Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)

The Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) is an alternative protocol to WHOIS that specifies how to access internet resource registration data. It is specifically designed to address various shortcomings in WHOIS. It makes use of HTTPS and follows a RESTful (representational state transfer) web services model.

Using RDAP to query RIPE Database

• The contents of RIPE database can be accessed using RDAP via https://rdap.db.ripe.net/{objectType}/{key} where {objectType} must be one of the Object Types listed below.

  List of supported object types

  The value of {key} depends on the object type.

  If the RIPE Database is not authoritative for the requested resource, the response will redirect to the authoritative RIR.

Object Type	Description
autnum	AUT-NUM and AS-BLOCK objects. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/autnum/3333
domain	DOMAIN objects. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/domain/193.0.6.139.in-addr.arpa
ip	INETNUM and INET6NUM objects. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/ip/193.0.0.0/21 or https://rdap.db.ripe.net/ip/2001:67c:2e8::/48
entity	PERSON, ROLE and MNTNER objects. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/entity/RIPE-NCC-MNT

• The Entities service enables searching for matches based on a term. The output is a List with objects in RDAP format.

  https://rdap.db.ripe.net/entities?fn={fn}&handle={handle}
  

  • fn: Returns all the matches for person:, role:, and org-name: attributes. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/entities?fn=RIPE-RIPE
  • handle: Returns all the matches for organisation:, nic-hdl: attributes. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/entities?handle=RIPE-RIPE
• The Domains service enables searching for matches based on a term. The output is a List with objects in RDAP format.

  https://rdap.db.ripe.net/domains?name={name}
  

  • name: Returns all the matches for domain: attribute. Example: https://rdap.db.ripe.net/domains?name=196.46.95.in-addr.arpa
• The Help service return a valid RDAP object containing the default set of notices for the service. The rdapConformance element in the response include the extension identifiers for all the extension implemented.

  https://rdap.db.ripe.net/help
  

RDAP Specification

The RDAP protocol is specified in the RFCs:

• RFC 7480 (opens new window) – HTTP Usage in the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)
• RFC 7481 (opens new window) – Security Services for the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)
• RFC 9082 (opens new window) – Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP) Query Format
• RFC 9083 (opens new window) – JSON Responses for the Registration Data Access Protocol (RDAP)
• RFC 7484 (opens new window) – Finding the Authoritative Registration Data (RDAP) Service
• RFC 7485 (opens new window) – Inventory and Analysis of WHOIS Registration Objects

RDAP profiles

In addition to the base RDAP specification, we also implement the following profiles:

• NRO RDAP Profile (opens new window).
• NRO RDAP cidr (opens new window).

Known Issues

Known issues with the RDAP implementation for RIPE Database can be found on GitHub (opens new window).