Configure the Display of Contact Data in the Whois

Last updated 5th May 2022

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Order a Domain Name
• Tasks Management
• Manage Contacts of a Domain Name
• Managing Eligibility Rules
• Configure the Display of Contact Data in the Whois
• Configure the DNS of your Domain Name
• Transfer a Domain Name

Introduction

The Whois is a search service that provides information about a domain name. This information can have various uses but is often used to find and contact the owner of a domain name. This information is displayed as a non-standardized text, which was displayed in plain text until recently.

RDAP was designed as a successor to Whois and has several advantages over it, including:

• Support for internationalization
• Standardization of the data format
• The ability to provide distinguished access to the data

This section is dedicated to API routes used to set up the disclosure and obfuscation of the various contact data of a domain name in the Whois and the RDAP.

Information disclosure (optin)

Since the implementation of the RGPD, the Whois data concerning admin, tech, billing and owner contacts are hidden by default if they are natural persons. However, it is possible to disclose some or all of the data according the optin rules applied to the domain name.

Retrieving optin rules

The following API allows you to retrieve the disclosure rules applicable to a domain name.

[
  {
    "type": "tech",
    "fields": []
  },
  {
    "type": "owner",
    "fields": [
      "address",
      "city",
      "country",
      "email",
      "fax",
      "name",
      "organisation",
      "phone",
      "province",
      "zip"
    ]
  }
]

The following response shows the three different types of rules that can be found:

• The admin contact is omitted in the response, which means that it is not possible to configure the disclosure of its data.
• The tech contact with an empty field table means that it is possible to disclose its information. However, the choice of the disclosed information is not customizable (it is all or nothing).
• The owner contact has the most customizable rule. The list in the field node indicates that it is possible to choose from it the fields that will be disclosed in the Whois.

Retrieving the optin configuration of a domain name

The following API is used to retrieve the disclosure configuration applied to a domain name.

[
  {
    "type": "tech",
    "fields": []
  },
  {
    "type": "owner",
    "fields": ["email", "phone"]
  }
]

The above response can be read as follows:

• The admin and billing contacts are not included in the response, which means that no information about them will be displayed in the Whois.
• The tech contact with an empty array in the fields field means that the contact's information must be disclosed and will be displayed in the Whois.
• About the owner contact, we can see that only the email and phone are configured to be disclosed and will be displayed in the Whois.

Updating the optin configuration

The following API allows you to update the disclosure configuration applied to a domain name.

[
  {
    "type": "tech",
    "fields": []
  },
  {
    "type": "owner",
    "fields": ["email", "phone"]
  }
]

[
  {
    "type": "tech",
    "fields": []
  },
  {
    "type": "owner",
    "fields": ["email", "phone"]
  }
]

Email obfuscation

Beyond the disclosure of data on the Whois, OVHcloud gives the possibility to obfuscate the email addresses of the contacts in the Whois.

Since the implementation of the RGPD, this feature is activated by default for all domains. However, it is possible to disable this obfuscation depending on the domain name.

Retrieving email obfuscation rules

The following API allows to know the email obfuscation rules that apply on a domain name.

[
  "admin",
  "tech",
  "billing",
  "owner"
]

The answer above indicates that email addresses can be obfuscated on the admin, tech, billing and owner contacts.

Retrieving the email obfuscation configuration for a domain name

The following API allows to retrieve the obfuscation configuration applied on a domain name.

[
  {
    "value": "317ab3c7-6c58-4d6e-827c-2c2b3e82084d@v.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "admin",
    "status": "todo"
  },
  {
    "value": "c657476c-d55a-4412-a6dc-b0b3a4f8dbe5@i.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "tech",
    "status": "done"
  },
  {
    "value": "d2dd143a-46f2-4ffe-b52b-187fbca31478@g.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "owner",
    "status": "done"
  }
]

The above response can be read as follows:

• The billing contact is not present in the response, which means that no email obfuscation is applied to this contact.
• The tech and owner contacts have a status at done and a non-zero value, this indicates that both of these contacts have their email obfuscated using this value and the email redirection is active.
• About the admin contact, we can see that the value exists but that the status is at todo, which means that the contact is configured to be obfuscated but the email address redirection is not yet active.

Updating the configuration of email obfuscation

The following API allows to update the email obfuscation configuration applied on a domain name.

[
  "tech",
  "admin",
  "owner"
]

[
  {
    "value": "09ea1006-4ef9-4f76-b886-c6a333e3b000@v.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "tech"
  },
  {
    "value": "5db6354f-380b-46df-b09d-711c2eda3584@i.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "admin"
  },
  {
    "value": "1c59a37a-4148-4f34-a088-b02c35464482@g.o-w-o.info",
    "type": "owner"
  }
]

Regeneration of obfuscated emails

The following API allows you to regenerate obfuscated emails of a domain name.

[
  "tech",
  "admin",
  "owner"
]

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