[dbwg] Question on unique network names for whois output.

Sat May 31 16:04:13 EDT 2003

Hello William,

On Sat, 31 May 2003 william at elan.net wrote:

> Today I during the ip lookup on 198.78.132.164, my whois engine coredumped.
> After reviewing what happened, it looks like, it first got:
> [whois.arin.net]
> Genuity GNTY-198-76 (NET-198-76-0-0-1)
>                                   198.76.0.0 - 198.79.255.255
> Starlan Communications, Corp. STARLAN-128-24 (NET-198-78-128-0-1)
>                                   198.78.128.0 - 198.78.135.255
> Horizon Trading LLC NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-160-1)
>                                   198.78.132.160 - 198.78.132.191
>
> The engine is designed to then focus and do specific lookups and it looks
> like it worked fine with first two blocks above but it bogged on the 3rd one
> (see below), I'll probably adjust it to use "(NET-" as way to find
> corresponding network name (rather then just "NET-" which always worked
> before) if I can be get clear answer that all network names in (...) are
> always unique?

The value in parenthesis is actually the network handle, not the network
name. The network handle will always be unique and can be used to pull up
the network by prefacing the query with the exclamation point. So the
query that would retrieved the third network on your list above is:

    ! NET-198-78-132-160-1

The network name is the value between the organization name and the
network handle.

> I'm also wondering if the output below is considered normal or if there
> was some database or conversion error that so many networks are
> named "NET-198-78-128-0-1"?

This is not due to an error, but rather due to the registrant's selection
of network names. The network name is the identifier that the registrant
chooses to give the network registration, but it need not be unique.
They are not prohibited from using "NET-" to begin the network name.  A
quick scan of the database shows more than 8400 network names that begin
with "NET-".

In the example above, it looks like the downstream reassignments were all
registered with the parent network's handle. You can see essentially the
same list of networks by doing a query for "> NET-198-78-128-0-1".

There is always the possibility that a network handle is found in another
search field, thus producing multiple hits. When submitting a query that
you know is a network handle, it is easiest to restrict the search by
using the "!".

Thanks for the question. I hope this solves the problem for you.

Regards,

Cathy Murphy
ARIN

> [root at sokol httpd]# whois net-198-78-128-0-1 at whois.arin.net
> [whois.arin.net]
> Starlan Communications, Corp. (STARLAN-128-24) NET-198-78-128-0-1
> 198.78.128.0 - 198.78.135.255
> Access Global Inc NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-224-1) 198.78.132.224
> - 198.78.132.255
> Adam Hurtwiz NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-160-1) 198.78.130.160 -
> 198.78.130.175
> Advance Solutions Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-224-1)
> 198.78.131.224 - 198.78.131.239
> Alba Wheelsup International NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-135-128-1)
> 198.78.135.128 - 198.78.135.255
> Alexander Capital NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-32-1) 198.78.131.32 -
> 198.78.131.47
> Atif NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-128-1) 198.78.130.128 -
> 198.78.130.143
> Atmind Design NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-224-1) 198.78.130.224 -
> 198.78.130.239
> Baltic Information Technology services inc NET-198-78-128-0-1
> (NET-198-78-130-112-1) 198.78.130.112 - 198.78.130.127
> Blenderbox Internet Cafe NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-134-0-1)
> 198.78.134.0 - 198.78.134.63
> Blenderbox, Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-133-0-1) 198.78.133.0 -
> 198.78.133.63
> BYB Financial NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-48-1) 198.78.131.48 -
> 198.78.131.63
> Coastline Capital NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-112-1) 198.78.131.112
> - 198.78.131.127
> Complete Network Solutions Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-192-1)
> 198.78.131.192 - 198.78.131.207
> Cyber Professor NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-240-1) 198.78.130.240 -
> 198.78.130.255
> Datapoint Communications Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-128-1)
> 198.78.132.128 - 198.78.132.159
> Dencity NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-0-1) 198.78.130.0 -
> 198.78.130.15
> Forex Capital Management NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-0-1)
> 198.78.132.0 - 198.78.132.31
> Goodman Media Design NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-96-1)
> 198.78.132.96 - 198.78.132.127
> Hara Glick NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-16-1) 198.78.130.16 -
> 198.78.130.31
> Horizon Trading LLC NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-160-1)
> 198.78.132.160 - 198.78.132.191
> IIT Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-64-1) 198.78.131.64 -
> 198.78.131.79
> Internet Garage NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-134-64-1) 198.78.134.64 -
> 198.78.134.127
> J&S Resources Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-192-1)
> 198.78.132.192 - 198.78.132.223
> Jenro LLC NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-160-1) 198.78.131.160 -
> 198.78.131.175
> JPS Trading NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-80-1) 198.78.131.80 -
> 198.78.131.95
> Jump123 NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-192-1) 198.78.130.192 -
> 198.78.130.207
> Local King Internet Cafe NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-134-192-1)
> 198.78.134.192 - 198.78.134.255
> Marquis Brokerage NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-128-1) 198.78.131.128
> - 198.78.131.143
> Mason Young Associates NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-48-1)
> 198.78.130.48 - 198.78.130.111
> Metro Resources Group NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-144-1)
> 198.78.131.144 - 198.78.131.159
> Michael Onghai NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-208-1) 198.78.130.208 -
> 198.78.130.223
> Millennium Information Group, Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1
> (NET-198-78-131-240-1) 198.78.131.240 - 198.78.131.255
> Moving.com NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-133-64-1) 198.78.133.64 -
> 198.78.133.127
> Nuomedia LLC NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-144-1) 198.78.130.144 -
> 198.78.130.159
> PC Solutions Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-134-128-1) 198.78.134.128
> - 198.78.134.191
> Raw Interactive Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-135-0-1) 198.78.135.0
> - 198.78.135.127
> RBT Engineering NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-64-1) 198.78.132.64 -
> 198.78.132.95
> Savant Trading Inc. NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-208-1)
> 198.78.131.208 - 198.78.131.223
> SpiderWeb NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-176-1) 198.78.130.176 -
> 198.78.130.191
> Suncomp Inc NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-130-32-1) 198.78.130.32 -
> 198.78.130.47
> Tempest Consulting NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-16-1) 198.78.131.16
> - 198.78.131.31
> The Sporn Group Inc NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-96-1) 198.78.131.96
> - 198.78.131.111
> TNG Travel NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-176-1) 198.78.131.176 -
> 198.78.131.191
> Vitcom Corp NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-131-0-1) 198.78.131.0 -
> 198.78.131.15
> Wall Street Services NET-198-78-128-0-1 (NET-198-78-132-32-1)
> 198.78.132.32 - 198.78.132.63
>
>