Re: Re: WHOIS public API

From: Renghen Renghen <renghen_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Apr 2017 21:05:48 +0400


Hi to all,

well they are servers exposing input and outputs, given an input ,it gives
an output.

a function is a mapping of input to output(transformation)

different functions will make up an api.

then again if we come from the rpc/corba background we will not call pure
protocol negotiation an api.

there is a reason those techs are no longer relevant,it is because
1) it forgets the nature of a heterogeneous network
2) makes assumption that failure does not happen
3) it does not take into account delay
4) hardware limits(number of connection on client vs number of connection
on a server)
5) do not cater for asynchronous nature of network

there are more, but it will look that i am bashing rpc and corba(orb)
technologies.

Nowadays, we embrace the nature of network,and consider each request as an
input and response as output, we call it micro services, or restful etc...

so is it only servers running, yes it is, do they provide services, yes
they are, do they have input and outputs,yes they do.

using a network library, can the services be queried, yes they can, so from
a programmer's point of view it is an api.

A layer on top of pure network code can be written, but what to extend we
should definitely not repeat rpc model.

Regards
Renghen





On Mon, Apr 10, 2017 at 8:41 PM, Ish Sookun <ish_at_lsl.digital> wrote:

>
> Dear SM, Renghen,
>
> We spoke off-list about the term API and the request I sent to AFRINIC.
> My understanding of the below is that AFRINIC only has a WHOIS and a
> RDAP server. Could you please confirm whether I understood it well?
>
> Regards,
>
> Ish
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject: Re: WHOIS public API
> Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2017 15:31:15 +0400
> From: Daniel Shaw <daniel_at_afrinic.net>
> To: Ish Sookun <ish_at_hacklog.mu>
>
>
>
> Dear Ish,
>
> Before really being able to answer *perfectly* we’d need to agree on
> what you define as an “API” :-)
>
> Depending on how one defines API, the answer can be either yes or no.
> I’ll explain further shortly. But it’s basically yes.
>
> Let me first be clear, that given my role within AFRINIC, I am indeed a
> good contact to explain to you exactly what services and interfaces we
> run publicly, how to access them and what you can and cannot do with
> them technically.
>
> However, once I’ve explained what works and how it works, if you then
> have further questions regarding why AFRINIC has what it has vs any
> other alternatives. Or are interested in wether or not anything
> different may be in the future roadmap; those sorts of questions would
> need to go through a customer service contact.
>
> To answer your question fully: Broadly speaking, yes.
>
> AFRINIC provides a number of public interfaces to query the database of
> IP resource allocations, contact information, reverse DNS delegations
> and so on (registration data) that we maintain.
>
> The first of these is the standard well known WHOIS interface. The WHOIS
> protocol specification is detailed in the short RFC 3912 [1].
> This is a relatively simple TCP protocol that listens on port 43, and
> clients interact with it using a text-based query, and are answered in
> human readable ascii text. As you may know WHOIS as a protocol is not
> only used by Regional Internet Registries like AFRINIC, but also many
> Domain registrars, as well as various other online data services.
>
> This is technically a public remote API. The queries accepted and the
> format of the responses are documented, a client application can open a
> socket, make a query and get a response.
>
> Of course, most typically, an end user will use an existing command-line
> client. However, you can in fact interact with the database over port 43
> using telnet. Or indeed with a library from most programming languages.
> Hence technically an API.
>
> However, if you specifically meant a WHOIS REST API, then the answer is
> more or less no. AFRINIC does not have it’s own REST API for
> registration data queries (and updates) as some other RIR’s and domain
> registrars do.
>
> That being said, AFRINIC *does* have a public RESTful web service
> available for *querying* registration data. However, this is not just an
> HTTP interface to the same ascii only WHOIS format, but rather a
> separate Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) end-point. It is:
> http://rdap.afrinic.net/rdap/
>
> You can read the full RDAP specification in RFC 7482 [2]. Additional
> details are also in RFCs 7484, 7483 and 7480. RDAP is an HTTP based
> service that will return the same data as WHOIS, in JSON format.
>
> And finally of course, you can do queries from the AFRINIC web site in a
> form there. Which is not an API of any kind.
>
> So in summary, the answer to your question is: Yes. AFRINIC has two
> different public APIs for *queries*: Port 43 WHOIS, and a RESTful RDAP
> service.
>
> However, AFRINIC only currently allows for registered members to *write*
> authenticated updates via port 43 or via an automated email service. We
> do not have an API that combines authentication/writes with http and REST.
>
> Two other services you may be interested in are:
> * AFRINIC provides a daily bulk dump of anonymized WHOIS data on
> ftp.afrinic.net [3].
> * For discussions and suggestions in regards to WHOIS and the database,
> AFRINIC has a database working group mailing list [4].
>
> Regards,
> Daniel
>
> On 4 Apr 2017, 14:15 +0400, Ish Sookun <ish_at_hacklog.mu>, wrote:
> > Dear Mr Shaw,
> >
> > I'd like to know if AFRINIC has a public API for WHOIS queries.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > --
> > Ish Sookun
> >
>
> [1] https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3912
> [2] https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7482
> [3] http://ftp.afrinic.net/dbase/
> [4] http://www.afrinic.net/community/working-groups/dbwg
>
>
>
>


-- 
regards
Renghen
Received on Mon Apr 10 2017 - 17:06:03 PST

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