RFC 1835 (rfc1835) - Page 1 of 41

Architecture of the WHOIS++ service

Network Working Group                                         P. Deutsch
Request for Comments: 1835              BUNYIP INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Inc.
Category: Standards Track                                    R. Schoultz
                                                                  KTHNOC
                                                            P. Faltstrom
                                        BUNYIP INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Inc.
                                                               C. Weider
                                        BUNYIP INFORMATION SYSTEMS, Inc.
                                                             August 1995


                  Architecture of the WHOIS++ service

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This document describes WHOIS++, an extension to the trivial WHOIS
   service described in RFC 954 to permit WHOIS-like servers to make
   available more structured information to the Internet.  We describe
   an extension to the simple WHOIS data model and query protocol and a
   companion extensible, distributed indexing service.  A number of
   options have also been added such as the use of multiple languages
   and character sets, more advanced search expressions, structured data
   and a number of other useful features.  An optional authentication
   mechanism for protecting all or part of the associated WHOIS++
   information database from unauthorized access is also described.

Table of Contents

   Part I - WHOIS++ Overview .................................  3
   1.1.  Purpose and Motivation ..............................  3
   1.2.  Basic Information Model .............................  4
   1.2.1.  Changes to the current WHOIS Model ................  5
   1.2.2.  Registering WHOIS++ servers .......................  5
   1.2.3.  The WHOIS++ Search Selection Mechanism ............  7
   1.2.4.  The WHOIS++ Architecture ..........................  7
   1.3.  Indexing in WHOIS++ .................................  8
   1.4.  Getting Help ........................................  9
   1.4.1.  Minimum HELP Required .............................  9
   1.5.  Options and Constraints ............................. 10
   1.6.  Formatting Responses ................................ 10



Deutsch, et al              Standards Track