Is it possible to get a whois database?

[korzon]

I want to launch a service for domainers that will require a database of all current domain names.

It doens't have to be updated constantly, once every 2-3 weeks should suffice.

I also don't need all the whois info, mainly just creation and expiration date.

As far as extensions, would really like to get all of them, but would find just .com .net and .org useful as well.

So, anyone know if it's possible to get such a database? I'd pay a some decent money for this...

 

[Luc]

no. the closest you can get is the zone file, which contains domains of whatever the zone is of (ex: .com zone file contains all registered .com domains).

however, the only thing zones contain are the domains and the nameservers. the only way to get the expiration is to run a registry whois check on the domains, all of them, and that would require quite a bit of resources because there are i think over 60 million domains in the .com zone alone.

and you will never get all extensions, because many ccTLDs don't provide zone files.

 

[korzon]

How do I get a zone file?

 

[Luc]

I provide zone files for many TLDs as part of the free lists bundled with my software, however to obtain zone files on your own you'd have to apply with verisign (for .com/.net) and with whoever else you wish to obtain zones from (.org registry for .org, .us registry for .us, etc).