Adding your Unix Machine to IU's Domain Name Services (DNS)

Before installing a new workstation, contact the UCS Network Operations Center or the local Network Administrator to receive an Internet Address to the workstation. A text hostname can also be added at this time. The hostname of a workstation should be greater than two characters. Some groups have a similar naming convention for machines, such as the trees or vegetables. The workstation name is a way to show your uniqueness or your interests: be creative.

A hostname is more than just the unique hostname such as bird, the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is the hostname with all the domain names added. The domain name for Indiana University is "indiana.edu." There will also be at least one sub-domain names, such as "chem", a finally the unique hostname. So a FQDN for the machine will be tomato.chem.indiana.edu.

The email address for the NOC is noc@indiana.edu, the telephone number is 855-4567.

It is important that Unix machines be added to DNS to be fully functional. The machines which provide DNS are reloaded once a night but it is recommended you contact the NOC well in advance of installation of your workstation.

Have them make sure that your workstation's name is placed in the name server both in its fully qualified form (e.g. --circus.ucs.indiana.edu) and with the host name (e.g. -- circus) as an alias.

Example of information the NOC will need:

     Hostname:circus.ucs.indiana.edu
     IP Address: 129.79.17.231
     ALIAS: circus
     OS type: SunOS 5.4
     Hardware: SparcStation 20/70 
     Name: Joe Schmo 
     Location: WCC 101.31