DNS, DHCP, & NTP Services

Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Network Time Protocol (NTP) are Campus services maintained by ICT Network Infrastructure. Below you will find detailed information about each service.

If after reading this document you still have questions and/or comments, please, send an email to net-sys-mon-l@lists.ufl.edu or call ICT Monitoring team at (352) 392-2061.

Domain Name System (DNS)

Please, select one of the following to view detailed information.

• Internal and External Views

  Depending on your IP address when you query our DNS servers, you could be given different answers. We have defined two views, Internal and External. Answers from the Internal view will be received from anyone with a UF IP address. Any non UF IP address will receive answers from the External view.

  Here's a list of what we consider to be UF IP address space:
     10.0.0.0/8
     172.16.0.0/12
     192.168.0.0/16
     128.227.0.0/16
     192.5.2.0/24
     159.178.0.0/16
     8.6.244.0/23
     2620:104::/40

  The differing views will allow the removal of private address (RFC1918) resolution from non UF IP addreses and allow different responses to the same query based on a UF versus a non UF resource asking the question. Please note, that as of the migration date both the Internal and External views were virtually identical. As we move forward from the migration date, unless explicitly asked, we are not entering DNS changes or additions to the RFC1918 space in the External view. We will soon announce to the UF community the removal of RFC1918 space from the External view.

• DNS settings are set automatically by DHCP

  Please, see the section below titled "Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)".

• DNS server settings

  If you currently use ICT Network Infrastructure maintained DNS services your computer should be resolving using these name servers:
     128.227.30.254 (ns.name.ufl.edu)*
     128.227.30.252 (rns-1.name.ufl.edu)*
  
  * Although a single IP address, there are multiple servers that can answer your request.
  
  Please note, that if you are currently referencing Active Directory name servers, no changes are needed.

• An external domain that references UF name servers

  If you have an external domain (i.e. facts.org, wuft.tv, ufadventures.com, etc.) that references any UF name servers, please, make sure that your registrar lists these name servers:
     128.227.30.252 (rns-1.name.ufl.edu)*
     8.6.245.30 (rns.name.ufl.edu)

  * Although a single IP address, there are multiple servers that can answer your request.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is a network application protocol that automates the assignment of IP addresses and network parameters to DHCP-configured network devices (DHCP clients). When a DHCP client connects to a network, it sends a request to obtain an IP address and configuration information from the DHCP server. The DHCP server manages a pool of IP addresses and configuration information such as default gateway, domain name, and DNS server. Depending on the configuration, the DHCP server either assigns or denies an IP address to a client request. It also sends network configuration parameters to the client.

With the migration to Infoblox Network Systems and Monitoring assumed the IP address of the previous DHCP servers.

• I run my own DHCP Server

  One of the many benefits of the Infoblox platform is the ability to be the primary source for your DNS zones and DHCP scopes but still allow you to make changes. If you no longer want to maintain DNS/DHCP hardware/software and would like to leverage our redundancy in hardware, power and connectivity, please, contact NSM by sending an email to net-sys-mon-l@lists.ufl.edu or call (352) 392-2061.

  If you use the 'option domain-name-servers' statement (option 6) in your DHCP configuration that references any of the ICT Network Infrastructure maintained name servers, please, change to these servers:
     128.227.30.254 (ns.name.ufl.edu)*
     128.227.30.252 (rns-1.name.ufl.edu)*

  * Although a single IP address, there are multiple servers that can answer your request.

  If you use the 'option time-servers' statement (option 4) in your DHCP configuration, please, see the section below titled "Network Time Protocol (NTP)"

Network Time Protocol (NTP)

NTP can be setup manually or automatically via DHCP. With the migration to Infoblox we can now serve NTP via Anycast. If, in your NTP configuration, you reference any ICT Network Infrastructure maintained NTP servers, please, change to these servers:
   128.227.30.254 (ns.name.ufl.edu)
   128.227.30.252 (rns-1.name.ufl.edu)

If you happen to be using any of these NTP aliases they will continue to work:
   ntps2-1.server.ufl.edu
   ntps2-2.server.ufl.edu
   ntps3-1.nerdc.ufl.edu
   ntps3-2.nerdc.ufl.edu

DNS Management Platform

UF Network Serivces uses Infoblox for DNS and DHCP management. For more information about Infoblox, check Infoblox Reference and FAQ.