WhoisXML API Blog

This is technical blog for our subscribers of daily or quarterly data feeds to facilitate the use of our client-side BASH scripts and perform other operations on their data.

This blog is for you if you are a Windows user and want to use BASH for processing Whois data. We describe how you can set up an environment in Windows which does not only facilitate the use of BASH scripts of WhoisXML API, but gives a general access of many tools and features available mainly in Linux and UNIX type systems. So if you are interested in a Linux-type approach of handling these data or developing, but you do not want to set up a separate (virtual) computer with a Linux and you want to see your files within your Windows system directly, please proceed reading.

On May 25, 2018 the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation will go into full effect. This means that privacy regulations will have a significant impact on how companies handle peoples personal data. General Data Protection Regulation is a regulation that is designed to protect privacy of EU citizens and its residents. What are some other consequences that the GDPR can have? It means that they can severely restrict access to technology for its EU residents and companies. So, what does this mean for the future of Whois? Well we have all heard about GDPR and its effect on Whois. I echo the sentiment by Neil Schwartzman that restricting Whois access would increase spam. Why? Antispam software relies on Whois data to detect spams. Spammers will be able to gain access to people’s contact information from everywhere on the web, including data warehouses, social media, and so many others. They will continue do what they have been doing for years so long as there are commercial incentives.

This is technical blog describing how you can download bulk data from a data feed subscription at WhoisXML API, and how you can use them to set up a local Whois database on your server.

Our starting point is that you need data for some domains in files or in a database, for a given period of time. We describe how to achieve this goal in two Sections: the first one describes how you can access and download the data you need. The second one describes how to set up a database from the downloaded data, ranging from relational databases such as MySQL to other, noSQL storage methods, such as MongoDB.

This blog explains, without completeness, how you can make use of Whois data, especially in a form of a Whois database in various areas of marketing, IT security, etc.

In the present blog we give a holistic overview, of at least a part of applications of WHOIS databases. As a practitioner or a researcher, you can broaden your insight get some inspiration and possibly find new ideas and starting points for further study.