Management of Internet Domain Names within the Country Code .au
This document references the applicable policies and procedures relating to the registration of Internet Domain Names within the country code .au, which is the two letter top level code for Australia used by the global Internet Domain name structure.
The document also details the procedures associated with registration and delegation of an Internet domain name within the .au domain.
Some notes describing the Internet Domain Name structure, together with a short tutorial on how to configure a domain zone file are here.
The structure of the .au domain space is as follows:
.au Delegated country name space for Australia
.com.au Subdomain for commercial entities
.edu.au Subdomain for educational institutions
.org.au Subdomain for miscellaneous organisations
.gov.au Subdomain for government and semi-government entities
.net.au Subdomain for network infrastructure and providers
.asn.au Subdomain for associations
.id.au Tree of subdomains for individual people
.conf.au Subdomain for conferences and exhibitions requiring short duration Internet connectivity
.info.au Subdomain for major Australian informational and service resources
.csiro.au Subdomain for CSIRO
.oz.au Subdomain for entities which are visible within the ACSnet domain
.telememo.au Subdomain for naming X.400 entities registered within the "/C=AU/ADMD=Telememo" administrative domain
Each subdomain of .au has been delegated to a designated authority, who is responsible for the administration of the policies applicable for registration within that domain. The following notes list these domain administrators and the relevant policies of registration of a name within that domain.
.au
The delegated Internet namespace within the hierarchy of
the assigned Internet country space of ".au" is administered by
auDA.
From 1986 to November 2001, .au was administered by
Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
The policy for delegation of subdomains of .au is to exercise due restraint in the number of second level domains, and to use a small set of sector and function-based descriptors. Applications for subdomains names directly within .au will, in general, be referred to the most appropriate existing delegated subdomain by the domain administrator.
.edu.au
The administration of .edu.au subdomain
is currently undertaken by
auDA (as of Feb 2001).
The contact point is
edu.au@aunic.net.
The policy of registration within this domain is to register names directly in edu.au to nationally significant bodies which operate within the educational domain. Names should conform to the named entity, or a logical abbreviation. In addition a third level of State-based names (of the form state.edu.au) is used to register educational institutions such as schools and TAFE colleges which operate within particular a State or Territory system.
There is currently no charge for registering edu.au domains,
but you must show that you are accredited as an educational institution
by the relevant government.
.gov.au
The administration of .gov.au subdomain is undertaken by the
National Office for the Information Economy
(dna@noie.gov.au).
The purpose of this domain is to register
commonwealth, state, local government entities and other public
bodies. Entities operating nationally as an instrument of the
Commonwealth of Australia will normally be registered within
.gov.au, while state or local government entities would normally be
registered within the relevant state.gov.au
subdomain.
See
Australian Government Domain Administration in NOIE for more information.
There is currently no charge for registering gov.au domains.
.com.au
The management/oversight of the .com.au subdomain is undertaken by
.au Domain Administration
with day to day operations (like registering and delegating domain names)
carried out by the com.au registrar,
Internet Names World Wide (a division
of Melbourne IT Ltd ACN 073 716 793) (help@ina.com.au).
The policies of this domain are maintained at http://www.ina.com.au.
In general only commercial entities may register a com.au name,
and the domain name must reflect the organisation's name.
There is a charge for registering com.au domains.
.org.au
The administration of the .org.au subdomain is
now undertaken by auDA.
The contact point is
org.au@aunic.net.
Until 29 January 2002, org.au was administered
by Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
The policies of this domain are maintained as the document ftp://munnari.oz.au/netinfo/ORG.AU-policy
It is for organisations which do not fit into any of the other subdomain
categories.
There is currently no charge for registering org.au domains,
but you must be a legal organisation.
.id.au
The administration of the .id.au subdomain is
now overseen by auDA.
Until 29 January 2002, id.au was
overseen by Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
This domain space is for Australian individuals (people).
The policies for creating new sub-domains of this domain are maintained as the document ftp://munnari.oz.au/netinfo/ID.AU-policy. Further details are available in the id.au webpage.
ID.AU contains sub-domains in any of which
people can register a personal or family domain - for a list of sub-domains
and registration information see
the ID.AU registration page
or the id.au webpage.
Whether there is a charge or not depends on which id.au sub-domain
you choose to register in.
.info.au
The administration of the .info.au subdomain is undertaken by Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
info.au is currently on hold.
New applications are not being accepted at this time.
This domain was used to identify major Australian public information service and resources, such as the National Science Week site scienceweek.info.au, the missing persons site, missingpersons.info.au and similar resources.
.net.au
.asn.au
The asn.au subdomain has been delegated to Michael Malone (mmalone@iinet.net.au).
It is for registering associations and similar entities. For information on .asn.au visit http://www.west.net.au/asn.au
There is a charge for registering asn.au domains.
.oz.au
The .oz.au subdomain has been delegated to Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
The domain was Australia's first domain and originally devised to register names of those entities operating within the ACSnet network, and continues to be used to register those entities who are visible within the ACSnet network domain. Registration of a name within this domain is only undertaken once the name is visible on the ACSnet network.
This domain is gradually shrinking as less sites are connected to ACSnet.
.telememo.au
This domain is used to support a gateway between the public X.400 email service, provided by Telstra Enhanced Services, and the Internet mail domain. Subdomains within telememo.au correspond to registered PRMD and OU names within the public X.400 name space ("C=AU/ADMD=Telememo"), and registration is undertaken through Telecom Enhanced Services.
.csiro.au
The .csiro.au subdomain is managed by CSIRO IT Services and Operations. (hostmaster@csiro.au).
For technical issues relating to this domain, please contact Nick Hocking (Systems Programmer).
Administrative issues should be directed to Geoff Morrison (Assistant Manager, Operations).
The domain is used exclusively for registration of entities within the CSIRO organisation.
.conf.au
The .conf.au subdomain has been delegated to Robert Elz (kre@munnari.oz.au).
The domain is used to support conferences and exhibitions that require a named Internet presence. The domain is a short duration domain, delegated to a conference or exhibition for a strictly limited duration.
For registration in this domain, send e-mail to
hostmaster@munnari.oz.au
with the Subject: header of the mail containing the proposed domain name.
Include in the message brief details about the conference or event the
domain is to be used for, including its dates, and the date after which
the domain will no longer be required. Also include the names and
IP addresses or two (or more) pre-configured nameservers.
There is currently no charge for registering conf.au domains.
otc.au (to be removed)
This subdomain was used to support an electronic mail gateway to the X.400 mail service provided by what was then OTC. It is intended that this domain be removed and telememo.au be used in its place.
How to Register an Internet Domain Name
The preferred method of registration is by submission of a completed
domain name
registration form.
Alternatively you may wish to contact the delegated authority directly.
Registration
The registration of a domain name is a listing service.
The listing service of names within the .au delegated name space is undertaken on a First Come - First Served basis, moderated by the particular domain's administration policies as determined by the delegated authority (summarized above). The registration function does not trade in, or license in any way any entity (including the listing requesting entity) to trade in the requested name.
Acceptance of the listing entry by the delegated authority confers no rights to the applicant regarding the legitimacy or otherwise of the association of the name with the applicant, nor does it confer to the applicant any other rights associated with ownership of the name, or any rights to its use.
No adjudication is made within the registration function as to whether the applicant has a legitimate right to a name. The applicant in lodging the request for a name informs the delegated authority that they are asserting a claimed right to a name.
In the case of conflicting name requests between an applicant and an existing listing held by the delegated authority, it is left to the parties concerned (applicant and listed entity) to resolve such matters, and report to the delegated authority if the resolution includes a change of registration details.
Domain names may be removed from the registration function's records upon receipt of written advice indicating that the list entry should be removed from the registry, on condition that the original applicant (or corporate entity) submits the advice to the delegated authority.
All registration information will be considered as information within the public domain, and will be accessible using the Internet as the publication vehicle. No provision is made concerning acceptance of information under any imposed condition of confidentiality or non-disclosure.
At present the domain name registration listing function is operated by
most of the delegated authorities on an unfunded basis.
The time to complete processing of an application in such domains
is not undertaken with any stated period.
All registrations (except in com.au, net.au and some *.id.au sub-domains)
are handled free of application and maintenance service charges at present.
No undertaking is made that this will continue to operate without service
charges.
Delegation of a Domain Name within the Internet DNS
Delegation of a domain name to DNS servers, or the entry of an MX record,
will only be undertaken by the delegated DNS zone administrators
either together with or following
an accepted registration transaction.
You can request delegation by submitting a delegation request form through the AUNIC Registry service.
The data from successful forms will automatically be passed on to the
relevant zone administrator or automated system which can make the change.
Alternatively in the rare event where there is no form for the parent domain,
you can contact the delegated authority directly and provide the necessary information as stipulated by the delegated authority.
In general delegation will not occur until the name servers are correctly configured to accept the delegation (in the case of a domain delegation) or the mailhost is correctly configured to accept mail directed to the specified domain (in the case of a Mail Exchange domain entry).
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