# Whois or DNS lookup?



## Curiosity (Oct 20, 2006)

Is there a simple little whois or DNS lookup utility for Mac?  I have been searching, but unable to find such a thing.


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## simbalala (Oct 20, 2006)

In Terminal - whois , ie: whois macosx.com

WhatRoute is also an oldie but a goodie.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/487


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## Curiosity (Oct 21, 2006)

WhatRoute does not work on my system.  I like the terminal tip.  Thanks.  How do you do a whois for a site on another continent, like Asia or Africa?  I noticed that the whois done by the terminal uses ARIN, which is just the Americas.


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## Satcomer (Oct 21, 2006)

Guys it is built into OS X. Open /Applications/Utilties/Network Utility and check out what it can do.


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## simbalala (Oct 21, 2006)

The problem for me with Network Utility is that my DSL modem breaks traceroute unless I reconfigure the modem to bridge mode and control PPPoE via the NetWork preference panel. Actually the same problem occurs with traceroute from Terminal.

WhatRoute allows me to turn off "Use UDP Traceroute" and traceroute then works.

It's a small thing but I prefer to let the modem handle the PPPoE connection as things are right now, it's more standard.

I've been using WhatRoute for years, long before OSX, it's simple and quick. And for whois what can be quicker than a Terminal command?


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## simbalala (Oct 21, 2006)

Curiosity said:


> How do you do a whois for a site on another continent, like Asia or Africa?  I noticed that the whois done by the terminal uses ARIN, which is just the Americas.


From the beginning of the man page (man whois). There's lots more.



> The options are as follows:
> 
> -a      Use the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) database.
> It contains network numbers used in those parts of the world cov-
> ...


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## Natobasso (Oct 21, 2006)

http://www.whois.com


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## simbalala (Oct 21, 2006)

Natobasso said:


> http://www.whois.com


Why use an external site when you've got the tools at hand?

Another reason I don't like external sites is that if you're searching for a new domain name some of them may watch and log your queries and snag a domain name you're interested in. I'm pretty sure that's happened to me.


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## Natobasso (Oct 21, 2006)

Just providing yet another option.


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