.org Registry Offline - Not

einer writes "According to the The Register, the registry containing all of the .org tld information has fallen off the planet. The article is light on details, and doesn't list any potential consequences. " It looks like it's the server that maintains the records for who owns what .org domain - and a big "I Told You So" for Verisign. And of course, now it seems to be working just fine. Good work, PIR.

Comments

So what.

[Prince_Ali]

I make it a point to never visit any .org sites at all. Vile things, they are. I haven't visited a single .org website in over 2 years.

Re:So what.

[CustomFort]

*Cough* Slashdot.org *cough*

Re:So what.

[borgdows]

*cough* *cough* I have SARS! *cough* *cough*

Re:So what.

[matth]

*Me Checks* nope no .org I go to http://www.slashdot.com !!

Re:So what.

[etrnl]

*points to your sig*

.org registry

[Anonymous Coward]

Because you never know where to find a good orgy....

whois still working

[drwtsn32]

I just did a whois query on my org domain. It works fine.

Re:whois still working

[Gortbusters.org]

In other words, this was a horrible article to post.

Re:whois still working

[madprof]

Of course! The article has been pulled from teh front page because the service was NEVER down in the first place.
The whois server that Simon Perry used to check if his domain was up was owned by Verisign. Which doesn't cary any .org information.
Simon, being incredibly stupid, doesn't understand what "The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars" means.
Neither do The Register it seems. More great reporting from that high quality news source....

Re:whois still working

[Christopher B. Brown]

Strange...

I never got paged about it, and I certainly would have had things gone down.

It seems more plausible that the problem stems from an out-of-date version of whois.

Version 4.6.2 (released in March) introduced a "patch" redirecting .ORG requests to whois.publicinterestregistry.net ; I'd suggest you check version numbers. Chances are that you're running something reasonably new.

It's plausible that VGRS might have been forwarding requests over to PIR, and shut that capability off this weekend, thereby causing "some inconvenience" to those using out-of-date whois clients.

Taking a look at the posts that led to the Register article, it appears that they headed down a garden path rather like this:

• "We're having a problem; perhaps it's one of several things" to
• "Now, we're publishing an article, with the wildest conspiracy theory we can imagine!", namely

  The registry for all .org domains appears to have collapsed - meaning that all the details of who owns any .org domain are unobtainable.

Alternatively, perhaps CRSNIC, the putative point of failure, is having a problem?

Re:whois still working

[_xeno_]

The Register is not a very trustworthy news source. I used to think they were mostly OK, but then I read Gates: 'Wake up and steal the coffee' , which is seven paragraphs slamming Bill Gates for leaving a coffee shop without paying. Followed by three paragraphs saying effectively "oh, the above is false, but we wanted to report it anyway."

I mean, really. A full-page article alledging that Bill Gates is so full of himself that he forgot that he has to pay for things like the rest of us proles, and then three-paragraph correction reporting that the above story isn't true. It's rediculous! At least Slashdot (usually) posts the update to the top paragraph and highlights it. But reporting something that you know isn't true and then containing the correct right within the story is such bad journalism as to border on the rediculous.

I suppose they've been taking the BOFH over-seriously there. Outright lieing is OK for Simon, since he's a fictional character and expected to be a bastard. But for a supposed news article - one that doesn't even have anything to do with technology, only a press conference gone awry, it is just do dishonest to try and libel someone simply because you disagree with his policies.

I lost a lot of confidence in the Register with that story. I know they have an overly mocking style and that they tend to attack everyone and everything simply as part of their style. But doing so with a story you know if false is unfair and lowers you to the level of mindless zealot. - (X)

* I suppose I'm being overly harsh; the story was originally posted without the correction and the correction was only added later after they found out that the story was false. But I still think they should have included a note at the top. Hardly seems fair to mention it only at the very bottom, does it?

oh no!

[Anonymous Coward]

now I can't lookup slashdot.org anymore.

Re:oh no!

[V.P.]

I thought by now people would know slashdot's IP by heart.

Uh oh...

[fredrikj]

...in a few hours, slashdot.org will redirect to microsoft.com or riaa.com...

Huh??

[muyuubyou]

And I thought the blender.org era was a good thing... Things like this support the corporate credibility in the IT ages. *sigh*

In recent news...

[mschoolbus]

Verisign licensed SCO's Unix Source code on Monday...

whois slashdot.org

[samhalliday]

whois slashdot.org

Found referral to whois.opensrs.net.

Registrant:

VA Software Corporation (OSDN)

47071 Bayside Parkway

Fremont, CA 94538

US

Domain name: SLASHDOT.ORG

i guess it will take a while for this to filter down the servers... how long does anyone guess it will be before we cant whois .org; and will this affect DNS??? that coudl be a REAL disaster!

.cx

[Arc04]

Just be thankful all .cx domains are still available.

I don't know if I could make it through the day without a trip to a certain site. :P

Re:.cx

[Anonymous Coward]

OMFGROFLOLBBQ

OMFG=Oh my fucking god,
ROFL=rolling on the floor laughing,
OLBBQ=outside lighting a barbecue?

I must be getting old, all these acronyms are getting too much for me.

Update your whois client.

[jrwilk01]

Responsible servers changed, all is well. Nothing to see here. Move along.

jrw@gerontius:~$ whois slashdot.org
NOTICE: Access to .ORG WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in
determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the PIR
registry database. The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry
for informational purposes only, and PIR does not guarantee its
accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree
that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no
circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise
support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than
the data recipient's own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume,
automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of
Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably
necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. All
rights reserved. PIR reserves the right to modify these terms at any
time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

Domain ID:D2289308-LROR
Domain Name:SLASHDOT.ORG
Created On:05-Oct-1997 04:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Jan-2003 01:48:23 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Oct-2005 04:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R11-LROR
Status:OK
Registrant ID:11-C
Registrant Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Registrant Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Registrant Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Registrant City:N/A
Registrant Postal Code:N/A
Registrant Country:CA
Registrant Email:not@available.org
Admin ID:11-C
Admin Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Admin Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Admin Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Admin City:N/A
Admin Postal Code:N/A
Admin Country:CA
Admin Email:not@available.org
Billing ID:11-C
Billing Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Billing Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Billing Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Billing City:N/A
Billing Postal Code:N/A
Billing Country:CA
Billing Email:not@available.org
Tech ID:11-C
Tech Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Tech Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Tech Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Tech City:N/A
Tech Postal Code:N/A
Tech Country:CA
Tech Email:not@available.org
Name Server:NS1.VASOFTWARE.COM
Name Server:NS2.VASOFTWARE.COM
Name Server:NS3.VASOFTWARE.COM

Don't hit OSS

[thosss]

I just hope that MS and others don't hit up OSS for this; the .org registry was the first to run a non Oracle\MS SQL\DB2 database (it runs/ran Postgre). I don't want Postgre to be the underlying problem in this because it could easily destroy their reputation.

Re:Don't hit OSS

[mukund]

I think the .org always worked, but the whois software's configuration which theregister.co.uk uses may be outdated and is still asking the Verisign servers for .org information.

With a new whois installation, PIR's servers are contacted instead (whois.publicinterestregistry.net).

With an old configured version of whois, one might try:

whois -h whois.publicinterestregistry.net domain.org

Flame if you will.

[FreeLinux]

But, this was a concern when the whole TLD split-up was initially suggested. I'm no fan of Verisign but, Network Solutions and Verisign ran a tight ship. This type of thing just didn't happen. ICANN made a big mistake with their breakup of the registrars and this is likely to become a frequent problem.

The worst part is, with the way the resgistrars are distributed now, the blame game is going to be rediculous with everyone pointing at the other guy. In the past there was no question as to who was responsible for any issues.

Re:Flame if you will.

[Stripes007]

You are correct about Verisign as a registry. They use RRP for all registrar/registry communication, more efficient, less bloated than other EPP implementations (e.g. .biz, .info). PIR uses a totally new & different implementation of EPP, making all registrars who want to service .org domains patch or rewrite entire systems so it can fit this new implementation. .org has been nothing but pathetic since PIR took over.

Gotta love the current screwed up state of whois data for .org also: Whois output for slashdot.org

Is there a better way?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do we have to have a system that relies on single points of failure for each of the main TLDs? Each "maintainer" of the TLD is subject to problems - both mechanical (system failures, congestion, etc.) and human (stupidity, politics, luck).

I don't think the founding fathers of the Internet thought it of it being like this.

Bigger problem than you think!

[japhar81]

> now I can't lookup slashdot.org anymore.

Which isn't that big a deal, till you realize that the alternative to /. is doing real work...

Oh the humanity!

www.flat-earth.org

[crazyprogrammer]

the .org tld information has fallen off the planet.


I knew the earth was flat but nobody believed me.

Here's mine

[flacco]

[root@weaselfarm] whois slashdot.org
[whois.crsnic.net]

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "SLASHDOT.ORG".

>>> Last update of whois database: Mon, 19 May 2003 06:05:55 EDT <<<

Re:Here's mine

[geirt]

Use the right whois server:

whois -h whois.pir.org slashdot.org

[whois.pir.org]
NOTICE: Access to .ORG WHOIS information is provided to assist persons in
determining the contents of a domain name registration record in the PIR
registry database. The data in this record is provided by Public Interest Registry
for informational purposes only, and PIR does not guarantee its
accuracy. This service is intended only for query-based access. You agree
that you will use this data only for lawful purposes and that, under no
circumstances will you use this data to: (a) allow, enable, or otherwise
support the transmission by e-mail, telephone, or facsimile of mass
unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations to entities other than
the data recipient's own existing customers; or (b) enable high volume,
automated, electronic processes that send queries or data to the systems of
Registry Operator or any ICANN-Accredited Registrar, except as reasonably
necessary to register domain names or modify existing registrations. All
rights reserved. PIR reserves the right to modify these terms at any
time. By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy.

Domain ID:D2289308-LROR
Domain Name:SLASHDOT.ORG
Created On:05-Oct-1997 04:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Jan-2003 01:48:23 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Oct-2005 04:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R11-LROR
Status:OK
Registrant ID:11-C
Registrant Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Registrant Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Registrant Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Registrant City:N/A
Registrant Postal Code:N/A
Registrant Country:CA
Registrant Email:not@available.org
Admin ID:11-C
Admin Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Admin Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Admin Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Admin City:N/A
Admin Postal Code:N/A
Admin Country:CA
Admin Email:not@available.org
Billing ID:11-C
Billing Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Billing Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Billing Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Billing City:N/A
Billing Postal Code:N/A
Billing Country:CA
Billing Email:not@available.org
Tech ID:11-C
Tech Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Tech Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Tech Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Tech City:N/A
Tech Postal Code:N/A
Tech Country:CA
Tech Email:not@available.org
Name Server:NS1.VASOFTWARE.COM
Name Server:NS2.VASOFTWARE.COM
Name Server:NS3.VASOFTWARE.COM

Re:Here's mine

[AVee]

Hell, the whois in Debian Woody is like that. Quite annoying.

Annoying ideed, but easily fixed. Just create /etc/whois.conf and place the following line there:

.org whois.pir.org

That should do the job, at least is works for me...

The day .org died - or anyone want slashdot.org?

[sparkes]

bags I get to name to problem;-)

not quite as bad as the day the internet died as all it means in real terms is a few people will try to buy domain names that arn't available.

anyone want to buy slashdot.org?

http://www.domaincity.co.uk/cgi-bin/whois.pl?typ e= org&command=slashdot

it seems to be for sale, or maybe not

sparkes

Mine wont whois!

[PoesRaven]

whois slashdot.org
[whois.crsnic.net]

Whois Server Version 1.3

Domain names in the .com and .net domains can now be registered
with many different competing registrars. Go to http://www.internic.net
for detailed information.

No match for "SLASHDOT.ORG".

>>> Last update of whois database: Mon, 19 May 2003 06:05:55 EDT

Re:Mine wont whois!

[roka]

ok, let's read the output again, shall we? :)

$ whois -h whois.crsnic.net slashdot.org

[foobar]

No match for "SLASHDOT.ORG".

[bazqux]

The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars.

hard code this into your hosts file

[anticypher]

66.35.250.150 slashdot.org
198.186.202.135 NS1.VASOFTWARE.COM
198.186.202.136 NS2.VASOFTWARE.COM
66.35.250.12 NS3.VASOFTWARE.COM

Then your life can continue as normal, despite verisign's fuckup.

the AC

Re:hard code this into your hosts file

[Lazaru5]

If you were going to use it as your nameserver then yes, you would. But that's not what the parent was saying.

As it happens, you shouldn't be doing this at all. It's unecessary traffic. Your DNS server should always be close. In fact some authoritative name servers don't even do recursive lookups to prevent the sort of (ab)use that you suggested.

But it's moot really. This doesn't affect DNS.

People: If this is an issue at all (I see nothing wrong anywhere [maybe PIR got them back up?] and I don't exactly trust The Register's clue level anyway) then the only issue is WHOIS related. There's no problem with any root servers, thus this isn't a DNS problem.

Chicken Little

[jmb-d]

And of course, now it seems to be working just fine.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Oh, wait...

Show Me The Money!

[SEWilco]

Nope, you didn't claim it. It's not registered, so I got Slashdot.Org!

Seriously... Are registry services going to see fallout due to having to reverse and refund erroneous .org registrations that their servers processed during the outage? This might also depend upon whether their scripts depend upon the PIR servers, and whether the scripts distinguish between "error" and "domain not registered" conditions.

No Surprise

[kellan1]

Anyone who followed the .Org bidding process knew this day was coming. ICANN's summary dismissal of the IMS/ISC bid as being too technical ("Internet is hard", says ICANN) in favor of 2-bit registrars who "white washed" their record by getting a major NGO to sit on the board made it inevitable.

Isn't That Amusing

[Jerk City Troll]

Here's journalistic integrity for you: a story that reports you cannot reach .org sites posted on and read from a .org site. That's like posting: "you are unable to read this message." Way to go guys.

Re:Isn't That Amusing

[bilbobuggins]

speaking of journalistic integrity, did you see the article title?
reading it, i couldn't help but imagine the discovery of this news at /. went something like this:

h: 'oh man, .org is down'
t: 'no way'
h: 'way'
t: 'no way'
h: 'way'
t: 'duuuuude. like, slashdot is totally a .org site. bogus!'
h: 'like for real brah. and i was completely about to make some righteous nachos before this happened!'
t: 'oh wait it's back! tubular!'
h: 'schweet. check me out while i post this totally rad story on our site!'

It's too late!!

[borgdows]

All our bases belong to them!!

Check by yourself :

$ whois slashdot.org

Found referral to whois.opensrs.net.

Registrant:
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
US

Domain name: SLASHDOT.ORG

(...)

Information Still Somewhere ???

[jojoeskimo]

http://www.pir.org/whois/ I ran a few whois queries straight off of pir's site, so the information is still floating around somewhere.....

Re:does it matter?

[REBloomfield]

no, you're confusing the DNS record with who actually owns it, the registrant information. DNS should still work for a good while...

Boston data line cut

[vasqzr]

Related?

Results depend on the whois server used

[SimonPerry]

I was the source for the story on The Register. You'll see in the detail that it depends on which whois server you use. Crsnic is the one that's misreporting and it's supposed to be provide united results. Looks like PIR isn't talking to Crsnic properly.

Re:Results depend on the whois server used

[Zocalo]

Looks like PIR isn't talking to Crsnic properly.

As you state in your linked page, CRSNIC is run by Verisign. The same Verisign that handed .org prior to PIR and agreed to a three month handoff period from the start of the year. That would make the cut off March 31st or April 1st depending on your sense of humour. Which, it should come as no suprise, was the date that CRSNIC also stopped providing WHOIS info for .org domains.

I also notice that the Register story has been removed from the frontpage, although the direct link is still available. I think we can safely file this under "Death of .org predicted. Film at eleven."

Hoorray!!!

[borgdows]

Slashdot.org is not accessible any more!
The productivity of my IT company will rise rise riiiise!!

Irony:

[Illserve]

A news site posting a story that it's gone down.

It's been this way for weeks

[cloudscout]

This problem has been around for months... In order to look up WHOIS information on .ORG domains, you have to point your WHOIS client at whois.pir.org. For some reason, whois.internic.net isn't redirecting the appropriate information. I first noticed the problem back in early March.

Never down?

[Dasigner]

I don't think the .org registry ever went down. The only Informative message here (IMHO) was from jrwilk01: "Responsible servers changed, all is well. Nothing to see here. Move along." It was marked Redundant and scored 0, just because the moderators only saw the whois record!

Those of you with obsolete whois clients can do something like this:

$ whois slashdot.org@whois.publicinterestregistry.org
...
Billing Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
...
$ whois slashdot.org@whois.opensrs.net

Or just go to whois.bw.org.

It's the evil Debian people !

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

I wanted to check it out, but to be extra sure, I went to org.org.org.org (better four .orgs than one to be extra sure) : what do I find ? A DEBIAN BOX ! That computer has been taken over by Debian ! It's Stallman's evil plot to take over .org !!

Annymous Cowards

[schnits0r]

I did a who is and I got this:

Domain ID:D2289308-LROR
Domain Name:SLASHDOT.ORG
Created On:05-Oct-1997 04:00:00 UTC
Last Updated On:15-Jan-2003 01:48:23 UTC
Expiration Date:04-Oct-2005 04:00:00 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R11-LROR
Status:OK
Registrant ID:11-C
Registrant Name:SEE SPONSORING REGISTRAR
Registrant Street1:Whois Server:whois.opensrs.net
Registrant Street2:Referral URL:www.opensrs.org
Registrant City:N/A
Registrant Postal Code:N/A
Registrant Country:CA
Registrant Email:not@available.org

It looks like someone is a annymous coward.

I'm skeptical of the news.

[transiit]

Because whois queries for .org's dropped off months ago for me.

transiit@machine$: whois slashdot.org
.
.
. (big versign legal statement)
The Registry database contains ONLY .COM, .NET, .EDU domains and Registrars.

oops. No .ORG there. I can't help but think the Reg happened to try a whois and not getting an answer freaked out. Note the total lack of explanatory detail.

I wouldn't go villifying anyone just yet.

-transiit

First Peter, now Jason

[rjamestaylor]

Looks like Jason Blair got picked up by The Register for this story. First Peter Arnett gets picked up by a UK Tabloid, now this. Those wacky Britts!

BOGUS REPORT

[Medievalist]

My .org domain ran fine all weekend. I do not believe there is any issue of real importance behind all this fooferaw.

You can't "whois" a .org domain without specifying a valid .org whois server. THE SKY IS FALLING! Guess what, you can't whois a .mil domain without specifying a valid .mil whois server. Nothing to report here, system works as advertised.

The important function of a registrar is to feed names into the root nameservers. I don't see any indication of any flaws in that process. All the .org names seem to resolve fine, and I got a total of ZERO problem reports over the weekend from our 24x7 .org site. Did anyone else have a real DNS problem, or is this all a case of the Register placing too much value on the compiled-in defaults for the whois client?

Anyone?

Re:BOGUS REPORT

[zdislaw]

DNS is fine. The servers holding the registry of name ownership are what the article claimings fell over. The article doesn't mention anything about DNS problems or people being unable to browse to .org sites. I'm certainly not saying the report is true, but if what they say happened did indeed happen, DNS would not necessarily be affected.

Retraction is in order

[Sxooter]

No matter how long it was on the front page, this article sullied the reputation of the .org folks, and they deserve an apology and a retraction.

Unless, of course, the Reg doesn't take responsibility for what it publishes. Like a lot of so called "news" sites out there. Heck, even slashdot posts retractions once in a blue moon or two.

Pushing the legal envelope?

[bbc22405]

"By submitting this query, you agree to abide by this policy."

New article the Reg should post.

[Sxooter]

Apparently, we're all dumb as lamp posts and can't bother to read the part of the whois query on our boxes that says this whois server only handles .net and .com

We're going to go back to school, we should be ready to post articles worth reading in a few short years, til then, there's always the BBC, eh?

Re:PostgreSQL

[brlewis]

Yeah, that code in MySQL that makes sure users use updated whois clients is really cool. PostgreSQL might get a similar feature soon, but by then MySQL will have an even better feature that prevents The Register from publishing bogus articles about servers being down when they're up. MySQL rocks! Go MySQL!

It's premature to speculate on the cause of the outage

On a more serious note, it's premature to even say there was an outage.

disappearing stories about disappearing tlds

[FlukeMeister]

It would appear that, although the original story is still available at the full URL, the Register has taken down all links to it from other areas of the site.

This would be the same site whose journalists often raise an almighty fuss when other publications do exactly the same thing.

I guess they're not double standards when they're your double standards.