A NIC handle (Network Information Centre handle) is a unique
alphanumeric
Alphanumericals or alphanumeric characters are any collection of number characters and letters in a certain language. Sometimes such characters may be mistaken one for the other.
Merriam-Webster suggests that the term "alphanumeric" may often ...
character sequence that represents an entry in the databases maintained by
Network Information Centres. When a new
domain name
In the Internet, a domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services, and more. ...
is registered with a
domain name registrar
A domain name registrar is a company, person, or office that manages the reservation of Internet domain names.
A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) Domain name registry, registry or a country code top-l ...
, a NIC handle is assigned by the registrar to the particular set of information associated with that domain name (such as who registered it and a contact e-mail address). Once a domain name has been registered, its NIC handle can be used to search for that record in the
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
.
The NIC handle was developed in 1982 by Ken Harrenstien and Vic White working at the early Network Information Center at
SRI International
SRI International (SRI) is a nonprofit organization, nonprofit scientific research, scientific research institute and organization headquartered in Menlo Park, California, United States. It was established in 1946 by trustees of Stanford Univer ...
.
Modern use
The NIC Handle system is no longer commonly used by domain name registries. It was previously possible to query
WHOIS
WHOIS (pronounced as the phrase "who is") is a query and response protocol that is used for querying databases that store an Internet resource's registered users or assignees. These resources include domain names, IP address blocks and autonomo ...
by NIC handle, and see all the domains registered by that NIC handle, but this service was discontinued (presumably due to
spam
Spam most often refers to:
* Spam (food), a consumer brand product of canned processed pork of the Hormel Foods Corporation
* Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages
** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages
...
).
NIC Handles are still used extensively in th
RIPE Databaseto identify people and business roles.
See also
*
Network Information Centre (NIC)
References
Domain Name System
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