MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
ACADEMIC OPERATING POLICY AND PROCEDURE
| MEMORANDUM TO: | All Holders of Mississippi State University Academic Operating Policy and Procedure Manual |
| DATE: | November, 2002 |
| SUBJECT: | AOP 30.05 – Internet Domain Names and Services at Mississippi State University |
Introduction
The Domain Name System (DNS) provides address mapping of a computer’s canonical name, e.g., mycomputer.myunit.msstate.edu, to the Internet Protocol (IP) address, e.g. 130.18.24.166, of the computer. Domain names are structured hierarchically so that a top-level domain may have several subdomains each of which may be further subdivided into additional subdomains. For example, the top-level domain name for Mississippi State University is registered as msstate.edu. In essence,
msstate.edu (or MsState.edu) is the "Internet identity" of Mississippi State University.
Various units within the university are assigned subdomains of the university’s top-level domain. For example, Computer Science and Engineering may have a subdomain identified as cse.msstate.edu and a particular computer within that subdomain might be identified (and addressed) as www.cse.msstate.edu. It is clear that as the network and network devices expand within the university, it is essential that the naming conventions and the organization of the name space be well managed. Like street names and addresses, these names are the manner in which resources on the network are addressed. Information Technology Services is the steward of the MSU campus network and serves as the manager of network issues such as naming and interfacing to the external world.
Administration of the university’s name space is via domain name servers, or nameservers. The presence of these servers eliminates the need for any department to deploy its own nameserver.
In addition to providing domain name service for the Mississippi State University domain (msstate.edu), the university does, under certain conditions, provide domain name service for non-university agencies, organizations and groups. The conditions for doing so are included in this policy.
Policy
The msstate.edu domain is reserved for official functions of Mississippi State University, and msstate.edu will be the top-level domain of all official university domains hosted on university-managed servers.
The name of a subdomain should be that of an organizational unit (department, college, center, etc.), e.g., cse.msstate.edu, a cross-unit project or program or group, e.g., instr-tech.msstate.edu, or an institutional service, e.g., oncampus.msstate.edu. All subdomain names must be approved by and registered with Information Technology Services. A complete list with descriptions will be maintained by ITS at http://www.its.msstate.edu/msstate-subdomains.
With certain restrictions, ITS will provide domain name service for domains outside of the MSU domain (msstate.edu). Such domains may be granted in the following cases:
 | Non-profit, non-commercial academic agencies, institutes, consortia, or programs affiliated with MSU (but not a component of MSU). |
| State of Mississippi governmental agencies, units, or programs. |
| Non-profit professional organizations associated with State of Mississippi agencies. |
| Non-profit professional organizations in which MSU faculty, staff, or students are involved in an official capacity. |
| Other public education entities, including museums and libraries. |
ITS will maintain a registry of all non-MSU domains being hosted within the MSU-allocated address space at http://www.its.msstate.edu/hosted-domains.
MSU is a state-funded educational institution and commercial or commerce-related sites will NOT be served by our nameservers.
Procedure
To request the establishment of an msstate.edu subdomain, the requesting party should send their request for the subdomain, to ITS using the subdomain request form (http://www.its.msstate.edu/subdomain-request-form). The request should be submitted or approved by the chief executive officer of the unit, program, or project.
Requests to provide domain names service for non-MSU domains must be submitted to ITS using the non-MSU domain request form (http://www.its.msstate.edu/domain-request-form). This request should be submitted or approved by an appropriate official of the organization or agency.
Requests to provide domain name service for non-MSU domains will be evaluated by ITS for appropriateness and usage levels. Such requests that are judged to be inappropriate or that require excessive resources will not be approved.
ITS will charge $50 per year for all non-MSU domains in addition to any applicable registration fees. Resource recovery charges will be added for sites which have an active domain name database or which generate a large amount of DNS traffic.
Review
This policy will be reviewed every four years (or whenever circumstances require a review) by the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs (APAA) with recommendations for revision presented to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
RESPONSIBILITIES
| Position | Section |
Year |
| Associate Provost for Academic Affairs | Review |
2010 |
30.05
12/01/06
For information about this policy, contact the responsible/reviewing department hyperlinked above.
