FAQs

The UBC Domain Registrar is a consortium consisting of members from UBC Public Affairs, UBC Legal and Community Relations, and UBC IT.

The UBC Domain Registrar is the responsible owner and final authority on all matters relating to the ubc.ca domain, its subdomains and the subsequent use of the subdomains. Your subdomain name must be approved by the ubc.ca domain registrar before it is used. If you devise further subdomains of your domain name, then you in turn will have final authority on matters relating to the use of those subdomains.

The UBC Domain Registrar is the final authority and the owner responsible for all matters relating to the ubc.ca domain and its subdomains.

Subdomains of ubc.ca are managed as follows:

• Authorized IT administrators are granted access to manage their respective subdomains using the myDNS management application ; or
• Management of the entire subdomain is delegated to the owner's domain name server.

Once your subdomain has been registered, please refer to the myDNS User Guide for details on how to manage your own domain name space.

Requests for additions or changes to a subdomain under ubc.ca should be made through your departmental IT administrator. Authorized departmental IT administrators may manage their respective ubc.ca subdomains in myDNS. If you do not have a departmental IT administrator please submit a service request for additions or changes.

To determine whether your unit qualifies for a third-level domain, refer to Requirements and Guidelines for UBC Subdomains and ask yourself these questions:

• Does my unit already have a third-level domain?
• Who provides funding for my unit?
• Which department do the members of my unit belong to?
• Who does my unit report to administratively?

UBC third-level domains are commonly created for faculties and schools .

Under myDNS, you are only able to create domain records (A, CNAME, MX) if the records point to IP addresses and other domain records that you are authorized to manage.

Only the UBC Domain Registrar is able to create domain records referencing IP addresses or other domain records outside of your administrative authority. If this is required, please submit a service request .

There are many benefits of registering your unit under the ubc.ca domain:

• ubc.ca subdomains are indexed with UBC's free Google search tool
• Including UBC in your domain will improve search engine optimization
• Promotes cohesive branding of the UBC brand
• Prevents domain hijacking and spoofing of domains by hackers and spammers
• More self-administrative control
• Subdomains are active within minutes on the UBC network
• Hosted in UBC's enterprise class data centre and supported by knowledgeable IT professionals
• UBC manages ubc.ca domains free of charge

DNS services are free of charge to the UBC community.

Non-ubc.ca subdomains are not permitted because they can be easily spoofed by unscrupulous individuals, especially when private data is collected or when online transactions are required. View the following article from The Wall Street Journal:

College Cries Foul Over a Copycat (Wall Street Journal) (or download the PDF version, 122 KB).

Any new ubc.ca subdomains will become available within minutes.

It may take more time for external networks, such as Telus and Shaw, to make these subdomains available.

Any modifications to ubc.ca subdomains and their related DNS records may take up to 12 hours to appear outside the UBC network. This time is dependent on when external service providers update their caches. If you are on the UBC network, your changes will appear within minutes.

Please contact your departmental IT administrator to find out if web hosting services are provided by your unit. Otherwise, UBC IT provides a variety of web hosting services to the UBC community.

• Choose a name or keyword that accurately describes your unit and is descriptive to the general public. Exercise caution in selecting your name.

  Visit this link for guidelines on choosing a domain name:
  How to Choose the Right Domain Name (or download the PDF version, 96KB)

  The following article demonstrates the importance of choosing your domain name carefully.
  Top 10 Worst Domain Names (or download the PDF version, 66 KB)

• Note that yourorg is a string that encodes the proper name of your organizational unit. Determining the string is a matter of establishing the organizational electronic identity of your organization for years to come. Discuss this within your organization especially with the person having authority for your organization's image. If an appropriate name is not immediately obvious, then try using the following steps to help narrow down a string:
• • Start with the full proper name by which your organization conducts its business, e.g., Department of Medical Genetics, UBC
    Remove all the blanks and references to UBC, e.g., DepartmentofMedicalGenetics
  • Remove any unnecessary components, e.g., Departmentof is removed, leaving, MedicalGenetics
  • If the name is excessively long, consider abbreviating while keeping it meaningful, e.g. MedGen
  • Choose a descriptive abbreviation of your organization's name, but try to avoid making it cryptic. The four-letter course code assigned to your unit for courses can be a good subdomain name.

• Avoid generic or ambiguous names.
• Use lower case letters, numbers or hyphens. Special characters such as @, #, !, &, *, are not permitted.
• Subdomains must be more than one character in length in accordance with ICANN guidelines, e.g., a.ubc.ca is not permitted.

It is essential that your choice be approved by the person in charge of your organization's corporate image. If you are in doubt about your choice, ask for suggestions.