[This document describes a field in the Princeton University Host Database. You may also view descriptions of other fields.]
Each entry in the Princeton University Host Database must have one or more Technical Contacts specified. These are the people responsible for the operation of the device on the campus network, and responsible for maintaining the entry in the Host Database.
Technical Contacts are stored in the Host Database entry as email addresses.
When a Host Database entry contains more than one Technical Contact, they are treated as an unordered list. There is no special significance to which Technical Contact appears first, second, etc. There is no concept of one Technical Contact in an entry being more "important" than another, and there is no guarantee that they will always be displayed in a particular order.
Technical Contacts are those people responsible for the correct operation of a device connected to the network, and are expected to have some technical knowledge of how to properly configure the device. In most cases, they are the people OIT will contact when there is some problem involving the device.
You should also be sure to list as a Technical Contacts anyone who may need to change (or delete) the entry in the Host Database. That's because requests to change (or delete) an existing entry in the Host Database are only honored if they come from a small set of people, including those already listed as a Technical Contact in that Host Database entry.
For a device that is neither a Dormnet subscription, nor an office device billed to a student's University ID Number (student billing), you should include among the Technical Contacts at least one email address that is not a student's personal email address. Although students' email addresses may be specified as among the Technical Contacts, at least one of the Technical Contacts specified should be an email address that is not a student's email address. (I.e. specify at least one email address of a staff or faculty member, or of an organizational account. This is to ensure that for office devices associated with a department, an organization, or a staff or faculty member, there is at least one Technical Contact address that will reach someone year-round and regardless of student graduation, etc. This is particularly important with regard to students registering devices on behalf of a professor, or on behalf of a student organization or eating club.
If the device is an office device billed to a student's University ID Number (student billing), you should specify the student's personal netid@princeton.edu email address as the only Technical Contact.
Dormnet subscriptions always have the student's personal netid@princeton.edu email address as the only Technical Contact; this cannot be altered.
Each Technical Contact is specified in the form of an electronic mail address: user@domain, where both the username and the domain name must be specified. For example: jdoe@princeton.edu.
We strongly recommend that when you specify a Technical Contact's email address, you specify it in the form netid@princeton.edu.
That's because to be able to change or delete the Host Database entry via the Web, a Technical Contact's email address must be an email address of the form netid@princeton.edu, or an email address on one of the OIT-managed public systems.
Technical Contacts specified with any other email addresses (e.g. jdoe@basketweaving.princeton.edu) will not be able to use the Web interface to change or delete an existing entry in the Host Database; for more details see Technical Contacts and the Web Interface to the Host Database.
At least one of the Technical Contacts you specify must be an email address within the princeton.edu domain.
Examples of acceptable contacts include: user@princeton.edu, user@foo.princeton.edu, user@bar (where bar is a hostname within the princeton.edu domain), and user@baz.quux (where baz.quux is a hostname within the princeton.edu domain).
Although email addresses user@alumni.princeton.edu, and user@retiree.princeton.edu, are within the princeton.edu domain, these don't count toward this requirement, as these addresses simply forward email to former students or some former employees.
When adding an entry to the Host Database, specify the first Technical Contact using the TECH-CONTACT field; if you have additional Technical Contacts, specify each one using the ADD-TECH-CONTACT fields (one per field).
When changing an existing entry in the Host Database:
A helpful tip to remember is that the Technical Contacts section on the "Change Entry" form works different from most other portions of the form. There is no relationship between the old Technical Contacts listed on the left side of the form, and the blank TECH-CONTACT and ADD-TECH-CONTACT fields on the right side of the form. E.g. entering a new value into an ADD-TECH-CONTACT field on the right side of the form doesn't replace the old Technical Contact value listed to its left.
(For the curious, the way these fields actually work is as follows: If any value is specified in the TECH-CONTACT field, all existing Technical Contacts are removed from the Host Database entry, and replaced with the value specified in the TECH-CONTACT field. Afterwards, any values are specified in the ADD-TECH-CONTACT fields are appended to the entry's current Technical Contacts.)
Anyone listed as a Technical Contact for a Host Database entry may change or delete the Host Database entry.
Note that other people are also authorized to change or delete existing Host Database entries. Financial Contacts associated with the entry's ACCOUNT-NUMBER are authorized to change or delete the entry. Departmental Contacts associated with the entry's DEPARTMENT are authorized to change or delete the entry. And a small number of OIT staff are authorized to change or delete existing entries; those Host Database Trusted Parties are OIT staff members who are sometimes responsible for acting on behalf of customers.
Whenever an entry is added, changed, or deleted from the Host Database, email is sent to all of the Technical Contacts that appear in the entry following the addition or change. (In the event of a deletion, the mail is sent to all the technical contacts that appeared in the entry before it was deleted.)
The Departmental Contacts associated with a Host Database entry also receive notification (if they choose) via email when an entry is added, changed, or deleted from the Host Database.
The Financial Contacts associated with a Host Database entry also receive notification via email when an entry is added or deleted from the Host Database. They also receive notification when the entry is changed in the Host Database, if the change affects the entry's billing status.
A Dormnet subscription always has a single Technical Contact, which is the netid@princeton.edu email address of the student to whom the subscription belongs.
A Dormnet subscription is the responsibility of the student to whom the subscription belong. The Technical Contact cannot be changed to specify that someone else is responsible for the subscription, or to specify that responsibility for the subscription is shared.