1 [[!meta title="Can my group obtain a shorter URL?"]]
2 If you have a reasonable reason for wanting a short URL (in
3 specific technical jargon, a DNS CNAME pointing to the script
4 server and a corresponding virtual host configuration on the
5 server), you can request one using our hostname management system.
6 Note that this step is absolutely not required to use
7 scripts.mit.edu; the default LOCKER.scripts.mit.edu URL is usually
10 There are several types of hostname you can request:
12 - By default, you are assigned a LOCKER.scripts.mit.edu host
13 name; you can request arbitrary subdomains of this address (for
14 example, blog.LOCKER.scripts.mit.edu). These host names are
15 activated instantaneously, and do not require approval.
17 - If you own an external hostname (e.g. example.com), you can
18 point it at the Scripts server. Configure your hostname with your
19 registrar or DNS hosting as an A record for 18.181.0.46, then add
20 your hostname using the online interface as usual. Alternatively,
21 you can configure it as a CNAME for “scripts-vhosts.mit.edu.”,
22 which is less cryptic but interferes with using your hostname with
23 mail\_scripts, and also doesn’t work for top-level URLs (i.e., you
24 won’t be able to do it for example.com, but you could for
27 - For high visibility websites, you can request a .mit.edu
28 hostname. You can use the stella command on Athena or
29 [via the web](https://scripts-cert.mit.edu/~geofft/stella.php) to
30 check if the hostname you would like is available. You can also
31 transfer hostnames that you or your group owns. These host names
32 must be manually approved, and we recommend they be requested
35 If our [hostname management system](http://pony.scripts.mit.edu/)
36 doesn’t work for some reason, you can also request a hostname by
37 e-mailing scripts@mit.edu. Please include the name you would like,
38 and the directory you would like the host to point to (e.g.,
39 group.scripts.mit.edu or group.scripts.mit.edu/wiki/).