Re: Server naming conventions

["Parker, Ron" <Ron.Parker () BRAZOSPORT EDU>]

I'm not sure I should admit to this but virtually (pun intended) every server we have is named after a town in Texas. 
My staff comes up with the names when they build a new server. Bonus points are given if the name relates somehow to 
the primary purpose of the server. For example, we have Exchange servers named Post, Franklin, etc. One of our DNS 
servers is named Uncertain (yep, Uncertain, Texas, Google it). A web-based survey server is Ponder. Security related 
servers include Ranger, Alamo, Marshall, Jericho, etc. My staff is very creative. It really helps to have names that 
are easier to relate to, for us, than Server1, Server2, etc. We did that years ago and it got confusing very quickly. 
With 55+ servers, the current method works much better. Most of these names are not seen in external DNS. Our external 
DNS will simply return a generic reverse-lookup for those IPs that don't have a public-facing purpose. Obviously we 
also use DNS aliases

I agree with someone else that posted that these days people will just Nmap servers to see what they do. The name 
probably isn't that much help. However, even knowing the actual server names, I doubt that most people would figure out 
our naming scheme unless they read this list. I'm sure this is not considered best practices but it seems rather low on 
the risk list. If someone has data showing actual, recent (not from 1982) cases where the server name was the first 
clue a hacker used to compromise a server, I'd be interested in seeing it.

--
Ron Parker, Director of Information Technology, Brazosport College
Voice: (979) 230-3480             FAX: (979) 230-3111
http://www.brazosport.edu



From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of 
Woodruff, Daniel
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:17 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: [SECURITY] Server naming conventions

What kinds of naming conventions do everyone follow when building new servers?

Currently, our Windows hosts are named following the pattern 'its-w2ks#' or similar, where the # is the next in the 
sequence, and the names are published in DNS. What are the potential drawbacks or using a scheme like this? Do you 
think it is any better or worse from a security perspective than using something like 'its-oracle-1' which has the 
service right in the name? We're concerned about disclosing the purpose of the machine via its name, and are trying to 
get an idea of what other schools do for their machines. Thanks in advance.

Dan Woodruff
University IT Security and Policy
University of Rochester