Purpose
This message documents the CLAS IT naming conventions for user accounts, mailing lists, mailing aliases, computer names, and web sites. Other campus systems may employ different conventions.
Policy
User Accounts
CLAS IT user account names should match their Gatorlink user names. It may be up to sixteen characters in length, must begin with a letter, and consist of letters and numbers. It may contain a period. The username is often chosen to be part of your name. We recommend you choose a username appropriate for both personal and professional use.
For compatability with older systems, we recommend choosing an account name with eight characters or less. Usernames based on the individual’s job/position (ie, ‘collegedean’) are not appropriate. This functionality may be provided via a mailing alias.
Mailing Lists
CLAS IT provides unit mailing lists via UF Exchange distribution lists. Mailing lists for non-UF email accounts may be provided via the UF ListServ.
Exchange distribution lists have two names:
- An Exchange Display Name.
- An SMTP address
The Display Name consists of letters, numbers, spaces, and hyphens. The name will begin with “. CLAS-” to distinguish it as within the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, then the unit’s name (or acronym, if appropriate). The remainder of the name will uniquely identify the list’s purpose within the unit.
The SMTP address consists of letters, numbers, and hyphens, and is appended with @mail.ufl.edu. It is based upon the Display Name, but may employ standard contractions for the unit name and/or purpose.
Example of Distribution Lists
| Display Name | Mailing List |
|---|---|
| . CLAS-Anthropology-Faculty | clas-anthro-faculty@mail.ufl.edu |
| . CLAS-Office Managers | clas-office-managers@mail.ufl.edu |
Mailing Aliases
When a unit requires a “generic” email contact for publication (either hard-copy or on the web), CLAS IT can provide a mailing alias. These mailing aliases are usually created to provide generic contact addresses based on job function or title. Like mailing lists, there is no restriction on name length, and any alpha-numeric characters and/or the hyphen (-) are allowed.
A unit may request a name within the Gatorlink (alias-name@ufl.edu) namespace from the UF Help Desk. Once the name is approved, we will create a UF Exchange mailing alias accordingly.
Web Sites
UF Policy dictates that any University-affiliated web site should be advertised within the ufl.edu name-space. CLASnet maintains DNS names for many college departments and larger centers. All other units’ web sites should be hosted within their departments (ie, www.dept.ufl.edu/unit).
Exceptions must be approved by the CLAS Director of Information Technologies and by the UF Office of Public Relations.