What is a registry?

A registry maintains registrations and delegation data for a top-level domain such as .com or .jp. The IANA Root Zone Database identifies the responsible organizations.

Relationship to RDAP and WHOIS

Domain RDAP uses the IANA bootstrap registry to locate an official endpoint for the top-level domain. Only TLDs without RDAP may use a fixed official registry WHOIS adapter; NetKarte never turns user input into an arbitrary endpoint.

Registry and registrar

The registry operates the database; registrars accept registration requests from users. NetKarte presents these roles separately.

Registration infrastructure is not the website operator

Enter the domain in Domain Information Lookup, complete verification, and search. In the source details, check Registry, the RDAP/WHOIS source, and the source server. A Registry name is omitted when unavailable.

A registry operates registration infrastructure, not necessarily website content or hosting. Many unrelated sites can share a TLD and registry.

Read the source service separately from the registrar in NetKarte. Do not infer a legal organization's name solely from an RDAP server hostname; consult IANA's Root Zone Database for the responsible TLD organization.

A retrieval error means the query did not complete, not that the domain is unregistered. For registration changes, normally start with your contracted provider.