Domain Hosting

If you are require a site for dissemination of information relating to a research project or conference, please refer to the information on the relevant service.

For multi-institutional projects however, it may be appropriate to host a web site which has a URL of the form www.name.org.uk, www.name.com, etc.

Please note that this service is only available to staff at Newcastle University.

Guidelines

  • In all cases the primary purpose of the site must not be for profit, and it must be relevant to the University's business.
  • In all cases the content of the site must conform with ISS rules, the acceptable use of the host network and with UK legislation (in particular the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988 and the Data Protection Act).
  • Sites within the .ac.uk domain are sanctioned by UKERNA, who publish guidelines as to what is permissible.

Considerations Before Applying

Before applying, please ensure that you have fully read the following points to ensure that your request is as complete and accurate as possible. This will avoid undue delays in the application process.

  • If the site is for School business, a virtual server is not appropriate. The content should be published as part of the main School site.
  • There should be significant University involvement in the project.
  • You must be able to provide full details of the purpose of the site. One line requests are likely to be returned for further information.
  • Your requested domain should be relevant and descriptive to the purpose of the site.

Registering for Domain Hosting

Please email webmaster@ncl.ac.uk with full details of your request including:

  • A contact name (a permanent member of staff).
  • A contact email address.
  • The purpose of the site.
  • Your preferred URL. If this is an external domain, then please indicate whether or not you have registered the name yet. Please note that we will not be responsible for any costs incurred in the prior registration of a domain name for a site which we are unable to host for any reason.

If your request is approved, you will be asked to complete a registration form for a Unix login id. This can be obtained from the IT Service Desk . It is not possible to use a personal id for this service.

Note that it takes around 24 hours before a Unix account becomes active and may take longer at the beginning of the academic year.

Once the Unix account has been set up, we will create a directory (folder) called public_html in your Unix file space to hold your web pages (if you have already set up this directory, it will remain unchanged), set the correct directory permissions and set up your web server.

Uploading Files

SFTP (not FTP) should be used to upload files. When completing your connection details, the host name to use is hostedpublishing.ncl.ac.uk.

All content hosted on the University web servers must adhere to the guidelines and rules of use.

Obtaining Domain Names

We do not offer specific advice on obtaining a domain name. When domain name registration ceased to be the monopoly of Internic (now known as Network Solutions), many registrars with varying prices and terms and conditions came into existence.

There could be potential problems with some providers; some may only register the name you want if you let them host your web site, others may end up owning the domain name, allowing you to use it but not allowing you to transfer the domain to another provider at a later date.

You may find the following useful.