.org Whois Issue

[hpk]

Hi all,

 

While using the domain search in whmcs, the .org domain always results in 'Domain already taken' even if the domain is not registered.

 

Upon contacting the whmcs support, they replied that it is caused by whois lookup limit being reached and that I need to contact the whois service providers. Actual error is:

 

WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED - SEE http://WWW.PIR.ORG/WHOIS FOR DETAILS

 

Upon contacting the whois service provider, they asked to signup for their zone file access agreement. Their response was not clear so I contacted them again and am waiting on their reply.

 

Has anyone else faced the same issue previously?

 

Thanks for all your inputs.

 

Regards,

Israr

[brian!]

Israr,

 

their FAQ states the following...

 

When I use the WHOIS portal for search, why do I receive the "WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED" error message?

 

Public Interest Registry has introduced rate-limiting logic on the WHOIS Port 43 server and similar rate-limiting logic on the Public Interest Registry website.

 

Public Interest Registry monitors all IP addresses accessing the WHOIS Port 43 server. All traffic is logged, and rate-limit validation logic is applied to limit access by any given IP address to a maximum of four queries per minute. If a unique IP address exceeds the limit, the query will be stopped, and the error message will be displayed.

 

Public Interest Registry accredited registrars who submit queries through the web-based WHOIS search mechanism are limited to 50 queries per minute.

 

Why is Public Interest Registry limiting WHOIS Port 43 access for the general public?

 

Public Interest Registry is committed to protecting the rights and privacy of registrants of our domain names. The previously unlimited access to Port 43 led to abuses by speculators and data miners, often using automated programs to make inquiries. Rate-limiting logic was introduced to reduce this.

quickest solution might be to remove .org from your alternative Bulk TLDs list - that will reduce your number of lookups.

 

also, depending on your registrar for .org, there may be an API alternative solution.