Nominet Zone File Released in May

[Skinner]

Did anyone else notice the line in the member update saying that in may a .UK zone file will be released to members ?

 

[Sam]

Did anyone else notice the line in the member update saying that in may a .UK zone file will be released to members ?

Yes

 

[invincible]

Absolutely. Twitter.

 

[Skinner]

I'm hoping its not more ROFR bumf and its all the .uk family, and more so that they aren't going to pull a selected members like Accredited or something.

Really nominet need to work on trust issues, I can't be the only one with them.

 

[invincible]

A member update email relating to this has been sent out today. Check your inboxes.

In addition to the traditional zone file, Nominet are also releasing a list of all domain names registered (including suspended domain names and domain names with no name servers). This is beyond what most registries (excluding .com) release I believe.

Incidentally zone file access will currently be free of charge and available to all Nominet members.

 

[ian]

Reading this right, it means us members (without distribution) will have access to the full .uk database of owned domains, which hasn't been the case since it was leaked many moons ago? Will this have any impact upon the way those in drop-catching operate, or public catchers etc? What are the resource records if that doesn't include whois data, just dates?

 

[invincible]

Reading this right, it means us members (without distribution) will have access to the full .uk database of owned domains, which hasn't been the case since it was leaked many moons ago? Will this have any impact upon the way those in drop-catching operate, or public catchers etc? What are the resource records if that doesn't include whois data, just dates?

What was "leaked" was a file from the old PRSS service. It was just a text file of all registered domain names with associated contact information. That was from 10+ years ago so was much smaller than the database of today.

Resource records will be the associated name servers of each active domain name. Nothing else.

WHOIS is nothing at all to do with DNS zone data.

The release should allow for a much simpler generation of drop lists by those that generate them and the lists should be completely comprehensive. It also means out of sequence suspensions won't be stumbled on by chance but will be available for all to see. I'm sure you are pleased about that! ;-)

 

[ian]

The release should allow for a much simpler generation of drop lists by those that generate them and the lists should be completely comprehensive. It also means out of sequence suspensions won't be stumbled on by chance but will be available for all to see. I'm sure you are pleased about that! ;-)

Doesn't really matter any more, that method stopped working around December last year when Nominet suddenly changed protocol (as I'm sure you know well ). What it does mean is that those that don't put the level of graft in like me will have similar access to what I have, which is a shame, but never mind.

Sorry if it is mentioned, but how often are these files updated, live, or set periods, because obviously it is an ever moving landscape.

 

[invincible]

Doesn't really matter any more, that method stopped working around December last year when Nominet suddenly changed protocol (as I'm sure you know well ). What it does mean is that those that don't put the level of graft in like me will have similar access to what I have, which is a shame, but never mind.

I didn't know but assume what you are referring to relates to interfacing with Nominet systems for registering domain names?

Also, you are correct, as there will be no need for anyone to search for the out of sequence suspended domain names and hope that nobody else has found them.

Sorry if it is mentioned, but how often are these files updated, live, or set periods, because obviously it is an ever moving landscape.

Once per day. It's a snapshot but should be good enough to allow list generation from that point in time. I wrote a long post about how to do it here back in January 2016.

 

[invincible]

I wonder who will be first to:

1. Take the entire list of registered .co.uk, remove the ".co" element and then DAC it to generate a list of available .uk that have already lost their ROFR due to the matching .co.uk expiring sometime since mid June 2014 and being registered again subsequently leaving the .uk as available.

2. Take the entire list of registered .uk, adding ".co" before ".uk" to each and then checking them all using the DAC to see which are available in .co.uk but registered in .uk.

I'm betting many more domain names being registered to addresses in Nevis!

What else will some likely be waiting to do with the data?

 

[invincible]

Actually I've just realised that 2 wouldn't require the DAC. Just a dif of .co.uk and .uk lists to see what was not registered in .co.uk but registered in .uk. Sorry!

 

[sdsinc]

Like other registries, Nom are becoming 'smart' and working on building new revenue streams.

As for #1, no need to wait, you can get started with some dictionary scan.

Prediction: holders of newly-registered .uk domains will soon get SEO spam just like the .com holders.

 

[ian]

1. Take the entire list of registered .co.uk, remove the ".co" element and then DAC it to generate a list of available .uk that have already lost their ROFR due to the matching .co.uk expiring sometime since mid June 2014 and being registered again subsequently leaving the .uk as available.

Suspect anything since June 2014 that has dropped which is worth anything will have been scooped up along with the .uk. There have been a few nice .uk's dropping out of direct sequence with the .co.uk, such as flower .uk; but nothing much else.

 

[spiderspider]

Prediction: holders of newly-registered .uk domains will soon get SEO spam just like the .com holders.

Does the zone file contain contact email addresses then?

Always thought Nom kept them hidden?

 

[sdsinc]

The zone files only contain domain names and associated name servers.
But you are right, scraping the whois will not return E-mail addresses for .uk domains
Spammers could still send snail mail though.

 

[martin-s]

Be interested to hear what @RobM is going to do with this

 

[RobM]

Lol I think a lot of things have already been checked before this release. Will be interesting to see what else is in the list though.

 

[invincible]

Lol I think a lot of things have already been checked before this release. Will be interesting to see what else is in the list though.

I'll be interested to find out how many domain names you find are added to your list of currently registered domain names within the various *.uk extensions. I'm sure you will also have a list of previously registered but currently available to register domain names too.

 

[RobM]

Well should be another 3 million or so from what nominet said. God knows what they are that's why it'll be interesting to see.

 

[ian]

Well should be another 3 million or so from what nominet said. God knows what they are that's why it'll be interesting to see.

Quite a few decent (almost premium) domains don't appear on your list, but looks like Nominet are about to blow this wide open.
Will the list include registrar tags? I seem to recall the alternative method of checking an entire portfolio cost a significant amount, but maybe this would eradicate that?