Registry Data Access Protocol

With the new Registry Data Access Protocol (RDAP) published in March 2015, the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) made a fresh attempt to lay the technical foundation for a successor of the WHOIS protocol.

Unlike the WHOIS protocol, RDAP provides

  • Server authentication as well as authentication and authorisation of the inquirer
  • Internationalisation
  • Structured data format
  • The possibility of encrypted data transmission.

RDAP for .de Domains

In order to gain some experience for the .de zone, DENIC has implemented a pilot RDAP. .de domains have one special feature and we have developed a separate extension:

  • You can register a .de domain by means of NS entry.

Pilot Operation of RDAP Service

DENIC makes available the RDAP service for test operation. This means in particular that we do not guarantee any service level standards. Here is an example of our pilot service: https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic.de. We provide RDAP via TLS-secured channel (https) only.

The output of RDAP includes exactly the same information about a domain as the output retrieved from the public whois. 

Feedback Option

If any questions emerge from your testing activities or if you wish to submit feedback, please e-mail to rdap[at]denic[dot]de.

How to Implement a Test Query

You can submit a .de domain query for the

  • Domain status and
  • Domain data.

The following options are available:

  • Browser-based queries
  • Command-line-based queries via Curl
  • Queries via RDAP client.

1.    Status Queries - How to Proceed

Status Query via Browser

You can test the status query for a .de domain via a browser with the Head method:

Browser query via FirefoxBrowser query via Chrome
0.   DENIC advises to use a Rest client, such as:
http://restclient.net/https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/advanced-rest-client/hgmloofddffdnphfgcellkdfbfbjeloo/related
1.    After installation, click the extension and select
HEAD under "Method"HEAD under "Other Method".
2. and enter the complete URL, such as https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic.de

Status Query via Curl

You can also query RDAP on a command-line basis via Curl (https://curl.haxx.se/download.html).

For this option, use the command curl -I https://rdap.denic.de/domain/<domain.de></domain.de>

ExampleExplanation/Screenshot
curl -I
https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic-connect-example.de
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Example of a registered domain
curl –I
https://rdap.denic.de/domain/beispiel-zwölf.de
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Example of a registered domain with IDN notation
curl -I
https://rdap.denic.de/domain/thisdomaindoesnotexist.de
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Example of a domain that is not registered
curl -I
https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic-rgp-example.de
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Example of a domain in RGP
curl  -I
https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic-failed-example.de
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Example of a domain of the status failed

2.  Data Query - How to Proceed

Data Query via Browser

You can test the data query for a .de domain via a browser with the GET method:

Browser query via Firefox Browser query via Chrome
0. DENIC advises to use a Rest client, such as:
http://restclient.net/https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/advanced-rest-client/hgmloofddffdnphfgcellkdfbfbjeloo/related
1. After installation, click the extension and select
GET under "Method"GET under "Other Method"

2. and enter the complete URL, such as https://rdap.denic.de/domain/denic.de
Alternatively you can call up the URL directly in the browser.

Example of a data query via Rest client:

Data Query via Curl

You can also query RDAP on a command-line basis via Curl (https://curl.haxx.se/download.html). For this option, use the command curl https://rdap.denic.de/domain/

Test Operation with RDAP Clients

Alternatively you can also test RDAP by using an RDAP client. RDAP clients output the query responses originally designed to be machine-readable in a structure that is easily readable by humans. The following clients are available:

SourceLink
ARIN NicInfohttps://github.com/arineng/nicinfo
ARIN RDAP_WebSPAhttps://github.com/arineng/rdap_webspa
CentralNic rdapperhttps://github.com/jodrell/rdapper
Registrobr rdap-clienthttps://github.com/registrobr/rdap-client
DNSBelgium RDAP server libraryhttps://github.com/DNSBelgium/rdap
CNNIC rdaphttps://github.com/cnnic/rdap
Metaregistrar rdap-clienthttps://github.com/metaregistrar/rdap-client

Example of a query via RDAP client: