IT & MCIS

DEFINITION OF STANDARD:
Domain Name Service (DNS) provides an online fundamental directory of a host distributed database that is primarily responsible for translating names into IP addresses, or IP addresses into names and providing best-path information for mail services. The most common application is in accessing Internet resources by name.

RATIONALE:
Domain/Names should be deployed with the following guidelines in order to maintain consistency, ease of use and general naming strategies.

PUBLICATION DATE: 1/28/00
REVIEW CYCLE: Six Months
EFFECTIVE DATE: July 5, 2003
REVISION DATE: January 5, 2001
RESPONSIBLE CONTACT: Robert Lee, NEMOC

Approved Standard(s):

Enterprise Naming Standards:
1. Host names will be eight characters or less in length. This will facilitate ease of use and will help meet NETBIOS naming conventions.

2. Host names for non-NETBIOS automated services or resources may be more than eight characters in length if needed.

3. Domain names will be abbreviated to minimize length.

4. Domain names will be seven characters or less in length.

5. Valid host name and domain name characters are: "A-Z"; valid numbers "0-9" ; and Hyphens "-".

6. Underscores "_" are not Internet supported, but can be used for local resources in special cases.

7. Domains/Names of an offensive nature in any spoken language are unacceptable

Enterprise requirements:
1. All DNS names within the UKY.EDU namespace will be submitted for approval and creation by the UK Network Engineering, Maintenance and Operations Center (NEMOC).

2. Exceptions to Domain name and Host name guidelines above are subject to approval by NEMOC. Written justification for the exception is required for NEMOC to consider the request.

Related Standards Adopted:
Related RFC's: RFC920, RFC819, RFC1627, RFC1597, RFC1537, RFC1536, RFC1101, RFC1035, RFC1034

Approved Product(s):
BIND 8.2.2p5

Justification:
Domain Name Servers require a consistent naming convention in order to guarantee uniqueness for all objects that are incorporated into the UKY namespace. Naming conventions are required to facilitate the use of Directory Service-based applications.

Technical and Implementation Considerations:
Scalability and cross-platform capabilities are important to a large enterprise. It is also important to use an Enterprise-wide DNS system to maintain flexibility as the Enterprise environment evolves. All DNS services must be capable of integrating into a single DNS integrated system that will provide DNS space synchronization.