Whois is a command that searches the “who is” database for information on the owner of a particular domain name. The information provided can include the contact name, address, email address and phone number. The whois command will also return the name servers and certain status information. Whois started with the earliest networks, was standardized in Arpanet and then became part of the Internet when it was launched. Whois can be used under a Linux or Windows server. There is also software that can be installed on a Windows desktop computer to allow whois to be run on a PC. There are other switches you can use from the command line; however, the other switches are not often used. If you want to see what switches are available, type “whois” without any switches or see the man page listed under References. Some domains have “private” contact information. This means that the Web host has put their contact information into the contact information section. If you want to contact the real domain owner, you will need to go through the host.
