Whois is a term that you may have heard of here and there, but perhaps you are not quite familiar with it.
Perhaps you know that it is an online directory, but are uncertain as what information you can find in it.
In this article, we will touch base as to what Whois is and why it should matter to you. We will also discuss why Whois is legitimate to use. We will delve into why Whois is important for the business owner as well.
What is Whois? Why does it matter?
Whois is a database that every registered domain is listed in.
Every Whois record will contain the following information:
- First and last name of the individual
- Name of the organization
- Postal address
- Email address
- Phone number
- Fax number (optional)
To get more precise iead, checkout your website records on https://whois.icann.org
The Whois record can also supply the contact information of the domain’s registrar, along with the creation date of the domain.
The name of the server, IP addresses, expiry date, the domain’s status, and the date the record was last updated will also be provided in Whois.
You may wonder why Whois matters. It matters because it can help keep things safe. There are many cyber attacks, and Whois can help solve some of them.
There are two different models of Whois:
- Thin: In this model, only the name of the registrar is given, along with name servers and registration date. A secondary lookup will be needed to obtain all the information.
- Thick: All information provided in the thin model is provided in this model. Other information includes contact information. A Whois lookup will be able to provide information on who owns the domain, when it was registered and when it will expire.
How does Whois help businesses?
One of the biggest ways that Whois helps a business is making sure domain names are unique.
It would be very confusing if there was another website that had the exact same name as your website!
And it could also damage your online presence.
Whois will always make sure that no two websites have the same name. In the same manner, as Google, Whois does not like copied domain names, and does not even make it possible to do so.
Why is Whois legitimate to use?
There are many reasons as to why Whois is legitimate for many to use. Here are just some of the reasons as to why:
- Helps to determine if a domain name is available or not.
- Spam investigation.
- network administrators can be contacted to resolve technical matters related to the network associated with the domain name.
- Helps with registration difficulties
- Supports law enforcement who participate in national and international investigations.
Why is it important for business owners to use Whois?
Whois is very important for business owners. There are many reasons as to why a business owner should want to use Whois.
An owner can do searches in order to find the contact information they desire, and Whois is also nice to use so one can associate a company or business with a specific domain name.
Other reasons business owners can find Whois handy include:
- Negotiate transactions that are related to a domain name sale.
- Forces the registrant to use accurate registration information.
- Keeps protection and enforcement in place.
In Summary
As one can see, Whois is very important for those that do business online. What are some ways that you have found Whois to be helpful to you? Feel free to leave comments and questions below about how Whois has mattered to you.
