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OIT Helpline:
1-HELP on Campus
(612-301-4357)

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612-626-2000

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612-625-1355

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NTS > DNS

Domain Name Service

Domain Name Service (DNS) is a technology which translates domain names to IP addresses. It also lists mail exchange service for transferring e-mail.

.edu Domain Names

Request DNS Changes for domains ending in .umn.edu

Request DNS Changes for domains ending in washington.edu

.com .net .org Domain Names

DNS Requests for domains ending in .com, .net, .org, etc. are provided through alternate service providers. Customers may choose any vendor, however NTS recommends EasyDNS. NTS provides intervention support when applicable for customers who select EasyDNS.

Departmental DNS Management

NTS has cut over its IP management from QIP to an Infoblox appliance-based solution, using the Service Gateway as the user interface.

U of M Network Administrators need access to the Service Gateway in order to manage their own DNS. If your department is migrated to the Service Gateway, ask your department's primary contact to grant you access. If your department is not migrated, we plan to accept new requests for individual access to the Service Gateway after March 1. Until that time, use 1-HELP (612-301-4357) for whatever DNS changes you need.

IP Address Management Fequently Asked Questions

DHCP Configuration

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network protocol that enables a DHCP server to automatically assign an IP address to an individual computer, allowing you to move your computer from one DHCP-enabled location to another without reconfiguring it.

NTS has enabled DHCP services to several classrooms as well as wireless Access Points (AP) for use by people who have a laptop. In addition, all of the residence halls are configured for DHCP services in the student rooms.

DHCP provides a number of benefits for the University community:

• Users no longer need to manually configure their IP address. This is especially beneficial to students living in the residence halls who may relocate to another room during the school year.
• There are fewer calls for help with automatically generated IP numbers.
• In addition, University employees who have a laptop can roam throughout the campus and plug into one of the kiosks currently available in the West Bank Union, the St. Paul Student Center, and on the East Bank.

Any computer that is already network-enabled can be registered: DHCP Configuration Register for DHCP

IP Anycast

Deploying IP Anycast (pdf) A Net-People presentation by Tim Peiffer, November 2005 + January 2006.

MacView - Address Tracking

NTS tracks addresses for all IP, MAC Address and Switch Ports that are under NTS management. The application MacView uses Management Authorization from Service Gateway to control access to the data served by MacView.

DnsSyncCheck - DNS Manual Cache Management

NTS offers a DNS Cache server management tool called DnsSyncCheck. The application queries our IP Address Management appliance for reference data, systematically performs the same query on our Authoritative Slave servers as well as our Anycast Cache servers, and then compares the datum from each query to the reference. If there are any differences to the reference, the Anycast Cache is invalidated for the probed records. The DnsSyncCheck tool can be used to speed up moves or changes of DNS records.