What is virtual hosting?
Virtual hosting basically allows you to have your group's website hosted on
the OCF's webserver, but accessible under a different address (e.g.
yourgroup.berkeley.edu). Also, mail going to
foo@yourgroup.berkeley.edu (where foo is any username) can be
redirected to your group's account. More specifically:
- After the virtual host is set up, the files in the public_html directory
of your group account will appear at the root directory of the virtual site
(e.g., yourgroup.berkeley.edu).
- All mail addressed to your virtual host/domain will be forwarded to your
group account. You can forward the mail sent to different addresses in your
virtual host by using .forward files (note that they start with a dot).
For example, if you have a file named .forward+secretary in your group
account's home directory, all mail sent to secretary@virthost will be
processed using the directions in this file. For example, you can put a real
webmaster address(es) in the .forward+webmaster file it will be forwarded to
her. All other mail will be delivered to the group account mailbox. Using
procmail and other UNIX mail filters from those .forward files is also
supported.
- Right now, no separate log files are being kept for virtual hosts.
However, we do collect the overall site usage statistics for the OCF which be
viewed here.
OCF Virtual Web Hosting Policies:
-
The OCF will perform virtual hosting for OCF group accounts. If your
group would like a virtual host within the Berkeley.EDU domain, you
should follow the instructions in the next section titled "Instructions." The
OCF will then contact the campus Communications & Network Services (CNS)
group to obtain permission for your desired hostname.
- The OCF can also host non-Berkeley.EDU domains (but .com domains
are not allowed). However, the application process is more complicated in this
case. Permission will be granted only for group accounts that can demonstrate
a unique need for having a web site outside of the Berkeley.EDU domain.
For such domains, the group account must:
- apply to the OCF Board Directors for a permission to host this domain.
- pay any and all fees and/or obtain the permission involved in obtaining
and maintaining a domain name.
-
Virtual web sites, just like other OCF user accounts, must comply with the
relevant UC Berkeley computer use policies including but not limited
to the Policies and
Guidelines for Publishing on the World Wide Web at the University of
California, Berkeley.
- All virtual web sites hosted on the OCF must include an OCF banner on
their front page that links to the OCF front page. If the banner is removed,
the OCF reserves the right to terminate the virtual hosting service.
Instructions:
- Sign up for an OCF group account (if you haven't already done so).
- Place a Hosted by OCF logo on your page that links to the OCF front page.
- Send an email to the OCF sm+vhost@ocf.berkeley.edu
with a request to set up a virtual host for your group's account. It should
take 1-2 weeks to set up a new virtual host. Specify in the email what virtual host your group wants.
To place the OCF banner on your page, add the following HTML code at
the bottom:
<a href="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu">
<img src="http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/icons/lighter152x41.gif" alt="Hosted by the OCF">
</a>
More logos can be found here in the logo
library. If you would like to contribute your own logo, please submit it to the OCF
site manager.