DNS Policy & Naming Guidelines

Introduction
The Domain Name System (DNS) maps Internet Protocol (IP) numeric addressing schemes to descriptive names, so that individuals browsing the Internet do not have to remember numeric addresses. iCIT is responsible for administering the UWW.EDU domain officially acquired by the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater. In this capacity, iCIT allocates, registers, arbitrates and maintains the "name space," guaranteeing best performance, fair use and compliance with DNS conventions and University of Wisconsin – Whitewater’s policies.

Name Servers
All domains using University resources must reside on iCIT's domain name servers. iCIT is responsible for the security, operation and maintenance for the University of Wisconsin - Whitewater network, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Departments, colleges and other university units are not allowed to setup their own domain name servers. Units that host their own servers must request domain names from iCIT, these names will be created and distributed on a case-by-case basis.

Other Domains
Support for other non-uww.edu domains will not be permitted. All hostnames for machines on the 140.146.x.x domain will reside in the uww.edu domain or sub domain. Users may not register their own domains for machines on the university network.

For an exception to this policy to be reviewed, the request must be initiated by the head of the requesting unit, using a UW-W e-mail address or departmental letterhead. Requests must include the following information:

  1. a description of the purpose, function and nature of the organization and proposed domain name/Web site;
  2. an explanation for how the organization and the Web site are tied to the mission of the university;
  3. an explanation of how the requestor is associated or affiliated with the university;
  4. affirmation that the request is not on behalf of a private business or commercial activity;
  5. contact information, including mail, e-mail and telephone, for both on- and off-campus locations; and
  6. agreement to terms and conditions for DNS hosting, and Web hosting if applicable, as established by the university.

Address requests for an exception to: icit@uww.edu or iCIT NOC

Domain Naming
Web site addresses shall be short, intuitive and consistent with site-wide naming conventions. Maintaining such consistency and intuitiveness is a service to our Web visitors - Web addresses are easier to communicate and easier to remember.

The committee will approve requests for variations on the uww.edu domain name only to, campus-wide services and major units, such as colleges, alumni, university library, camps, etc.

  • Preferred format: college.uww.edu/department/ or service.uww.edu/
  • Names will adequately, appropriately and uniquely describe the unit/content, while keeping the address as short as possible.
  • Do not use spaces or any special characters (e.g. #, %) and use all lowercase letters.
  • When necessary, use a hyphen to separate words.
  • Watch for inappropriate words within the address, especially when combining words, such as student(s) should not be shortened to “stud”, “std”, etc.

Requests for new domain names must be initiated by the head of the requesting unit, using a UW-W email address or departmental letterhead. Requests must include the following information:

  1. a description of the purpose and function of the proposed domain name/Web site;
  2. location or server where the domain name/Web site will reside;
  3. the proposed domain name of the service or unit and at least two alternate names in case of conflicting interests or existing names.

Address request to:
webmaster@uww.edu

or

iCIT Web Support
L1015 Andersen Library
800 W. Main St
Whitewater, WI 53190