.ch WHOIS Lookup
Switzerland's .ch extension is run by SWITCH, whose WHOIS server does not answer general queries. Here is what a .ch lookup can show and what it cannot.
- 1,494 extensions
- IANA 1601 ICANN accredited
- 2 protocols — RDAP and WHOIS
Your IP address
.ch WHOIS Lookup: The Answer Policy of SWITCH
.ch is the country code extension of Switzerland. It entered the root zone on 20 May 1987, and its registry is SWITCH, the Swiss education and research network. IANA lists whois.nic.ch as the WHOIS server, but that server hands out no registration data on port 43. Its entire reply is a single line, Requests of this client are not permitted, which sends queries to the web lookup at nic.ch.
Because of this refusal, a .ch lookup cannot show the holder, the registrar, the name servers on record or any registration or expiry date. The same line comes back for every .ch name, whether it is registered or free. The DNS side stays open, because name servers, mail servers and other records are published in the DNS itself and can be read without asking the registry.
About the .ch extension
- Extension
- .ch
- WHOIS server
- whois.nic.ch
- RDAP endpoint
- This extension has no RDAP endpoint in the IANA bootstrap registry.
- Registry
- SWITCH, the Swiss education and research network
- In the root zone since
- 20 May 1987
- WHOIS reply
- One-line refusal, no registration fields
- RDAP
- No endpoint in IANA's bootstrap registry
- Last checked
- 12 August 2026
Looking for whether a name is still free, rather than who holds it? run a domain name search
WHOIS FAQ
What does 'requests of this client are not permitted' mean for .ch?
The message means that the .ch WHOIS server refuses to answer the system that sent the query. Nothing is wrong with the domain you entered, and the server itself is running. SWITCH does not open port 43 to general clients, so this is a standing rule and repeating the lookup later brings the same reply.
How can I find out who owns a .ch domain?
The holder of a .ch domain can be looked up only in the registry's web interface at nic.ch, the address named in the refusal. That interface is made for people using a browser. Since neither WHOIS nor RDAP returns .ch holder data, software that collects domain records automatically comes back empty for this extension.
Is there an RDAP service for .ch domains?
No, IANA's bootstrap registry lists no RDAP endpoint for SWITCH. Since 28 January 2025, RDAP has been the definitive source of registration data for generic extensions, while country code registries decide for themselves whether to offer it. For .ch that leaves no machine-readable channel at all, as the WHOIS server refuses queries too.
What can I still learn about a .ch domain without WHOIS?
You can still read the technical side of any .ch domain, because DNS is public. The DNS tab in the result resolves its name server, A, AAAA, MX and TXT records without contacting the registry. These show where the website is hosted and which provider receives its email. The holder's identity is not part of any DNS record.
Is the .ch zone signed with DNSSEC?
Yes, the .ch zone is signed with DNSSEC, and its DS record is published in the root zone. This holds for the extension as a whole and has nothing to do with WHOIS access. A signed zone does not make every .ch name signed as well; whether a single domain uses DNSSEC shows up in a DNS query, such as the one the DNS tab runs.
How does .ch WHOIS compare with .de and .at?
Of the three neighbouring registries, SWITCH is the only one whose WHOIS server returns no record data at all. DENIC answers for .de with four fields and keeps the holder private, while nic.at can show .at holders and technical contacts with full address blocks. To compare them, open the .de WHOIS lookup or the .at WHOIS lookup.