Note: This documentation is still in progress, not reviewed properly, and might contain some errors or outdated images. It's intended for the upcoming 4.0.0 release, so configuration settings might be different from previous versions.

RDAP Configuration

Overview

RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol) is the modern replacement for WHOIS. Poweradmin supports RDAP lookups for domain registration information with structured JSON responses and better internationalization support.

Configuration Options

RDAP settings can be configured in the config/settings.php file under the rdap section.

Setting Default Description
enabled false Enable RDAP lookup functionality
default_server '' Optional default RDAP server URL (empty to use server from RDAP database)
request_timeout 10 HTTP request timeout in seconds for RDAP queries
restrict_to_admin true Only allow administrators (user_is_ueberuser) to use RDAP functionality

Configuration Example

return [
    'rdap' => [
        'enabled' => true,
        'default_server' => 'https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/',
        'request_timeout' => 15,
        'restrict_to_admin' => true,
    ],
];

RDAP vs WHOIS

Feature WHOIS RDAP
Protocol Plain text JSON over HTTPS
Security No encryption HTTPS encryption
Internationalization Limited Full Unicode support
Machine readable No Yes
Rate limiting Basic Standardized
Authentication None OAuth2 support

Usage

When enabled, RDAP lookups provide:

  1. Structured data - JSON responses with consistent formatting
  2. Enhanced security - HTTPS-based queries
  3. Better performance - HTTP-based protocol with caching support
  4. Internationalization - Full Unicode domain support

Supported TLDs

RDAP supports lookups for:

  • All major gTLDs (.com, .net, .org, .info, etc.)
  • Many ccTLDs with RDAP servers
  • New gTLDs with RDAP implementation

Security Features

  • HTTPS encryption - All queries use encrypted connections
  • Admin restriction - Access limited to administrators by default
  • Rate limiting compliance - Respects RDAP server rate limits
  • Input validation - Domain names are validated before queries

Configuration Best Practices

Production Environment

'rdap' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'default_server' => '', // Use automatic server detection
    'request_timeout' => 30, // Longer timeout for reliability
    'restrict_to_admin' => true,
],

Development Environment

'rdap' => [
    'enabled' => true,
    'default_server' => 'https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/',
    'request_timeout' => 10,
    'restrict_to_admin' => false, // Allow all users for testing
],

RDAP Server Bootstrap

RDAP uses a bootstrap mechanism to determine the correct server for each TLD:

  1. Automatic detection - Queries IANA bootstrap registry
  2. Cached mappings - Server mappings are cached for performance
  3. Fallback servers - Default server used if bootstrap fails

Performance Optimization

  • Caching: RDAP responses can be cached
  • Connection pooling: Reuse HTTP connections
  • Timeout tuning: Balance between reliability and performance
  • Error handling: Graceful fallback to WHOIS if RDAP fails