
 Country:        US   
 RegDate:        1992-05-26   
 Updated:        2008-10-15   
 Ref:            [http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/UOO-2](http://whois.arin.net/rest/org/UOO-2)

OrgAbuseHandle: SECUR27-ARIN   
 OrgAbuseName:   Security Abuse   
 OrgAbusePhone:  +1-866-873-2926   
 OrgAbuseEmail:  abuse@usda.gov   
 OrgAbuseRef:    [http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/SECUR27-ARIN](http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/SECUR27-ARIN)

OrgTechHandle: ZU20-ARIN   
 OrgTechName:   USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer   
 OrgTechPhone:  +1-866-873-2926   
 OrgTechEmail:  duty.officer@usda.gov   
 OrgTechRef:    [http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN](http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN)

OrgNOCHandle: ZU20-ARIN   
 OrgNOCName:   USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer  
OrgNOCPhone:  +1-866-873-2926   
OrgNOCEmail:  duty.officer@usda.gov   
OrgNOCRef:    [http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN](http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN)

RTechHandle: ZU20-ARIN   
 RTechName:   USDA - Office of the ChiefInformation Officer   
 RTechPhone:  +1-866-873-2926   
 RTechEmail:  duty.officer@usda.gov   
 RTechRef:    [http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN](http://whois.arin.net/rest/poc/ZU20-ARIN)
     
# ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use  
# available at: [https://www.arin.net/whois_tou.html](/resources/registry/whois/tou/)