John, More feedback, different draft. An WHOIS server is the Internet Standard way of access details from, in our case, the .nz database. "a" whois server, surely :) * It is a separate service. Separate from what? * It is currently provided by all major Name Service organisations, e.g. Ripe and APNIC etc. RIPE and APNIC aren't actually name service organisations; they're regional registries for ASN and IP number allocations. You might use CRSNIC, NSI, Nominet, etc if you're looking for examples of registries' and registrars' use of whois. WHOIS Policy * That NZIRL be required to put in place a standard WHOIS server on the .nz database. What needs to be carefully specified is the formatting of queries and responses to the whois service. There are a number of different "standard" query definitions and response formats currently in use amongst different registries. It would make sense for Domainz/ISOCNZ to approach the heavier users of their existing services and consult as to the query and response formats that are required. The Data in ISOCNZ WHOIS database is provided by NZIRL for information purposes, and to assist persons in obtaining information about or related to a domain name registration record. NZIRL does not guarantee its accuracy. NIRL should guarantee that the response returned to a query is consistent with the data stored by Domainz at the time of the query. (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to NZIRL (or its systems). I'm not sure what this means. What does it mean? ISOCNZ reserves the right to modify these terms at any time. I would imagine that you should qualify this by specifying how changes to the policy will be notified to users of the whois service. You might also refer to RFC812, which specifies nicname/whois. It's a little old (it refers to NCP/TCP!) but the core protocol is described there, such as it is. Joe --------- To unsubscribe from nznog, send email to majordomo(a)list.waikato.ac.nz where the body of your message reads: unsubscribe nznog