Domain Management on Upsonar Blog

Why .dev, .app, .page (and 40+ Other TLDs) Don't Respond to WHOIS

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I was building upsonar.io — it monitors uptime, SSL certificates, and domain expiration. When I got to domain expiry alerts, I hit a wall.

Checked .com, .org, .net — worked fine. Then I tried google.dev.

Connection refused.

The investigation

First thought: maybe Google blocks WHOIS queries for their domains? Let me check the WHOIS server for .dev:

$ whois -h whois.iana.org dev

Output (trimmed):

domain: DEV
organisation: Charleston Road Registry Inc.
...
whois:

status: ACTIVE
remarks: Registration information: https://www.registry.google

See that empty whois: field? There’s no WHOIS server for .dev at all.

What Happens When Your Domain Expires (And How to Prevent It)

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Your domain is the foundation of your online presence. Every page, every email, every API endpoint depends on it. When it expires, everything stops — instantly.

Yet thousands of domains expire every day, often belonging to active businesses that simply forgot to renew. Here’s exactly what happens, day by day, and how to make sure it never happens to you.

The Domain Expiration Timeline

Day 0: Expiration Date

The moment your domain registration expires:

Domain Expiration Monitoring: The Complete Guide

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Domain expiration monitoring is the practice of regularly checking when your domains expire and alerting you before they lapse. It sounds simple, but the consequences of getting it wrong are severe — complete website downtime, lost email, damaged SEO, and potentially losing your domain to squatters.

This guide covers everything you need to know about monitoring domain expiration effectively.

Why You Need Domain Expiration Monitoring

Most domain owners assume their registrar handles everything. In reality:

WHOIS vs RDAP: The Future of Domain Lookups

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

For over 40 years, WHOIS has been the go-to protocol for looking up domain registration data. But it’s showing its age. RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the modern replacement that ICANN has been rolling out since 2019.

If you manage domains, monitor domain expiration, or work with DNS infrastructure, here’s what you need to know about both protocols.

The Short Version

Feature	WHOIS	RDAP
Created	1982	2015 (RFC 7480-7484)
Response format	Free-form text	Structured JSON
Authentication	None	Optional (tiered access)
Standardization	Informal	IETF standards (RFC)
HTTPS support	No (port 43, plain text)	Yes (HTTPS by default)
Internationalization	Limited	Full Unicode support
Server discovery	Manual / hardcoded	IANA bootstrap registry
Status	Being phased out	Replacing WHOIS

For everyday domain checks, both give you the same essential information: registration dates, expiry date, registrar, name servers, and status codes.