Can I look up domains by "Registry Domain ID"?

April 21, 2020 10:43 AM

I'd like to look up a domain registration by "Registry Domain ID" and understand the implications of that ID

For the .com and .net domains, there is an associated Registry Domain ID in the form [shortish-to-longish-string-of-numerals_DOMAIN_COM-VRSN]

I'm curious if there is a way I can search for the registration by this ID.
I'm curious if the meaning of the string of numeral is documented.

posted by Glomar response to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

The field "Registry Domain ID:" refers to the Repository Object Identifier (ROID) for the Domain Name object as specified in RFC 5730 (called Domain ID in Specification 4 of the Registry Agreement). For example, a Registrar could obtain the ROID from the Registry via EPP and cache the information locally after creating or gaining a domain name via a transfer.

- https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/registry-agreement-raa-rdds-2015-04-27-en

RFC 5730 is the definition for Extensible Provisioning Protocol, which domain registries and registrars use to communicate.

As best as I can tell this ID is meaningless. The RFC simply specifies

<!--
   Repository Object IDentifier type.
   -->
     <simpleType name="roidType">
       <restriction base="token">
         <pattern value="(\w|_){1,80}-\w{1,8}"/>
       </restriction>
     </simpleType>

as the definition.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:18 AM on April 21, 2020

Long story short it's a simple unique identifier used to reference a domain name, rather than using the domain name itself. The database terminology is surrogate key.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:22 AM on April 21, 2020

It's a number assigned by Verisign, which operates the authoritative registry for those top level domains. Absent other information, I'd assume it's serial by date of registration.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 11:24 AM on April 21, 2020