Texas State Internet Domain Name
Policy UPPS No. 04.01.08
(NEW)
Issue No. 1
Effective Date: 11/06/2007
Review: April 1 E3Y
01.
POLICY
STATEMENTS
01.01
This
UPPS directs the assignment and administration of domain names, hostnames, and
top level folders at Texas State. Consistent adherence to this UPPS:
a.
assures
that all Texas State domain names are compliant with the rules, regulations, standards
and practices of EDUCAUSE (the registrar of the .edu Internet domain) and the Domain
Name System (DNS) employed by the global Internet community;
b.
promotes
consistency in the selection and naming of domains, hostnames, folders, and
other URL components;
c.
assures
that domain names associated with Texas State are a positive reflection on the
University; and
d.
maintains
clarity and reduces ambiguity for users of Texas State’s Internet-accessible
resources.
See
Attachment I for answers to frequently asked
questions and additional background regarding this policy.
01.02 Like
the global Domain Name System, the domain naming convention described in this
policy aligns domain names and hostnames with the University’s organizational structure
to eliminate duplicates, avoid conflicts, and minimize ambiguity. Consequently,
a hostname or top level folder must reflect the name of the responsible university
organizational unit (e. g., division, college, or department), unless an
exception is authorized under criteria described later in this policy.
01.03
Texas
State University has registered “txstate.edu” with EDUCAUSE as its second level
domain name. All official university web sites and services must be registered
within the Texas State domain (txstate.edu), including those of:
a.
divisions,
colleges, departments, and other operating units of the University;
b.
recognized
university organizations that host content on any server within the txstate.edu
domain; and
c.
individual
faculty or staff in the performance of official university functions.
01.04 As
an institution of higher learning, the University values and encourages the
open exchange of information. To that end, university entities (individuals,
groups, or organizational units) may register a web site or service under the txstate.edu
domain if that site or service:
a.
is
consistent with the entity’s role at the University;
b.
does
not detract from or impede the University’s mission; and
c.
complies
with all university policies, most specifically the policy regarding
Appropriate Use of Information Resources (see UPPS 04.01.07).
Sites
which fail to meet all of these criteria must be hosted outside the txstate.edu
domain.
01.05 Technology
Resources is responsible for implementation of this policy and will work with
organizational units and individual constituents to assure that domain names
and hostnames are compliant with this policy and effective depictions of the
site or service. Requests for specific names that are denied by the Assistant
Vice President for Technology Resources may be appealed to the Vice President
for Information Technology, whose decision is final.
02. DEFINITIONS
02.01 Domain
Name System (DNS): The Internet’s
address resolution system. The DNS makes
it possible to locate computers on the Internet by textual name, rather than by
the harder to remember strings of numbers that form an Internet Protocol (IP)
address. The DNS system consists of a network of specialized servers that resolve
(translate) textual domain names into their corresponding numeric IP addresses.
02.02 IP
Address: Internet Protocol Address. A
string of four numbers separated by periods (such as 111.22.3.444) used to
represent a computer on the Internet. The format of the address is specified by
the Internet Protocol in RFC 791. Most people use domain names instead, and the
resolution between domain names and IP addresses is handled by the Domain Name
System.
02.03 Uniform
Resource Locator (URL): The official name for an Internet address. The URL format
is:
protocol://hostname.second level domain.top level domain/top
level folder
In
http://www.library.txstate.edu/index.htm and http://eCommons.txstate.edu, for
example:
a.
‘http’
is the protocol
b.
‘www.library’
and ‘eCommons’ are the hostnames, respectively
c.
‘txstate’
is the second level domain
d.
‘edu’
is the top level domain and
e.
‘index’
is the top level folder.
03.
PROCECURES
FOR DOMAIN NAMES IN THE TXSTATE.EDU DOMAIN
03.01 The
University’s domain naming convention is designed to align with its
organizational structure to eliminate duplicates, avoid conflicts, and minimize
ambiguity. Consequently, a URL’s hostname and top level folder should reflect
the name of the responsible university organizational unit (e. g., division,
college, or department) and should be generally recognizable to visitors to the
university web site. Technology Resources (TR) will follow this convention when
working with organizational units to determine their hostnames and top level
folders. Examples of URL’s conforming to this convention include:
finearts.txstate.edu, library.txstate.edu, and www.txstate.edu/academicaffairs.
03.02 Technology
Resources may authorize exceptions for hostnames and top level folders within
the txstate.edu domain only if:
a.
the
proposed name does not require additional organizational qualification to
prevent confusion with other University sites or services
Example:
for a site depicting all the internship opportunities available through the
McCoy College of Business, ‘internships.mccoy.txstate.edu’ would be acceptable
whereas ‘internships.txstate.edu’ would not); and
b.
the
proposed name is unlikely to cause confusion with future University sites or
services that can reasonably be anticipated
Example:
‘research.txstate.edu’ would be acceptable as the hostname for the “gateway”
site for information related to research activities at Texas State, but it
would not be acceptable as the hostname for the research activities of a single
department or college, or for the departmental web site of the Office of
Sponsored Programs); and
c.
the
proposed name is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future; and
d.
if
at least one of the following additional conditions is also true:
1)
the
proposed name identifies a consortium of many different organizations from
inside or outside the University;
2)
the
proposed name identifies a center or institute that is not a department or
other university organizational unit (e. g., swrhc.txstate.edu, the Southwest
Regional Humanities Center);
3)
the
proposed name identifies a university-wide service that is not clearly
associated with any single department or unit (e. g., CatsWeb.txstate.edu, Tracs.txstate.edu,
BobcatMail.txstate.edu, eCommons.txstate.edu);
4)
the
proposed name identifies a service offered primarily to people or groups from
outside the University that are not familiar with a university’s internal
organizational structure.
All
such exceptions are subject to periodic review by Technology Resources to
determine if continuation of the exception is warranted.
03.03 All
txstate.edu web sites will be registered under two hostnames, one that includes
the “www” prefix and one that does not. Either can be designated as the primary
with the other always provided by Information Technology via a redirection
service. For example, http://catsweb.txstate.edu is the primary URL for CatsWeb
services, but those services are also reachable via http://www.catsweb.txstate.edu.
03.04 Hostnames
may reflect generally accepted Internet practices, such as ftp and www (e. g.,
the "www" in www.txstate.edu/registrar). At Texas State, a top level
folder name must match the non-generic portion of its related hostname. For example, http://registrar.txstate.edu, http://www.registrar.txstate.edu,
and http://www.txstate.edu/registrar must all resolve to the same web site.
03.05 Hostnames
and top level folder names may not exceed 63 characters in length and may not
include spaces or special characters.
03.06 Hostnames
should not have been trademarked or copyrighted by any entity other than Texas
State University-San Marcos. For example, Texas State’s implementation of the
Sakai learning management system has been branded TRACS with the hostname
tracs.txstate.edu rather than sakai.txstate.edu.
03.07 Hostnames
must not be controversial, offensive or misrepresent their purpose.
03.08 Hostnames
must operate as expected. Technology Resources will contact the registered
administrator or owner of any server that hosts a site or service that does not
respond appropriately to network connection requests. If the inappropriate condition
persists, Technology Resources may terminate the domain assignment.
03.09 Technology
Resources may revoke or deny domain name services at any time for any site or
service found to be in violation of legal statutes or the University’s
appropriate use policy for information resources (see UPPS 04.01.07, Appropriate Use of Information
Resources).
04.
PROCEDURES
FOR DOMAIN NAMES OUTSIDE THE TXSTATE.EDU DOMAIN
04.01 Technology
Resources may elect to provide domain name services (address translations,
re-directs, etc.) for sites or services hosted outside the txstate.edu domain
if, in its judgment, all of the following conditions are met:
a.
The
proposed site or service significantly supports University-related organizations
or functions;
b.
The
proposed site or service will likely be used by a significant number of
faculty, staff, or students;
c.
The
proposed hostname of the site or service is unlikely to be confused with that
of a Texas State organizational unit or with any existing hostname within the
txstate.edu domain; and
d.
The
administrator (i. e., VP, dean, director, chair) of any organizational unit with
which the hostname might otherwise be associated has explicitly approved the
use of the hostname on a host outside of txstate.edu.
e.
All
such requests will be considered by Technology Resources on a case-by-case
basis. Examples of previously approved requests include those for:
1)
the
hostname of a scholarly journal edited by Texas State faculty
2)
the
University’s outsourced Employment Application SYstem (EASY)
3)
the
Texas State Athletics website (texasstatebobcats.collegesports.com)
04.02 Technology
Resources may refuse to provide domain name services for any site or service
hosted outside the txstate.edu domain if the site or service signifies or
represents:
a.
an
organization or venture, commercial or noncommercial, that is not an explicit part
of the University, or
b.
a
project or activity that is funded primarily by non-university resources.
04.03 University
affiliates (e. g., alumni association, booster clubs, etc.) may register web
sites or services within the txstate.edu domain or outside of the txstate.edu
domain, consistent with other provisions of this policy.
04.04 Any
university-related web site or service that is registered outside of the
txstate.edu domain must be hosted on computers with IP addresses that are
outside of the txstate.edu domain. Stated somewhat differently - to be hosted
on a computer with a Texas State IP address, a web site or service must utilize
‘txstate’ as its second level domain name and ‘edu’ as its top level domain
name. Information Technology cannot guarantee and is not responsible for the
accessibility of any internet site or service with a Texas State IP address
that is registered under a domain other than txstate.edu.
To
facilitate compliance with this requirement, the administrator of the web site
or service must contact Technology Resources to coordinate associated domain
name services and IP routing configurations prior to requesting the domain name
and prior to configuring any services related to the domain name and its IP
address.
05.
REVIEWERS
OF THIS UPPS
05.01
Reviewers
of this UPPS include the following:
Position Date
Assistant Vice President for April 1 E3Y
Technology Resources
Special Assistant to the Vice
President April 1 E3Y
for Information Technology
Vice President for April 1
E3Y
Information Technology
06. CERTIFICATION STATEMENT
This
UPPS has been approved by the following individuals in their official
capacities and represents Texas State policy and procedure from the date of
this document until superseded.
Assistant
Vice President for Technology Resources; senior reviewer of this UPPS
Vice
President for Information Technology
President