25 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
25 lines
1.3 KiB
Plaintext
|
What is Referral Whois (RWhois)?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
With the exponential growth of the Internet, a central Whois database that
|
||
|
|
provides host and network information of systems connected to the Internet,
|
||
|
|
and electronic mail (email) addresses of the users of those systems has
|
||
|
|
proven to be very inefficient. The sheer size and effort needed to maintain
|
||
|
|
a centralized database necessitates an alternate, decentralized approach to
|
||
|
|
storing and retrieving this information.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
RWhois is a Directory Services protocol which extends and enhances the Whois
|
||
|
|
concept in a hierarchical and scaleable fashion. It focuses on the
|
||
|
|
distribution of "network objects"--the data representing Internet resources
|
||
|
|
or people--and uses the inherently hierarchical nature of these network
|
||
|
|
objects (domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) networks, email addresses) to
|
||
|
|
more accurately discover the requested information.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
RWhois synthesizes concepts from other, established Internet protocols to
|
||
|
|
create a more useful way to find resources across the Internet. The RWhois
|
||
|
|
protocol and architecture derive a great deal of structure from the Domain
|
||
|
|
Name System (DNS) [RFC 1034] and borrow directory service concepts from
|
||
|
|
other directory service efforts, primarily [X.500]. The protocol is also
|
||
|
|
influenced by earlier established Internet protocols, such as the Simple
|
||
|
|
Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP) [RFC 821] for response codes.
|
||
|
|
|