URLs and Domain Names

The issue of Web site names (URLs, or the title that appears in the "address" bar of a Web browser) is increasingly important as COE work to establish a cohesive and professional Web presence for their official Web sites. The URL of the primary COE Web site is www.eng.auburn.edu.

In order to promote a unified identity and to provide comprehensive searching and traffic analysis capabilities, all official sites must be hosted on COE servers and must have URLs in the www.eng.auburn.edu. Exceptions may be granted in cases where the local servers cannot meet the needs for a particular project. The leaders of the communications and IT departments are jointly empowered to approve requests for exceptions.

The URL of official Web pages must directly and succinctly reflect the name of the department, unit, or program, and it should be in the format www.eng.auburn.edu/entity; where "entity" is the name of the department, unit or program represented by the page. The Communications and Marketing department, in consultation with Engineering Network Services, will provide assistance with naming and establishing your page's URL and associated directory.

Custom, aliased, or vanity, domains are defined as Web addresses used to market a particular program or project for which an official URL already exists within the www.eng.auburn.edu. In the interest of promoting a unified identity, a vanity domain that is used as a marketing tool must resolve to a www.eng.auburn.edu URL.

Domain names for Web sites that are co-sponsored by other organizations or agencies are not considered to be vanity domains and are not required to resolve to another URL. For projects that partner with other agencies (e.g. www.ncat.us partners with the National Asphalt Pavement Association), the vanity URL may be used, but the Web page must clearly indicate COE involvement. Logo use must follow the rules prescribed in using AU/COE Logos and Wordmarks.

Requests for vanity domains must be approved and coordinated with Engineering Network Services prior to registering the domain. Engineering Network Services will purchase the domain on behalf of the end-user or project and will configure it to function properly with COE servers. The end-user or project is responsible for bearing the cost of registering the domain. Domains that are registered without consulting Engineering Network Services in advance may not operate properly with COE servers.