On Fri, Oct 13, 2006 at 10:37:33PM -0700, Eric Shubes wrote:
> You might also try to dig 'em:
> # dig az.us
> It will tell you if a name has an active DNS record, although the name could
> be registered w/out being active.
> Dig it? :)

Indeed. :)

Querying for SOA or NS records would be fine, except if the domain's
servers are down or otherwise unresponsive.

I actually just wrote a script for work which queries NS records, given
one domain per line of input.  The possibility that some name server was
down was acceptable for my purpose then (see how many of the domains we
have in our DNS servers can be deleted), but not so much for determining
if you can register the domain.  (Hmm... you also run into the situation
where the domain is expired, and therefore inactive, but not yet purged
from the registry and available for registration.)

-- 
Bill Jonas    *    bill@billjonas.com    *    http://www.billjonas.com/
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your front door.  You step
into the Road,  and if you don't keep your feet,  there  is  no knowing
where you might be swept off to."  --  Bilbo Baggins