Change to Whois Query Behavior
Posted: Mon, 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
#
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
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
OrgAbuseHandle: SECUR27-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Security Abuse
OrgAbusePhone: +1-866-873-2926
OrgAbuseEmail: abuse@usda.gov
OrgAbuseRef: 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
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
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
#
# ARIN WHOIS data and services are subject to the Terms of Use
# available at: https://www.arin.net/whois_tou.html
#