[PLUG-TALK] "whois" Result Formats

[Rich Shepard]

   I'm confident that someone here can educate me on the reasons why the
'whois' command yields three different formats.

   The most common format consists of multiple blocks presenting the name and
location of the IP address holder, the range of IP addresses it controls,
admin, technical, and abuse addresses. The second format is relatively
recent and contains the above plus a large block that seems to repeat the
above, and I assume this is the IPV6-related information.

   An example of the first type is:

inetnum:      195.56.186.128 - 195.56.186.255
netname:      AKMI-HU-1
descr:        Ministry of Transport Communication and Water Management
descr:        Technical and Information Services on National Roads
descr:        Budapest
country:      HU
admin-c:      RM2556-RIPE
tech-c:       RM2556-RIPE
tech-c:       ZR1-RIPE
rev-srv:      ns.datanet.hu
rev-srv:      ns.datanet.elte.hu
status:       ASSIGNED PA
mnt-by:       AS3340-MNT
remarks:      abuse at kozut.hu
source:       RIPE # Filtered

plus more specific information.

   The third format is not helpful for reporting spam to the hosting site: it
consists only of the domain name and IP block address and, perhsps, the host
of that domain with its IP address block. An example of this format is:

Hoku Unlimited HOKU-UNLIMITED (NET-66-79-103-48-1)
                                   66.79.103.48 - 66.79.103.63
Nth Air, Inc. NTHAIRNET (NET-66-79-96-0-1)
                                   66.79.96.0 - 66.79.127.255

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2009-07-18 20:00
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

   Why this last format? It provides no contact information.

Curious minds want to know,

Rich

-- 
Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D.               |  Integrity            Credibility
Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc.        |            Innovation
<http://www.appl-ecosys.com>     Voice: 503-667-4517      Fax: 503-667-8863