Incorrect WHOIS report

Hi,

I'm checking site host.co.za , it's obviously not free (there is no website though), but:

whois.net states that it is available
www.veroservers.com/whois states it is registered and provides all registration details

Why is that?

 

I see a website that it's under construction: host.co.za
The fact that is registered it's normal. Someone bought it and started to build something on that domain, but not finished yet.

 

@verocloud

Hello,

It was registered since 1997.
You can check whois details here: https://www.whois.com/whois/host.co.za

 

Indeed, whois.net says that host.co.za is available.
Cannot explain why.

 

At least veroservers.com never let me down. Thanks guys.

 

WHOIS servers (especially the third party kind) are not a reliable way to check the availability of a domain name.
Usually, most TLD registries (for ex here: the .za registry) will have their own WHOIS server.

Third party WHOIS services like veroservers.com need to query the official WHOIS of the registry in question. But most of them then "cache" this information. So if a domain has been registered after the caching took place, it could show up as available while it is in fact taken.

Here is the most reliable way to check the official WHOIS of a domain name. It's totally overkill for 99% of queries but if you want to be ABSOLUTELY sure, this is the way.

1- find who is responsible for the Top Level Domain on iana.org (IANA is the technical arm of ICANN, the operator of the DNS root of the internet).
go to https://www.iana.org/, and then click "database of top level domains". This gives you a list of all TLDs.

2- go to the TLD you want to check. for ex: .ZA is zadna.org.za

3- from there, you should usually be able to find a link to their official WHOIS.
ex: for .ZA, the official WHOIS is https://www.registry.net.za/whois/

There you go

 

That's correct way to check WHOIS info, but https://www.veroservers.com/whois does exactly that, just in automated manner. Without any caching involved.

Whois.net doesn't seem to work anymore at all.

 

@verocloud I didn't meant to point finger at Veroservers of course. I know that some WHOIS query providers do cache results but if you don't, it's great. Good to know

 

If you want to have something working correctly, have to build it yourself.

This topic is more than one year old if any.