Finding out information about domain name registrations (either yours or someone else's) requires the use of a standard service called whois. There are two internet-wide databases that affect the handling of domain names. The root servers, which were explained briefly in the technical intro to DNS, manage DNS lookups. The whois servers provide human-readable data about the contacts for every domain in existence.

The easiest way to use whois is from the centralized server run by NetworkSolutions. You can use their web interface at http://nsiregistry.com/whois/ to determine which registrar a particular domain is controlled by. Then you may proceed to that registrar's site and use their own whois service to get the details.

A whois record will look roughly like this:

Registrant:
 Addy & Associates, Inc
 PO Box 1269
 Callahan, FL 32011
 US

 Domain Name: ADDY.COM
 
 Sponsoring Reseller; for Technical Support
 with respect to this domain contact:
    Addy & Associates, Inc, office@addy.com
    +1.9048794719

 Administrative Contact:
    Addy, Jean  office@addy.com
    PO Box 1269
    Callahan, FL 32011
    US
    904.879.4719

 Technical Contact:
    Addy, Cliff  office@addy.com
    PO Box 1603
    Callahan, FL 32011
    US
    904.879.4719

 Billing Contact:
    Addy, Jean  office@addy.com
    PO Box 1269
    Callahan, FL 32011
    US
    904.879.4719


 Record last updated on 09-Dec-2001.
 Record expires on 08-Nov-2002.
 Record Created on 09-Nov-1995.

 Domain servers in listed order:
    SPOCK.ADDY.COM   208.11.142.71
    DATA.ADDY.COM   208.11.142.72

The Registrant is the actual owner of the domain name. This is much more important than any of the contacts, since ultimately that is who the registrar is beholden to. The registrant will be either a person or a company, but not always someone who can tell you about a particular domain.

The Administrative Contact is the main person actually in charge of the domain. The Technical Contact is the person who most likely can help with low-level network problems, incidents of abuse, or system security. (in cases of sites hosted here, that should be us) The Billing Contact is responsible for payment of domain name registration fees. All may be the same person, or different. In our case, we have a special situation because we host many sites and use the same contact for all of them.

The dates of record are also important to note. The "expires" date is when the registran can/will turn off service for your name if they haven't received payment for its use. The "last updated" date is when a change was made either to the contacts, the name servers, or the status. If you see a recent update, and your domain has expired, you've probably been placed "On Hold" status.

The domain name servers are the ones that are "in charge" of providing the correct IP address of the domain. In the case of domains hosted here, spock and data should be what you see.
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