This FAQ is limited to the Windows editions of Domain Name Analyzer.
- Installation
- Basic Operation
- Bulk Whois Lookups
- Simultaneous Connections
- Configuring Whois Servers
- Which Whois Server?
- Managing the Domain List
- Lookup Errors
- Printing Problems
Installation & Setup
I have a problem with installation
You can download Domain Name Analyzer without the installation option. Simply download and copy dna.exe into a directory and run it from there.
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Basic Operation
How does Domain Name Analyzer check domains for availability? Can I use my own whois proxy?
Domain Name Analyzer works by querying whois servers that listen in on port 43. This is the standard way of checking domain names. Domain Name Analyzer will not connect to the web based lookup tools provided by registrars. This is because
- This will make the software dependent on the output format of third party services.
- Registrars do not approve of software tools that connect to their web resources.
If you have your own proxy server that uses port 43, you can configure DNA to use it.
If you wish to know more about the whois service, please see our knowledge base articles on whois.
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Can I use Domain Name Analyzer for bulk lookups?
You can use Domain Name Analyzer to quickly lookup a large number of domains for availability.
You should be aware that most whois servers restrict the number of connections and lookups from a single computer. This means that you should be very careful while looking up a large number of domains at high speeds. Here is a useful article that deals with high speed lookups.
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What is the 'Maximum simultaneous connection' setting in the options dialog? Have you put a limit on the number of lookups?
There is no limit on the number of domains you may lookup.
The simultaneous connection limit was always present right from version 1.0. It simply means that DNA will make only the set number "simultaneous" connections to the whois server. If you make a list of 500 or 1000 domains, DNA will check all of them but will make sure that no more than the set number of connections are active at any time. This prevents flooding the whois server. The whois server owners (like Network Solutions) will not take kindly to thousands of DNA users making 500 connections each at the same time.
The number of simultaneous connections and the connection interval (interval the software will pause between the lookups) is very important. If you are not careful you could end up being banned by whois servers. So it is always better to set the number of connections low and connection interval high. Please read this article for more details.
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Can I configure the whois servers? Can I add other whois servers?
Yes, you can. Use the Lookup > Setup Domains menu option to do this.
To add support for a new TLD, click on the Add New TLD button once and then replace the xxx entry with the new TLD (eg: AERO) and the xxx.xx.xx with the new whois server (eg: whois.information.aero). Click Close and you are done.
To change the whois server for a specific TLD, click on the appropriate top level domain name in the list and then edit the entries in the boxes below. Click Close when you are done.
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Which is the best WHOIS server for COM, NET ORG domains?
You can try the following whois servers.
- whois.crsnic.net
- whois.internic.net
- whois.nsiregistry.net
Please note that the freeware Domain Name Analyzer is mainly meant for finding available domains and is not suitable for extracting owner information. However the more advanced Domain Name Analyzer Pro has options to accurately pull out ownership information, expiry dates etc. Please see our knowledge base for more details on how it is done for Com, Net and Org domains.
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I have selected a domain name by clicking on it. But the "Lookup Selected" toolbar button is still disabled. Why?
You may not have really selected any entry in the domain list. To select an entry you have to click on the check box on the left side so that a tick mark appears within it. This is different from highlighting an entry by clicking on it.
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I have created a list of domain names and then looked up all of them for availability. Now I want to remove all unavailable domain names from the list, but scrolling through the list and deleting each one is really difficult, Is there a better way?
Yes, there is. First sort the list according to the status by clicking on the status column header. All the unavailable domains will be grouped together after the sorting. Now use the 'select range' option to select only the unavailable domains. Confirm that only the unavailable domains are selected and then use the delete selected option to remove all unavailable domains.
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I get lots of errors while doing a lookup.
Domain Name Analyzer checks availability of domain names by simply connecting to a whois server and then sending a query to it. At times the whois server may not respond to queries. If this happens too often Domain Name Analyzer will stop retrying and display a too many errors message.
We some times get emails from users saying that the software used to work properly but suddenly has started showing too many errors. Please understand that most times this is nothing to do with the software. The problem is due to busy whois servers (very common whenever a large number of domains are about to expire), network connections or a whois lookup restriction at the whois server. Also please be aware that the most common reason is that too many people are looking up domain names creating heavy load at the whois server. These problems mostly go away after a few days.
Here are some suggestions that may be useful.
[1] The configured WHOIS server probably may not be responding or may be very busy. If the problem is for Com, Net or Org domains, you can try changing the whois server from the Lookup > Setup Domains menu. Try a different server from the list below. Also check if your Internet connection is fine. Some times this could be due to local problems at your ISP.
- whois.crsnic.net
- whois.internic.net
- whois.nsiregistry.net
[2] You may also get errors due to the WHOIS Server refusing to connect. This happens if you are submitting too many queries simultaneously. Use the Lookup > Options dialog to specify appropriate connection settings.
Important: Our strong suggestion is to set your connection interval to 12 or 15 seconds and number of simultaneous connections to just 1.
[3] If you are using DNA Pro and have enabled the Authoritative Whois Lookup option, the errors may be from a specific registrar. See if you are getting errors only for domains that are registered through some registrars (happens when the registrar's whois server is down). Try disabling the Authoritative Whois Lookup option temporarily to see if the problem goes away.
[4] As already mentioned else where you should also be aware that most whois servers restrict the number of connections and lookups from a single computer. This means that you should be very careful while looking up a large number of domains at high speeds. Please read this knowledge base article on the subject.
[5] The last possibility is that Domain Name Analyzer has encountered a whois record it is unable to interpret. This happens when a whois server makes changes to its output format. Simply send us a sample domain name that has the problem and we will fix this immediately.
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I am unable to check a domain again after successfully retrieving information from the WHOIS Server once. How can I check the domain again?
Right click on the domain name and choose "Reset Entry" to reset the domain registration information. Now click on the "Check Availability" button. You may also reset all selected entries using the "Lookup > Reset All Selected" menu option.
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I want to retrieve the email addresses of all administrative contacts, billing contacts, etc. from the records. Are there any options to do this?
No, we do not intend to provide such an option. It is against the policy. If you look at the whois results you will always see some thing similar to "By submitting a WHOIS query, you agree that you will use this Data only for lawful purposes and that, under no circumstances will you use this Data to: (1) allow, enable, or otherwise support the transmission of mass unsolicited, commercial advertising or solicitations via e-mail (spam); or (2) enable high volume, automated, electronic processes that apply to ..." and so on.
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When I print, there are some entries missing between pages!
Use the Lookup > Options menu item to specify the number of print entries per page.
