WHOIS LOOKUP SERVICE QUESTIONS
1. Why is the expiration date of a domain name visible in the .ORG registry WHOIS?
2. My registrar is requesting that I renew my domain name, but according to the .ORG registry WHOIS, it has been renewed for one year. What's going on?
3. Why does the .ORG registry WHOIS display the auto-renewed expiration date instead of the original expiration date?
4. Why am I receiving this error message?
5. When will the "WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED" message be displayed?
6. Why is PIR limiting WHOIS Port 43 access for the general public?
7. What changes will be made to the Web WHOIS available at www.pir.org?
1. Why is the expiration date of a domain name visible in the .ORG registry WHOIS?
The .ORG registry displays the expiration date for domain names because the ICANN Redemption Grace Period (RGP) Technical Steering Group recommended that the expiration date be displayed in .ORG registry WHOIS in conjunction with the implementation of RGP. (For more on RGP, see "Frequently Asked Questions: Redemption Grace Period.")
2. My registrar is requesting that I renew my domain name, but according to the .ORG registry WHOIS, it has been renewed for one year. What's going on?
When a domain name reaches its expiration date and is not renewed by the registrar, the .ORG registry system performs an auto-renew on the domain name. The auto-rfenew extends the expiration date for one year whether or not the registrar has received payment from the registrant. For example:
Example.org is set to expire on April 25, 2004. The following events will occur:
- If the registrar does not renew this domain name with their registry prior to April 25, the .ORG registry will auto-renew the domain name for one year, even in cases where the registrant has not renewed the registration with their registrar.
- The .ORG registry auto-renews domain names the day after they expire. Therefore, on April 26, the .ORG registry will auto-renew the domain name for one year.
- On April 26, the new expiration date will read April 25, 2005.
- The registrar then has 45 days during which they may delete the registration and receive a credit for the registry fee.
A way to verify if your domain name has recently been auto-renewed is to:
- Check the "Last Update Date" field in WHOIS. If this field states that your domain name was last updated the day after it expired, your name probably was auto-renewed.
- Call your registrar.
3. Why does the .ORG registry WHOIS display the auto-renewed expiration date instead of the original expiration date?The .ORG registry WHOIS system pulls the expiration date from our .ORG registry database. As discussed above, because the auto-renewal process is conducted daily in the .ORG registry database, WHOIS will publish the auto-renewed dates. To publish anything different would be to contradict what is on file in the authoritative database. If the registrant does not renew the registration with his/her registrar, the registrar may delete the registration in the registry database.
4. Why am I receiving this error message?"WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED - SEE WWW.PIR.ORG/WHOIS FOR DETAILS." PIR has introduced rate-limiting logic on the WHOIS Port 43 server and similar rate-limiting logic on the PIR Web site.
PIR monitors all IP addresses accessing the .ORG WHOIS Port 43 server. All traffic will be logged, and rate-limit validation logic will be applied to limit access by any given IP address to a maximum of four queries per minute. If a unique IP address exceeds the limit, the query will be stopped, and the error message will be displayed.
WHOIS queries submitted through the Web-based WHOIS search mechanism are limited to 50 queries per minute.
5. When will the "WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED" message be displayed?When any user of the PIR Web site WHOIS service or the Port 43 WHOIS service has exceeded the query limit for that service, all users will be blocked from using the PIR WHOIS service.
6. Why is PIR limiting WHOIS Port 43 access for the general public?PIR is committed to protecting the rights and privacy of registrants of .ORG domain names. The previously unlimited access to Port 43 had led to abuses by speculators and data miners, often using automated programs to make inquiries. Rate-limiting logic was introduced to reduce this access and was based on consultation with ICANN and registrars.
7. What changes will be made to the Web WHOIS available at www.pir.org?Effective 20 August 2005, WHOIS queries submitted through the Web-based WHOIS search mechanism on the
www.pir.org Web site are limited to 50 queries per minute.
