Introduction

All a website needs to be accessible online is an IP address. However, IP addresses are made up of seemingly random strings of characters that are difficult for humans to memorise. Therefore, websites are usually given human-readable names like www.lrz.de. A so-called DNS record is necessary to map a human-readable website name to an IP address. This mapping is done by one of the many DNS servers found across the web.

The following conditions must be met so that your website is accessible online:

1. DNS records for the website name (and its aliases, if applicable) must exist (configured by LRZ DNS team).
2. The DNS records must point to the correct webserver daemon pool (configured by LRZ DNS team).
3. All website names must be configured on the webserver that delivers the website (configured by LRZ web hosting team).

Tasks 1 and 2 are handled by the LRZ DNS team, whereas the third action is done by the LRZ web hosting team.

How to obtain a domain name for your website

Choosing a website name

When choosing a domain name for your website, you will usually not have complete creative freedom, but will have to adhere to certain regulations set by your respective organisation. In addition, it is usually necessary for the names to be explicitly approved by your institution.

Special case: Website name using a non-standard domain

It is possible to use a domain name with a so-called non-standard domain, but please be aware that there will be a few hurdles to overcome:

• It will always have to be explicitly approved by your organisation.
• Obtaining a non-standard domain will take time and usually money. On the other hand, choosing a subdomain from the list of standard domains comes at no additional charge.
• Websites using one of our standard domains (see above) are automatically included in our collective security certificates. For non-standard domain websites, this has to be explicitly requested because the certification authority (in our case DFN PKI) has to approve of every non-standard domain name individually. Depending on the parties involved, this may take from two weeks up to several months. Read more on this here.

Creation of the DNS records

If your domain is hosted by an external provider or your local organisation (e.g. your faculty/school), please ask them to create the necessary DNS records or change them. In some cases, the DNS records will be created together with informing you about their approval, removing the need for you to explicitly ask for their creation.

If the above does not apply to your case, please contact the LRZ DNS team via the LRZ Servicedesk and send them the following information:

• Your (future) website's domain name and aliases (if applicable)
• Informal proof that the desired domain name has been approved (e.g. by forwarding the CIO's email)
• Organisation your website belongs to (LMU, TUM, or other organisation within the Münchner Wissenschaftsnetz/MWN)
• The web server pool's IP address that the domain name shall point to (see below)

If possible, the DNS record should be made in the form of an alias to the pool's CNAME (CNAME record). However, in some instances the pool's IP address has to be used instead of its CNAME (A record or AAAA record). For more technical background information see these three articles on Wikipedia: CNAME record, A record, and AAAA record.

IP addresses for our web server pools

The table below shows the CNAMEs and IP addresses (IPv4 and IPv6) of our web server daemon pools for our serviced web hosting service.