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Domain Names ProceduresParent PolicyThe Domain Naming System (DNS) is a global hierarchical system for naming devices and services on the Internet. It provides a means for subdividing and delegating control of the name space and avoiding name clashes and ambiguity.
Domain Name Authorities issue Domain Names because Domain Names have important implications for communications and marketing on the Internet. Names that Monash seeks and uses are administered by several different naming authorities. Some Monash requests might be refused and some names may already be in use.
The various naming authorities each have their own different and elaborate requirements (technical, administrative, cost and substantiation) for Domain Name Registration. Some naming authorities require substantiation in considerable detail that Monash University is an appropriate organization to be granted a name within the name-space that they administer - i.e. that Monash University legitimately performs the type of business that the naming authority seeks to include in their domain name space. Hence there is considerable work (time, effort, money) in each individual name application. Authentication checks by those naming authorities that apply strict requirements have the effect, to some extent, of protecting Monash’s brand names. Conversely, some naming authorities impose minimal checks. It is in these spaces that Monash’s brand names might be at most risk. Monash University needs to carefully manage the names that are applied for and the priority order of application.
Different conventions are used in different countries. Hence, Monash requires different practices for each type of country in which it operates: #1. The USA, which does not use a country suffix - this format is also used by multi-national organizations such as Monash University, and organizations which do not want to tie their name or brand to any one country, e.g.: monash.edu #2. Countries (e.g. Australia) which use .edu. as an education sector category descriptor, e.g.: monash.edu.au #3. Countries (e.g. South Africa) which use .ac. as an academic sector category descriptor, e.g.: monash.ac.za #4. Countries (e.g. Sweden) which do not subdivide their country name-space into industry categories (i.e. no industry category field), e.g. (hypothetically): monash.se Definition of termsCIO: Chief Information Officer Regulations1. The scope of the Domain Name Policy and Procedures includes all of Monash University and the domain names employed by any part of Monash University including all related bodies and activities. The policy covers both the internal sub-domain (prefix) part and the external (suffix) part of a Domain Name or email address. Related bodies and activities include Monash controlled entities, grant-funded projects, Collaborative Research Centres, multi-institutional and other activities in which Monash Staff or Students are involved. 2. The Information Technology Services Division (ITS) is to provide the Domain Name Service (DNS) hosting facility for all Domain Names covered by this Policy and Procedures. 3. Domain Names and e-mail names are to conform to the Monash University Domain Name Plan, as articulated by these Procedures. ITS is to publicise these Procedures. These Procedures may be amended with the approval of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). 4. Domain Name Applications and Management expenses that are within the scope of this Policy may be charged for cost recovery purposes by the CIO or delegate. ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Applying for Names1. Applications for Domain Names may be made by completing the appropriate web-form located at http://www.its.monash.edu/staff/web/domain/ . 2. Specific exceptions to this policy will be considered upon application through the above process to the Chief Information Officer. ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Domain Names – General FormatThe overall format of a domain name is defined in IETF RFC 1034 and consists of a number of alphanumeric fields delimited by the period “.” character. There must be no embedded spaces or other reserved characters such as the at “@” character. The allowed characters are “0~9”, “A~Z”, “a~z” and “-”. The domain name is not case sensitive. The domain name is the basic building block for web addresses (URLs), email addresses and physical device and other service names, each of which are defined individually in later sections of these Procedures. A domain name consists of a prefix-part (sub-domain) which is administered internally by Monash ITS and a suffix-part, for which Monash must apply from external Domain Name Authorities. A typical domain name might have the following general format: servicename.orgunit.monash.edu.au ← prefix-part.suffix-part → (internal) (external) “sub-domain” “domain” The prefix and suffix parts are defined separately below. Unless otherwise noted, the same prefix-part should be able to be applied to any of the allowed suffix-parts, and give the same or equivalent result in each case. ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Principles1. Global name: Monash University shall maintain a global domain name in line with convention for multi-national organizations (as per #1 in preamble above). Motivation: To reflect Monash’s multi-national operations within Monash branding and marketing activities. Application: All Monash domain names and email addresses. Specifically, the following domain name suffix: 2. Local name: In each country Monash University operates, Monash shall maintain a domain name consistent with local convention in that country (as per #2, #3, #4 in preamble above). Motivation: Compatibility with local practice familiar in each country. Application: All Monash domain names and email addresses. Specifically, including the following domain name suffixes: 3. Org-unit: The Monash domain names are generally sub-divided by an org-unit prefix, which is generally the faculty, division or equivalent top-level group name. Application: Most Monash domain names and some special-purpose email addresses. 4. Specific purpose: Specific-purpose domain names that are not based on the ...monash.edu... form are allowed for and controlled by the Monash Domain Names Policy and Procedures. Application: Domain names and email addresses for specific projects or related entities that require distinctive branding separate from the common Monash brand. Examples: ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Domain Name suffixes1. Global form: The global form of all Monash domain names including email addresses shall be of the form: 2. Local form: The local form of a Monash domain name in a specific country shall be of the form: ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Physical device namesPhysical devices registered for use on the Monash network shall have names of the form: hostname.orgunit.suffix-part where: suffix-part must be the local country form because a device is registered in a specific country. Examples: myPC.its.monash.edu.au myPC.its.monash.ac.za ResponsibilityChief Information Officer World Wide Web (www) Uniform Resource Locator (url) namesWeb URL addresses conform to IETF RFC 1738. Monash web pages and web applications shall have URL names of the following form and shall comprise the allowed characters “0~9”, “a~z” and “-” plus the special reserved field delimiter characters “:”, “/” and period “.” and there must be no embedded spaces or other special characters such as “%”, “@” or underscore “_”. See also usage note 2 below. http{s}://{www.}{orgunit.}suffix-part{/topic} where: www. field is increasingly optional in current usage - see also usage note 1 below. orgunit (where present) is generally a faculty, division or equivalent top-level group name, or occasionally a service or function name suffix-part includes both the global and local country forms defined above, i.e. entering the country extension is optional for the end-user for globally applicable content. topic is an optional topic or service name. Where the web page or application requires secure (https) access, entering the “s” extension is optional for the end-user, i.e. the http form shall automatically redirect to the https address. Examples: monash.edu = Monash home page arts.monash.edu = Faculty of Arts landing page gippsland.monash.edu = Gippsland campus landing page my.monash.edu = my.monash portal home page monash.edu/about = a topic area immediately under the Monash home page monash.ac.za/contacts = a topic area specific to the South Africa campus Cases (summarized in Table 1), as appropriate for the specific content (i.e. as selected by the content developer): i. Universal: Web page or application is common to and identical in all countries: The global form is the actual service address; all local country addresses exist and automatically redirect to the global form address. ii. Customized: Web page or application exists in all countries but content is customized in each country: The local country forms are the actual addresses. The global form exists and presents the user with common information together with a mechanism to navigate to the relevant local country page. The relevant content developer/s (as listed in the “maintained by” field in the page footer) are responsible for ensuring that the navigation mechanism from the global form page exists and is kept up to date. iii. Local: Web page or application is specific to one country only. The local country form is the actual address. The global form of the address does not exist. Where web page authenticity is protected by digital certificates, any required redirects must occur without generating a certificate error, i.e. digital certificates (and similar authorizations) must cover both the global and relevant local country forms and the certificates must be browser-recognised for all services available to end-users.
Please Refer to Table One
Notes on usage. 1. Use of ‘www’ prefix Where ‘www’ is used as a domain suffix, this version shall redirect to the shorter version without the ‘www’. For example: www.monash.edu redirects to monash.edu 2. Folder and file-naming in URLs Web folders and filenames shall be named logically and consistently so that URLs read as a sensible string and may be guessed in simple cases. Folders and filenames must be in all lower-case and may only contain alphanumerics and hyphens. URLs must not contain underscores, percent signs, at signs, spaces or other special characters. For example: Correct URL Incorrect URL monash.edu/pubs/handbooks monash.edu/pubs/Handbooks 3. Top-level Monash URLs Top level folders on the main Monash website (monash.edu) are reserved for significant University functions and initiatives. Requests for top level folders should be made to the Executive Director Marketing via an email to webmaster@monash.edu.au ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Email addresses – staff (including HDR students)Email addresses conform to IETF RFC 5322 (section 3.4.1). The allowed characters are “0~9”, “A~Z”, “a~z” and “-” plus the special reserved field delimiter characters period “.” and at “@”. Email addresses are not case-sensitive. There must be no embedded spaces or other special characters. Monash staff email addresses shall be of the form: which normally equates to: For example: So as to empower HDR students to function as early career researchers (ECRs), all HDR candidates shall be allocated email addresses conforming to the staff format. Further details, variants, special cases and local country equivalences are described below. 1. Name variations and preferencesWhere people prefer to be known by a name other than their first name, e.g. by their second name or a nick‑name, the standard form becomes: For example: Where people prefer to be known by three (or more) names, these shall be of the form: NameA.NameB.NameC{...}@monash.edu such as: For example: A very tiny percentage (less than 0.01%) of people have only one name, these shall be of the form: For example: 2. Name clashesWhere there is a name clash, these shall be resolved by the insertion of a 3rd name, usually a middle initial or middle name: For example: Where a name clash involves someone whose preferred name is their second name, the name clash will be resolved by prefixing with a first initial or first name: For example: Where disambiguating a name clash cannot be resolved by any of the methods above and below, a numerical suffix N will be appended directly to the name, such as: For example: 2.1 Name clash resolution – Process detailsGiven the size of Monash, inevitably some staff have the same (two part) name. This leads to a small cohort of email name clashes. As a general procedure, if a staff member has been using the email address for more than 3 months, it remains allocated to them for the remainder of their time at Monash. This is to provide certainty to staff that their email address will not be moved to someone else due to a name clash emerging over time. In such case, the staff member who has more recently joined Monash will need to choose an alternative email address. The process for resolving name clashes shall be as follows: i. Explore alternative preferred names ii. Move to three-part names iii. When a clash emerges over time iv. When agreement cannot be reached 3. Local country equivalencesFor compatibility with local country conventions, the following synonyms (Table 2) shall in all cases be implemented. For each and every individual both the global and the relevant local country form shall exist and map to the same email account. 3.1 Local variant option for Malaysian campuses People from some specific cultural backgrounds prefer to be known by their Family Name, in which case the standard form becomes: Family.First{.Second}@monash.edu For example: ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Email addresses – otherThe following types of Monash email addresses shall be of the following forms: · Student email addresses: usercode@student.monash.edu · Fax addresses: phonenumber@fax.monash.edu.country · Email list names: orgunit-listname-L@monash.edu{.country} · Functions/services: orgunit-servicename@monash.edu{.country} · System administration: supervisor@orgunit.monash.edu{.country} · Physical server based addresses: usercode@server.orgunit.monash.edu.country · Exceptions will be determined on a case-by-case basis upon request to the Service Manager. ResponsibilityChief Information Officer Content Enquiries: Helen Pavlovski |