Whois and Network Information Lookup Service (wnils)




Charter



Status: Concluded February, 1996 







Chair(s):







 Joan Gargano 







Description of Working Group:



The Network Information Center maintains the central ``NICNAME''



database and server, defined in RFC 954, providing on-line look-up of



individuals, network organizations, key nodes, and other information



of interest to those who use the Internet.  Other distributed



directory information servers and information retrieval tools have



been developed and it is anticipated more will be created.  Many sites



now maintain local directory servers with information about



individuals, departments and services at that specific site.



Typically these directory servers are network accessible.  Because



these servers are local, there are now wide variations in the type of



data stored, access methods, search schemes, and user interfaces.  The



purpose of the Whois and Network Information Lookup Service (WNILS)



Working Group is to expand and define the standard for WHOIS services,



to resolve issues associated with the variations in access and to



promote a consistent and predictable service across the network.

Request for Comments:

  • RFC1834 Whois and Network Information Lookup Service Whois++ (Informational)
  • RFC1835 Architecture of the WHOIS++ service (Proposed Standard)
  • RFC1913 Architecture of the Whois++ Index Service (Proposed Standard)
  • RFC1914 How to interact with a Whois++ mesh (Proposed Standard)