Virtual Hosting on CWIS
Request Virtual Hosting on CWIS
Virtual Hosting on CWIS
Virtual Hosting Options
Top-Level URL Re-directs
Request Virtual Hosting on CWIS
"Virtual Hosting" refers to the practice of serving Web sites from CWIS (the Campus-Wide Information Server) which appear to be hosted elsewhere. For example, a site stored on CWIS at www.usc.edu/schools/xxx could be virtually hosted at xxx.usc.edu. The server displays the Web pages from the directory at www.usc.edu/schools/xxx as though they were stored at the non-existent server xxx.usc.edu. All of which is transparent to the Web user.
In order to preserve and promote USC's presence on the Internet, all domain names for USC entities, regardless of whether the domain is hosted from an ITS-maintained server or from another USC-owned computer, shall be in the format xxx.usc.edu. To facilitate the use of this format ITS permits registration of hosts with any currently unregistered name for the usc.edu domain via an online form (www.usc.edu/iprequest).
Virtual hosting is not necessary if a department wishes to set up its own Web server at xxx.usc.edu. So long as the hostname ("xxx") is available, it can be registered with ITS via an online form (www.usc.edu/iprequest) and begin serving Web documents immediately. Such a setup is of course subject to all other USC computing policies.
If a department wishes to host its site on CWIS (to make use of ITS's technical support and Web server expertise), and still wishes to maintain the domain name xxx.usc.edu, virtual hosting is necessary.
Virtual hosting on CWIS costs a one-time setup fee of $50, and can be requested via an online form. Virtually hosted domains are subject to ITS approval for adherence to USC computing policies.
(For information on hosting the site at www.usc.edu/xxx, which is free, please see Top-Level URL Re-directs below.)
Three options are available as uses for virtual hosting:
- Subdomains (
www.xxx.usc.edu) - Virtual Hosts (
xxx.usc.edu) - Non-Standard Domains (
www.xxx.org)
The distinctions among these options are outlined below:
Subdomains
Departments can request that their Web pages be hosted at a usc.edu subdomain such as www.xxx.usc.edu, which is available because USC owns a class B domain (128.125.xxx.xxx). Requesting departments must simply provide the desired domain as well as the document root* in the appropriate online form.
There is a one-time fee of $50 to setup a subdomain.
Virtual Hosts
Departments can request that their Web pages be hosted at a usc.edu subdomain such as xxx.usc.edu, which simply requires the mapping of that domain to the specified directory on CWIS. Requesting departments must simply provide the desired domain as well as the document root* in the appropriate online form.
Virtual hosts cost a one-time setup fee of $50.
Non-Standard Domains
In very specific cases, USC grants approval for campus departments or off-campus entities affiliated closely with USC groups. These requests must abide by the Non-Standard Domain Name Policies and be approved by USC's Information Council.
Approved non-standard domain names cost $50 per year whether implemented as a virtual host on CWIS or on another USC server.
* A document root is the path to the Web documents that a virtually hosted site should serve. For example, if a department's pages are stored at http://www.usc.edu/schools/xxx, the document root would be cwis:/www/dept/files/mysite.
A top-level URL re-direct is simply a line of code that tells the Web server where to re-direct a user who enters a certain Web address. For example, if a department's Web site exists at http://www.usc.edu/schools/department/fall2000/, this makes sense in the structure of USCweb, but it can be difficult for users to remember. The department may request a re-direct so that users entering
classes/xxxhttp://www.usc.edu/xxx will be automatically re-directed to the site's actual location. (Point your browser to http://www.usc.edu/its/virtualhost to see this functionality in action.)
Certain policies exist to ensure a fair and efficient distribution of top-level URL re-directs. Requests for re-directs must be approved by the USCweb Administrators for adherence to the structure of USCweb, as well as consideration of USC computing policies. Re-directs appear to the user to be a directory (that is, http://www.usc.edu/xxx, not http://www.usc.edu/xxx.html. As a result, for clarity and to ensure the working success of the re-direct, a URL re-direct will not be directed to a file (for example, http://www.usc.edu/schools/xxx.html). Users requesting a re-direct must be able to specify a directory to which they would like the Web server to point the user.
URL re-directs are free.
To request a top-level URL re-direct contact USCweb Administration.
Last updated: Monday, October 15, 2007, 15:04PM PDT