Some Quick Facts

Shorter, more concise, and recognizable URLs are becoming more and more in demand across the entire Ohio State web community. Long, cumbersome URLs are visually unattractive, hard to remember, difficult to type in correctly, and reduce potential traffic, which in turn reduces overall visibility. To address this issue the Web Policy Committee opened up the domain space OSU.EDU for web site URLs.

When web usage at Ohio State was in its infancy, the naming structure of URLs was done in a matter-of-fact, “department_abbreviation.ohio-state.edu/specific_program” fashion. This document is an attempt to demonstrate some simple procedures for campus wide web server administrators to undertake that renaming process.

NAME.OSU.EDU URL Request Process

Requests for osu.edu domains should be made via the OCIO Self Service site.

For a new osu.edu URL: Order Services -> DNS Services -> NEW OSU.EDU CNAME or Zone

To move an existing osu.edu URL: Order Services -> DNS Services -> Add an Alias (CNAME)

For the “Current Web Server Hostname” or “TARGET” field put the following: webhosting-webnode-lb-731081414.us-east-2.elb.amazonaws.com

For the “Server IP Address” field put the following: 3 redundant dynamic IPs

Faculty, staff members or student organizations may select an osu.edu URL that is both descriptive and relevant to services provided by their web site.  It should also meet the following criteria:

a. URL is not already taken.
b. URL does not conflict with Ohio State branding goals.
c. URL does not include Faculty or Researcher Names
d. URL is not so general in nature as to confuse Ohio State web visitors.
e. URL is not used to merely “park” an address so that others cannot use the name.

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