Domain Name System (DNS) registration policy

K-State's Internet and World Wide Web Page Policy states:

KSU departments and student organizations registered with the Office of Student Activities and Services may register an Internet domain that represents an identifiable entity within that department or organization, such as an institute or research lab, or the student organization itself. Registration of all KSU Internet domains will be managed by a designee of the Vice Provost for Academic Services and Technology. Registration of personal domains, such as johnsmith.org, by individual faculty, staff, or students is not supported. Any domain representing a K-State entity is owned by the University unless specified otherwise in a contract or agreement, with the exception of domains for KSU affiliates such as the Alumni Association, KSU foundation, and Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

The Vice Provost designee referred to in the above paragraph is Information Technology Services. Registration of K-State Internet domains must therefore comply with the following ITS guidelines and procedures:

Notes:

• K-State affiliates, such as the KSU Foundation, Alumni Association, Student Publications, and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics are exempt from the following guidelines and procedures, but are encouraged to follow them.
• Exceptions to the following guidelines and procedures must be approved by the Vice Provost for Information Technology Services or designee.

Guidelines

K-State domain name

• All domain names and use of those domains must be consistent with the mission of the University, uphold the desired image of the institution, and follow all applicable policies, procedures, regulations, and local, state, and federal laws.
• The choice of the domain name and/or the use of that domain name (e.g., the website referenced by that domain name) should clearly identify the sponsoring entity's affiliation with Kansas State University.
• Third level domains under k-state.edu will only be assigned to recognized campus colleges, departments, or units (e.g., cns.k-state.edu, phys.k-state.edu, and humec.k-state.edu); enterprise services (e.g., www.k-state.edu, smtp.ksu.edu, and online.k-state.edu); or interdisciplinary programs affiliated with mulitiple departments (e.g., foodsci.k-state.edu).
• All domains ending in ksu.edu will also work with an ending of k-state.edu. For example, www.ksu.edu and www.k-state.edu can be used interchangeably and will reference the same resources.

Public domain name for your K-State organization

• All domain names and use of those domains must be consistent with the mission of the University, uphold the desired image of the institution, and follow all applicable policies, procedures, regulations, and local, state, and federal laws.
• The choice of the domain name and/or the use of that domain name (e.g., the website referenced by that domain name) should clearly identify the sponsoring entity's affiliation with Kansas State University.
• Rather than registering a separate domain name, such as biotechlab.org, consider using the form name.dept.k-state.edu (e.g., biotechlab.biology.k-state.edu). There are several advantages to this approach:
  1. there's no annual registration fee
  2. the affiliation with Kansas State University and the host department is evident in the name
  3. the affiliation with an institution of higher education is clear from the .edu TLD (as opposed to using the .org TLD that implies a non-profit organization/corporation).
• All three primary forms of a domain (.com, .org, and .net) should be registered to minimize name dilution, confusion, or conflicting use. For example, if you register the domain ksubiotechlab.org, you should also register ksubiotechlab.com and ksubiotechlab.net to prevent someone else from registering those domains and using them for a different purpose, or worse yet, a conflicting or controversial purpose.
• While registrants are encouraged to register all three primary forms of the domain (.com, .org, and .net), the .org form must be promoted as the official domain. For example, if a department registers ksubiotechlab.com, ksubiotechlab.org, and ksubiotechlab.net, the domain name ksubiotechlab.org should be printed on all communications such as pamphlets, webpages, business cards, etc.
• Try to register other related domain names to likewise minimize confusion. For example, if you register kstatecancerlab.org, you should also register k-statecancerlab.org (as well as .com and .net) and ksucancerlab.org.
• Personal domain names, such as johnsmith.org, cannot be hosted or supported on any system that uses K-State information technology resources in any manner, including use of the campus network and its Internet connection. This includes privately owned computers in the residence halls or campus offices.

Registration procedures

• Information Technology Services will register the domain(s) with a Domain Registrar.
• To initiate a request to purchase a domain, send e-mail to dns@k-state.edu. The following information is requested:
  • Name of domain
  • Brief description defining the domain's purpose
  • Sponsor of domain and affiliation with K-State
  • Domain content administrator and contact information: Name, address, phone, fax
  • Billing information if different from content administrator
  • IP address of domain
• ITS will pay the initial registration fee (approximately $9/domain/year as of August 2010) to the Domain Registrar and invoice the sponsoring department to recover costs. This fee pays for the first year of the domain(s).
• After the first year, on authorization from the sponsoring department, ITS will renew the annual registration and bill the sponsoring department.
• ITS must be the administrative and technical contact for the domain.
• The sponsoring department must provide the billing contact for the domain.
• Student organizations must use the faculty sponsor or sponsoring department as the billing contact.
• DNS services, e-mail services, and web-hosting services are available from ITS for registered domains.
• Student organizations that register a domain must use central K-State or departmental servers to host that domain (for the website, DNS, and e-mail service, for example).
• ITS will not register a domain that uses a server which has inadequate provisions for security and long-term support.