URL names in the uvm.edu domain

This policy discusses options for URL names in the uvm.edu domain for UVM departments and organizations; personal (individual faculty, staff and student) UVM Web sites; and non-UVM organizations sponsored by UVM departments.

In all cases, these three criteria apply:

  1. Names will be in good taste and will not diminish the UVM name.
  2. The use of externally provided DNS is not supported, may not function properly, and is discouraged. Purchasing names from a commercial organization (i.e., register.com) is not allowed. The use of a .com address implies COMmercial use which is against the UVM usage policy on "Commercial Use." A publicized, named host with "attractive" content may lead to high-traffic levels which interfere with network performance. Such interference is against the UVM usage policy on "Interfering with System Performance" and may result in a loss of network privileges. Rarely, there may be some legitimate purposes for external DNS provision. Contact ets@uvm.edu if you have questions, or read the DNS policy.
  3. Departments affiliated with the College of Medicine should contact the College of Medicine's Information Systems Department (COMIS) at 656-7300.

Naming Options for UVM Departmental and Organizational Web Pages/Sites on zoo.uvm.edu

UVM departments and organizations should maintain their Web sites under departmental accounts and not under those of individual staff, faculty or students. This practice enables more than one person in a department to access the account and also protects the department and preserves the Web site once an individual leaves the university.

Option #1: Default Name (With Tilde)

UVM's primary Web server is www.uvm.edu, on which UVM departments and organizations may publish pages. Following standard World Wide Web practices for Internet service providers (ISPs), UVM's default URL for zoo.uvm.edu account Web pages uses a tilde (~). Thus, the default URL for departments and organizations is:

http://www.uvm.edu/~acctname

where "acctname" is the 3-8-character login name for the zoo.uvm.edu account.

Option #2: Name Without Tilde

Officially recognized UVM departments and organizations on www.uvm.edu also may seek to drop the tilde from their URLs, changing from www.uvm.edu/~departmentalname to www.uvm.edu/departmentalname. Requests for such a change should be sent to the UVM Web Team at webteam@uvm.edu.

Departments hosting their Web pages on other servers also may be considered for this naming convention.

UVM has certain naming conventions for such URLs. In order to register a "no-tilde" (no ~) URL at UVM, the URL name must follow this standardization, in order to maintain consistency on the UVM Web site, to make URLs easier for Web users and to adhere to the university's broader Web strategy:

  1. Names should avoid using capital letters, spaces, hyphens, dashes, apostrophes, underscores or other non-alphabetical characters.
  2. Departmental and organizational URLs should reflect, as much as possible, the full name of the department or organization and avoid using the eight-characters-or-less user ID, unless it makes sense to do so, e.g.: www.uvm.edu/microbiology (instead of www.uvm.edu/microbio) and www.uvm.edu/english would make sense. In addition, we suggest you only use acronyms if they are readily understood by audiences inside and outside of UVM.
  3. Departments offering services marketed toward a more universal audience and reflecting not only departmental but university concerns should work with the Web Team to create an appropriate name. In such cases, the name should reflect university, not departmental concerns, e.g.: www.uvm.edu/news, instead of universitycommunications.uvm.edu; www.uvm.edu/calendar, instead of universitycommunications.uvm.edu/calendar.
  4. Name requests may be rejected in order to reserve them for university-wide use or to avoid confusion for users (in cases where the name could be misconstrued for other departmental, organizational or university-wide sites).
  5. Any name that might diminish UVM's academic mission or reputation may be rejected.

A Word about Virtual Domains

In order to build consistency on the UVM Web site and to minimize the impact on UVM's system programmers, the university does not create virtual domains, such as departmentname.uvm.edu, for existing servers.

For user-friendly URLs, it is suggested that departments and organizations use the "Name Without a Tilde" option and follow the suggested standardized naming process, above.

A Word about Departmental Servers

Departments seeking to run their own servers should contact dns@uvm.edu. An accepted server will be granted a single name, such as arabic.uvm.edu. Server names will be run by the Web Team to conform with UVM's naming conventions policy.

A Word about Subdomains

For UVM's policy on subdomains, see DNS policy.

Names for Personal Web Pages/Sites on zoo.uvm.edu

Users agree not to use uvm.edu personal webpages for the operation of private enterprises or for private fund-raising as required by the Computer, Communication and Network Technology Acceptable Use Policy (PDF). Content should also comply with applicable University policy including the Political Activities: Tax-Exempt Organization Restrictions (PDF).

Personal (individual faculty, staff and student) Web pages/sites on www.uvm.edu (zoo.uvm.edu) will remain www.uvm.edu/~yourname and are not eligible for any other naming options.

UVM departments and organizations are highly encouraged to maintain their Web sites under departmental accounts and not under those of individual staff, faculty or students. This practice enables more than one person in a department to access the account and also protects the department and preserves the Web site once an individual leaves the university.

Names for Professional or Non-Profit Organizational Web Sites Sponsored by UVM Departments

Occasionally, UVM may agree to provide a Web site for a professional or other non-profit organizations as a community service.*

To do so, the non-UVM organization:

  1. Needs a UVM department or organization to sponsor its Web site on zoo.uvm.edu as part of the UVM department's pages (or a separate zoo.uvm.edu account; see #3, below). The UVM department must submit the "Form to Sponsor a Professional or Non-Profit Organizational Web Site and/or zoo.uvm.edu Account."
  2. Must keep its site, via the UVM sponsor, on the www.uvm.edu server, in order to provide maximum security. All sites must be maintained by UVM employees or students; members of the non-UVM group should not be given access. If there is a compelling reason for the site to be maintained outside of www.uvm.edu, contact dns@uvm.edu. Such outside servers must abide by all of UVM's security regulations.
  3. If needed, the UVM department may sponsor a separate zoo.uvm.edu account for the professional or other non-profit organization. All such accounts ultimately must be approved by the director of Enterprise Technology Services (ETS). UVM reserves the right to discontinue support of such sponsored Web sites at any time for any reason.
  4. Needs approval of the sponsoring UVM's department/organization's chair, director or assignee.
  5. Needs to have a clear connection to UVM's academic mission.
  6. Should be prepared to cover costs if significant UVM resources are required.
  7. Cannot include partisan politics or commercial material on its UVM-provided site.
  8. Should include an acknowledgment that the Web space is provided by the University of Vermont, by adding a specified Web graphic, provided by UVM. To include this graphic, add the following HTML code in the body of your top Web page:

    <a href="http://www.uvm.edu"><img src="http://www.uvm.edu/www/images/sponsoredby.jpg" alt="This Web site is sponsored by The University of Vermont" border=0></a>

Naming Option

The address will be www.uvm.org/xxxxxxxxx (with xxxxxxxx as name of the organization). URL names will be run by the Web Team to conform with UVM's naming conventions policy.

Names must follow this standardization in order to maintain consistency on the UVM Web site, to make URLs easier for Web users and to adhere to the university's broader Web strategy:

  1. Names should avoid using capital letters, spaces, hyphens, dashes, apostrophes, underscores, or other non-alphabetical characters.
  2. Names should reflect, as much as possible, the full name of the organization and avoid using the eight-characters-or-less user ID, unless it makes sense to do so. In addition, we suggest you only use acronyms if they are readily understood by audiences.
  3. Name requests may be rejected in order to reserve names for university-wide use or to avoid confusion for users (in cases where the name could be misconstrued for other departmental, organizational or university-wide sites in the uvm.org or uvm.edu domains).
  4. Names that might diminish UVM's academic mission or reputation may be rejected.

UVM faculty, staff and students do not need to follow the above approval process to sponsor off-campus organizations on their personal Web sites. However, general UVM computer usage policy applies.