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The existing quasi-policy on this dates from
Outside DNS Entries Pointing into UO Network Address Blocks Prohibited
http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/spring2001/dnsprobs.html
Jon Miyake
The text of that article is:
The University of Oregon uses IP addresses in the 128.223.0.0/16 netblock, and provides forward and reverse domain name service
for those addresses from several name servers.
Domain name service allows symbolic host names (e.g., darkwing.uoregon.edu) to be translated into numeric IP addresses
(such as 128.223.142.13). As you might expect, reverse domain
name services do the opposite, allowing numeric IP addresses to
be resolved into symbolic host names.
Users who want to register a host name in the uoregon.edu domain
customarily do so by filling out a form provided by Network Services
(http://ns.uoregon.edu/get_connected/ip_request.html) At the time a
host is registered, a static IP address is issued.
Occasionally, we encounter users who have registered a
non-uoregon.edu domain name against an address from the
University of Oregon’s address block (128.223.0.0/16). Unless
prior written authorization from the Computing Center has been
obtained for such a registration, this is not permitted.
Problems in this area seem to arise most often in conjunction
with so-called dynamic DNS services such as dyndns.org, yi.org,
or myip.org, which attempt to make DHCP’d (temporarily assigned)
addresses act like static addresses, which they are not.
The other time we commonly see DNS-related problems is when an
organization attempts to register a new non-uoregon.edu domain,
and the organization then attempts to “park” that non-uoregon.edu
domain within the university’s netblock. Again, unless prior
permission has been obtained, this is not allowed (regardless of
whether the domain to be parked is a .com domain name, a .org
domain name, or something else). The controlling issue here is,
as noted in the Addendum to the University’s Acceptable Use
Policy, that:
“It is inappropriate for any third party organization’s primary
Web pages to be served from a University Web server, even if
such pages are offered on a volunteer basis without remuneration
and with no commercial content thereon; exceptions to this policy
need to be approved by the University.”
If you have any questions about either of these domain name issues,
feel free to contact Jon Miyake at miyake@oregon.uoregon.edu
Discussion
The main issues with atypical domain name usage are as follows:
—If a security or acceptable use issue arises, Internet users
attempt to determine who to contact by inspecting the IP address
or domain name they observed. If uoregon.edu addresses are used
in conjunction with 128.223.0.0/16 addresses, complaints will go
to the appropriate place; if uoregon.edu addresses are used
with other IP address space, or if UO’s address space gets used
for non-uoregon.edu domain names, that may not continue to be true.
—Some facilities, such as UO’s search engine, index and search
only pages in uoregon.edu—other UO-affiliated pages, even if
created by a UO unit in a UO-approved non-uoregon.edu domain, do
not show up in UO’s search engine. (We could purchase a Google
appliance that would index and search arbitrary domains of our
choice, but that’s comparatively expensive)
—Users are increasingly worried about spam, malware, phishing
and other online threats. There is value, and trust, in the
uoregon.edu “brand” while a non-standard brand may have no such
accrued reputation/trust.
—uoregon.edu domain names are created with UO name servers;
non-uoregon.edu domain name may be created with non-UO name
servers. The extent to which those non-UO name servers may be
reliable, secure, etc., will potentially vary from site to
site in ways that may reduce the availability of that site.
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