A number of institutions within the University manage their own mail domains, or manage a domain for a group or project that spans institutions. The traditional way to do this is for the Computer Officer at a particular institution to set up a dedicated mail server which then has to be maintained indefinitely. This approach has a number of advantages, including:
- Absolute control over the set of valid mail addresses and their behaviour.
- Close integration with any existing institution LAN services.
- Privacy of data.
On the other hand, managing a dedicated mail server involves a reasonable commitment in terms of time, energy and money on the part of an institution and its Computer Officer.
A Managed Mail Domain (MMD) provides a simple way for an institution to maintain a set of role aliases and 'friendly' email names for its permanent staff without the overhead of running its own mail server.
The system is not designed for domains that require very frequent alterations.
Availability
Managed mail domains are available to institutions within the university. They are also available to sub-institutions, established research groups, and groups and projects that span institutions. They are not available to private individuals or societies. Most MMDs are domains under cam.ac.uk. but they can also be used for other domains. For example, research projects that span institutions.
Before applying for a MMD institutions will need to have their own DNS name. Other groups will need to negotiate a name before applying for a MMD.
Alternative forms of cam.ac.uk domains
The name of a mail domain in cam.ac.uk, whether administered on a local server or by the mechanism described here, will normally correspond to the domain name of the institution in the IP Registration database. Mailing lists will normally incorporate this name but not always.
The Information Strategy and Services Syndicate will, under some circumstances, allow an institution which has been allocated a heavily abbreviated subdomain to use a longer, 'more descriptive' sub-domain alias in email addresses (and World Wide Web URLs) while maintaining the existing short name for day-to-day use. For example, quns.cam.ac.uk has the alternate long form queens.cam.ac.uk.
The UIS has a facility for domain-wide email address aliases, such that email to a user @queens.cam.ac.uk is redirected to the same user @quns.cam.ac.uk. The two domains support the same set of local parts, but the domains' managers do not have to keep them manually synchronised. Once the redirection is set up no further administration is required.
For more information about this facility, please email servicedesk@uis.cam.ac.uk.
Responsibilities
The mail domains managed using this system are subject to the same restrictions as any other mail domain as described in Rules for administering a mail domain.
The important points to note are:
- A reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that all those users that come under the administration which the name represents are registered in the domain's mail system. If the domain concerned is a college, then a reasonable attempt is interpreted as follows: all permanent staff of the college should be able to have mail addressed to them at the college, but it is not necessary to register any students.
-
In the event of a problem with incoming or outgoing mail from a mail domain, those who try to resolve such problems (which may be the user, or someone responsible for other mail domains) will expect to be able to communicate with a special mail id, postmaster. It is a requirement that there shall be a postmaster mailbox in each domain, and that suitable arrangements must be made for this mailbox to be regularly and frequently serviced, and responded to with a reasonable turnaround.
You can define postmaster as an alias in your domain. If you do not, mail sent to postmaster will be sent to all the registered managers for the domain. Other aliases that are defaulted in the same way if not explicitly defined are webmaster and abuse.
Applying for a managed mail domain
To apply for a managed mail domain, you must have an approved domain. You can find out how to request a new domain. Once you have an approved domain, you can complete the MMD application form.