Obtaining an IP Address and Domain Name

NOTE: if you need an IP address for use in a registrar controlled classroom, please contact Help Desk Central at 845-8300. If the classroom is not registrar controlled, contact the department that controls that classroom.

The IP protocol is different from AppleTalk and IPX in that most commonly, IP numbers and their mappings to domain names are individually assigned and maintained. The Network Group uses NIM (Network Information Manager) to manage these host IP number and domain name assignments for most parts of the campus network except for ResNet.

Recently, the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) has been developed to make this assignment easier to maintain. DHCP is deployed in the Residence Halls and will be a service available to the campus as a whole soon. Until that time, if you are not in the Residence Halls, you should continue to use NIM to allocate any IP addresses that you may need.

Most domain names are placed in the tamu.edu domain. However, subdomains (such as rns.tamu.edu) are supported and encouraged where they make sense. The guidelines and procedures for requesting a subdomain should be perused before proceeding.

In addition, .org domains outside of the tamu.edu domain can be registered. The guidelines and procedures for registering a .org domain should be perused before proceeding.

To access NIM, ssh to nim.tamu.edu. You will be asked for a logon-id and password. For this, you should use your NetID and password. After you login, you will be presented with menus and screens which will let you create and modify your host entries. The changes in the NIM database take effect in the nameserver typically within 24 hours.

This system now fully supports TTVN. If, however, you are not affiliated with the University, but are in the TAMUSDSN, you will not have a Directory Services account. In this case you will need to send an email request to nim@tamu.edu in order to have an account created for you.

Some things to note about using NIM:

1. For efficient use of the campus IP address space, users are not allowed to choose their own addresses. You must use the IP address assigned by NIM. IP addresses should be treated like most phone numbers; do not put any significance at all on the actual number assigned. Only the domain name associated with an IP address should be of significance.

2. Always make sure you obtain an IP address from NIM before you start using one. NIM may not give you the IP address you think it will or you may accidently take someone else's. You will have to go back and readdress your machine which can be a very unpleasant experience if you have to do this to many machines. Allocate the address first before you use it and then configure it into your machine.
   If an individual is found to be using an IP address that is not assigned (not found in DNS), that IP address will be disabled.

3. Do not reserve (i.e. allocate in NIM but not use) any IP addresses. The CIS Network Group manages all IP addresses through NIM and all campus users must compete for IP addresses as a shared resource. Preallocating addresses may deny other users valid access to the network and gives us wrong information as to the available capacity of a particular network. Allocate addresses as you need them only.

4. Keep your entries in NIM updated! When network problems occur, this information is sometimes the only way that we can track down machines and their administrators.

5. Delete old entries that are not used any longer. This frees up addresses that can then be used by other users.

6. Changes of the data in NIM for the previous 24 hours are loaded into the DNS servers at 4:00 AM each morning. Except in extreme emergencies, reloads will not be issued at any other time of day. This is necessary in order to ensure that all customers experience the same behaviour for their changes. See Manual DNS Updates for a full explanation.

A policy has been set up to monitor use of addresses in NIM. The table below describes this policy.

NetID

IP Address Valid Invalid Seen (Pingable) No Change Seek Out Admin of Host Not Seen in 1 Year Email Owner to Justify Host Drop

It is the host owner's responsibility to keep NIM records up to date. CIS will make a reasonable effort to contact a host owner, but unsuccessful attempts to locate a responsible contact will result in the host(s) being dropped from DNS.

Host names which are reserved but which have not been used in one year are subject to removal to free up network resources. The NIM owner (if valid) will be contacted and asked to justify the host name reservation or free up the name record.