Many of Cambridge's institution domain names err on the side of being too terse. Institutions that want a more friendly longer alternative name can apply for one by contacting Institution Strategy. (This option ought to be mentioned in our domain name policy but isn't. Sorry!)
These long-form domains are to be used for more friendly web site or email address aliases; your general network facilities will continue to have only short-form names. In terms of the IP Register database, this means your long-form domain will not be added to your mzone, and you will need to ask us to make changes.
The central mail switch ppsw supports domain-level aliases so that
mail sent to a long-form address is delivered to the equivalent short
form. For more details, see the information about "alternative forms
of cam.ac.uk domains" on our managed mail domain
pages.
For your web site, you will typically want a web server that implements a redirect from your long domain to your short domain. The options for setting up this redirect are the same as for bare domain web site aliases.