In this brief article, we will cover how to set up WHOIS and RDAP - Domain Lookup Expiry checks, which monitor the domain registration and expiration period of a URL. An alert is sent prior to the domain registration expiring, OR if the domain registration (WHOIS and RDAP) information has been modified.
Every website domain must be registered, with an established expiration date of typically one year. The Uptime.com WHOIS and RDAP Checks are designed to catch this expiration date, either by a user-defined number of days or by a default time period of 20 days.
Additionally, the WHOIS Check auto-generates WHOIS information from your domain. The WHOIS checks will then detect any change in the current information registered with Uptime.com (which can be used to prevent hackers from hijacking your domain).
The RDAP Check has the same purpose as the WHOIS check.
- Adding Your First Whois - Domain Lookup Expiry Check
- Adding Your First RDAP - Domain Lookup Expiry Check
- Troubleshooting WHOIS Downtime
- Finalizing Your Check
- Future Functionality
Adding Your First WHOIS- Domain Lookup Expiry Check
To add a new WHOIS Check, click Monitoring, and then Add New Check.
Select WHOIS/Domain Expiry from the Check Type drop down menu.
Name your check and assign any contacts that will receive alerts. The WHOIS Check type monitors once every 24 hours.
Finally, enter the URL you wish to monitor into the URL field, and click Refresh to populate the WHOIS Info for that URL:
Use the Before Expiry field to define a threshold of the number of days until expiry before the check will alert you.
Please Note: The Response Time column for WHOIS will be displayed as Expires: [VALUE] days on both dashboards and status pages.
Create a WHOIS Check with the Uptime.com API
Here is a cURL request to the POST endpoint to add a WHOIS Check using the default contact:
curl -X 'POST' \
'https://uptime.com/api/v1/checks/add-whois/' \
-H 'Authorization: Token USERTOKENHERE' \
-H 'accept: application/json' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"name": "NAME",
"contact_groups": [
"Default"
],
"locations": [
"AUTO"
],
"tags": [
],
"is_paused": true,
"msp_address": "URL.com",
"msp_expect_string": "expires: YYYY-MM-DD nameservers: ns1.MYNS.com,ns2.MYNS.com,ns3.MYNS.com,ns4.MYNS.com registrar: MY REGISTRAR.",
"msp_threshold": 20,
"msp_num_retries": 2,
"msp_uptime_sla": "0.99",
"msp_notes": "Created with the Uptime.com API"
}'To use the above cURL command, fill in the check’s name in the NAME parameter and the URL to monitor in the msp_address parameter. You will also need to enter the Expect String to verify WHOIS details.
Note that is_paused in this example is set to TRUE, which indicates this check will be paused upon creation.
Adding Your First RDAP - Domain Lookup Expiry Check
To add a new RDAP Check, click Monitoring, and then Add New.
Name your check and assign any contacts that will receive alerts. The RDAP Check type monitors once every 24 hours.
Finally, enter the URL you wish to monitor into the URL field, and click Refresh to populate the RDAP Info for that URL:
Use the Before Expiry field to define a threshold of the number of days until expiry before the check will alert you.
Please Note: The Response Time column for RDAP will be displayed as Expires: [VALUE] days on both dashboards and status pages.
Create a RDAP Check with the Uptime.com API
Here is a cURL request to the POST endpoint to add a RDAP Check using the default contact:
curl -X 'POST' \
'https://uptime.com/api/v1/checks/add-rdap/' \
-H 'Authorization: Token USERTOKENHERE' \
-H 'accept: application/json' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '{
"name": "NAME",
"contact_groups": [
"Default"
],
"locations": [
"AUTO"
],
"tags": [
],
"is_paused": true,
"msp_address": "URL.com",
"msp_expect_string": "expires: YYYY-MM-DD nameservers: ns1.MYNS.com,ns2.MYNS.com,ns3.MYNS.com,ns4.MYNS.com registrar: MY REGISTRAR.",
"msp_threshold": 20,
"msp_num_retries": 2,
"msp_uptime_sla": "0.99",
"msp_notes": "Created with the Uptime.com API"
}'
To use the above cURL command, fill in the check’s name in the NAME parameter and the URL to monitor in the msp_address parameter. You will also need to enter the Expect String to verify rdap details.
Note that is_paused in this example is set to TRUE, which indicates this check will be paused upon creation.
Troubleshooting WHOIS Downtime
The WHOIS and RDAP Checks occur once every 24 hours, unlike other Uptime.com checks that can occur minute-by-minute.
Uptime.com will send a downtime alert with either the date of expiry or the WHOIS and RDAP information changes Uptime.com recorded.
First, confirm that your domain registration is available for your Top Level Domain (TLD) or subdomain. Then confirm that your domain is not set to expire within your check’s defined threshold
Next, check that your WHOIS or RDAP information is consistent with what Uptime.com expects to see. Occasionally, a registrar will change business entities or names. Confirm the change with your registrar, then click the Refresh button below your WHOIS or RDAP Info to refresh this information and resume the Check.
Failed Checks
When a WHOIS or RDAP Domain Lookup Expiry check fails, the contact will receive an email like the example below that highlights the server being checked, date, time, location, and the number of days until the WHOIS or RDAP Domain info will expire.
The example below depicts a failure notice:
Finalizing Your Check
Before you finalize your check, click Run Test to verify your settings are returning the expected results. Only the Default Test Server is available for this check type’s testing. We also recommend using Run Test when your check is DOWN, and you have applied some change that should return the check to UP status.
The check will return to UP status 24 hours after the alert was issued, assuming the test is successful and no other issues are detected.
It’s helpful to familiarize yourself with our Field Explanation support article for a more detailed breakdown of the terminology you might encounter using the tool.
Future Functionality
The WHOIS and RDAP checks have the same purpose, however, it will become the WHOIS successor and will come with more capabilities than the WHOIS check
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