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Fourth Level Subdomains Under library.on.ca
Southern Ontario Library Service holds the domain library.on.ca on behalf of public libraries in Ontario.
Ontario libraries may find it desirable to advertise their website with 'library' and their municipality name in it. For example: http://www.jonesville.library.on.ca rather than http://www.zippytech.ca/~joneslib
Conditions:
Public libraries in Ontario can apply for administrative control (not ownership)
of the 4th level subdomain under library.on.ca for
their municipality (i.e. jonesville.library.on.ca) and designate
the ISP of their choice to host that subdomain. Keep in
mind that Internet Service Providers (ISP's) usually charge to
host a subdomain.
Ontario public library related agencies (i.e. ASPLO) can also apply for a subdomain. However, comercial companies cannot apply for a subdomain (i.e. jonesbuttoncompany.library.on.ca)
Occasionally there are limitations such as when municipalities share a name (i.e. Town of Jonesville and County of Jonesville). There may be ways around this such as delegating jonesville.county.library.on.ca.
If there have been incidents of egregious email spamming, mail relaying, or other kinds of internet abuse we reserve the right to withdraw the subdomain delegation until we are assured the necessary steps have been taken to prevent it. To date, we have not done this and would first bring it to the attention of the administrator of the subdomain and/or the library.
Registration:
Fourth level subdomains under library.on.ca cannot
be registered with the
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) <http://www.cira.ca>,
From CIRA: "CIRA does not handle subdomains beyond the level that is
registered with CIRA, be it a 2nd level, 3rd level or 4th level domain that is
registered with us. In the case of abcxyz.library.on.ca, we will not
accept this subdomain as a valid registration. As you have been doing with the
other library's subdomain, this is something that you can set up freely without
CIRA's intervention."
This is a service we provide for Ontario public libraries. We will not provide any letter transferring ownership of the subdomain to any other body than the Southern Ontario Library Service.
Fees:
Currently SOLS does not charge for this service. Your ISP may charge for hosting the
subdomain.
Procedure:
- Send a letter of authorization on library letterhead
signed by the Chief Librarian or the Systems
Librarian/Network Administrator to Southern Ontario
Library Service, Attention: Barbara Franchetto. Fax
it to 416 961-5122. It should be worded something
like this example.
"The Jonesville Public Library Board would like to request administrative control of the subdomain 'jonesville.library.on.ca'. We understand this does not constitute ownership of this subdomain for purposes of registration with CIRA.
We are designating Zippy Technologies as the Internet Service Provider that will host this subdomain. The technical contact there is Mary Brown. She can be reached at 905 555-2222 or by email at mbrown@zippyt.ca.
I understand that the Southern Ontario Library Service retains the right to withdraw the delegation of this subdomain at any time; this right shall not be exercised unreasonably"
- Your ISP should provide us with the names of the primary
and secondary nameservers that will host this subdomain
so we can make the necessary NS (nameserver) records in
our DNS (domain name system). It is not sufficient to provide just
a primary. They can also supply
the IP address of the nameservers but we do require the
names.
- Your ISP will make the Start of Authority (SOA) Records
in their DNS (also known as "setting up the
zone") and any other resource records (i.e.
mailserver (MX), virtual website, etc.)
- If you have arranged with SOLS to forward your email
(i.e. you use the email address
myname@jonesville.library.on.ca and we have an entry to
forward your email to your ISP) then we must coordinate
this so your mail does not begin to fail. Once the
subdomain is delegated all lookups for that subdomain
will refer to the new server and no longer the SOLS
server.
- Once the domain has been delegated your ISP has full
control of the resource records for that subdomain.
You should speak with them regarding concerns about your
website or email.
- The ISP must inform Southern Ontario Library Service by
email to
when they change the primary or secondary nameservers.
- Should you in future change your ISP you must send another letter authorizing the change and designating the new ISP.
The technical contact at SOLS is Gale Thompson. She can be reached at 1-800-387-5765, Extension 5103, or locally at 416-961-1669, Extension. 5103 or by email to .
Other Subdomains
Occasionally, a library wishes to register
"library.municipality.on.ca" with the Canadian Internet
Registration Authority (CIRA) (note "municipality name"
& "library" are reversed and
municipality.on.ca is not our domain). The CA Domain
Registrar used to require our permission for this. The new
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) may also require
this. Any Ontario public library may request us to send the
Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) a letter giving
permission to use 'library' as a subdomain of
municipality.on.ca (i.e. library.jonesville.on.ca).
NB This is not the same thing as delegating a 4th level subdomain under 'library.on.ca'. We reserve the right to make delegations under our domain.