The Domain Name System (DNS) allows people using the Internet to refer to domain names, rather than Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, when accessing websites and other online services. Domain names, which employ text characters, such as letters, numbers, and hyphens (e.g., “www.example.com”), will often be easier to remember than IP addresses, which are numerical and do not contain letters or hyphens (e.g., “128.1.0.0”). The DNS is the Internet's hierarchical lookup service for mapping character-based domain names meaningful to humans into numerical IP addresses.
Domains exist at various different “levels” within the DNS hierarchy. For example, a generic top level domain (gTLD), such as .COM or .NET, is a domain at the highest level in the DNS hierarchy. Another type of TLD is a country-code top level domain (ccTLD) such as, for example, .UK. A second-level domain (SLD) is a subdomain of a TLD (including gTLD and ccTLD), which is directly below the TLD in the DNS hierarchy. For example, .COM is the TLD and EXAMPLE is the SLD for the domain name “www.example.com.”
Registries manage the domain names of each TLD. For example, Verisign is a well-known registry, and it manages the .COM and .NET TLDs. To maintain a domain name in accordance with current regulations mandated by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the registry responsible for a TLD is required to maintain a certain minimum amount of information associated with the domain name to ensure proper identification, security features, and operability associated with the domain name. For example, all domain registrants are required to make available to the registry or the registrar their current administrative contact information. Also, in order for a domain name to work correctly, the registry must have nameserver information for the domain name to load into the registry's TLD DNS system to refer outside DNS requests to the proper authoritative DNS servers. Other information could include the registrar through which the domain name's registration took place, the registration date, the expiration date, and the status of the domain name.
Domain name registration is the process by which a “registrant” (typically an individual user or an organization) can reserve or lease the use of a domain name for a specified period of time from the date of registration. The registrant may reserve the domain name for at least one year but may reserve the domain name for up to ten years. Domain names are reserved through domain “registrars.” Registrars are entities having business relationships with domain “registries,” which control the domain names and maintain a domain name database for a particular TLD. Thus, a registrar provides the interface by which a registrant can reserve or lease a domain name from a registry. The registry manages the reserved names and available names for a particular TLD and makes available certain information to the registrar through the Extensible Provisioning Protocol (EPP). Registrars that are authorized by the registry have the ability to make reservations and check the status of domain names through the EPP. The registry provides the EPP as a communications gateway to Registrars for such purposes.
In a typical domain name registration example, a registrant may want to reserve the domain name “example.com.” The registrant would contact a registrar that has a business relationship with the registry that operates the .COM TLD. For example, the company GoDaddy is a known registrar, and the company Verisign is a known registry. The registrant would query the registrar as to the availability of the domain name “example” in the .COM namespace. The registrar in turn would query the proper Registry for the .COM TLD through the EPP, and then return the results to the registrant. The Registrant may then obtain a registration of the domain name by paying a registration fee and providing information required by the registry and registrar. The registry charges the registrar for the domain name registration and the registrar collects the registration fee from the registrant.
In addition to the traditional TLDs (e.g., .COM and .NET), the domain name system and domain name registration system have also evolved to allow the use of new generic TLDs (gTLDs), which may be applied for from the regulatory body pertaining to registries and registrars, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Some of these gTLDs are often referred to as “vanity” or “brand” domains, such as .MICROSOFT or .COCACOLA. ICANN also allows for “community-based” TLDs, such as .BANK or .HOTEL, and “geographic” TLDs, such as .AFRICA. Other TLDs may be contemplated by ICANN.
The creation and administration of a new TLD requires several changes to be made at a registry, at one or more registrars, and at a variety of other services, such as Whois. The Whois server typically stores and provides domain registration information, such as registration date, expiration date, status, and owner of the registered domain names. The Whois server provides a service that can be queried by users via, for example, a website on the Internet provided by a registrar or registry or via standard Telnet-like clients. With ICANN's new gTLD program for new gTLDs, hundreds of new gTLDS are expected to be created over the next few years. Registries for the new gTLDs must provide Whois services for all of them. However, creating a separate Whois service for each new gTLD is cost prohibitive and does not scale.
Thus, there exists a need in the art to automatically provide a Whois service upon the creation and provisioning of a new TLD with minimal manual intervention from registry administrative users.
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