Re: Server naming conventions

[Neil Gaede <neil () STTHOM EDU>]

+1 to both. We do the same thing, only without the Jesuits so much. ;)  
(We're a Basilian school.) In most cases, if we want something to have  
a straightforward, logical-ish name for outside use we'll just create  
an alias for it.

Our VMWare ESX boxes are named after the 7 dwarves - we're only up to  
4 right now, but if we end up using up all 7 I'll probably start  
making some up.

Our disaster recovery boxes are all prefixed with DR and a "famous"  
doctor's name. Like DR-McCoy, DR-Quinn, DR-Octopus, etc.


Neil Gaede
Systems Administrator
University of St. Thomas - Houston




On Feb 10, 2010, at 3:37 PM, Stanclift, Michael wrote:

> We also use the Saints or Jesuit convention. Our VMWare host servers  
> are the boring ones (ESX1, ESX2, etc) … occasionally we’ll name  
> something for what it actually does, but not often.
>
> Although we did name our Exchange storage array THBGNSTY after a  
> sandwich sold at a department favorite. It’s “The Big Nasty” with  
> all the vowels removed. It is big, and nasty.
>
> Michael Stanclift | Network Analyst | Computer Services
> Rockhurst University | 1100 Rockhurst Road, Kansas City, MO 64110
> Phone: 816.501.4231 | Fax: 816.501.4014 | http://help.rockhurst.edu
>
> PHelp keep our campus green, think before you print!
> ÏRUCS will never ask you for your password!
>
> From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU 
> ] On Behalf Of Greg Francis
> Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:29 PM
> To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
> Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Server naming conventions
>
>
> We typically use either saints or jesuits. For the saints, we used  
> what they were the patron saint of in selecting the name. Used to be  
> fine with <50 servers. Now as we approach 200 servers, that's  
> started to go away. We're not out of saints, just ones that are well  
> known! For certain services, like our Citrix farm, we just use  
> something like CITRIX-01, etc. Boring, but effective.
>
> Our log management data collector is LMAO.
>
> Greg
>
> Greg Francis
> Director, Central Computing and Network Support Services
> Gonzaga University
> francis () gonzaga edu
> 509-313-6896
>
>
>
> On Feb 10, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Woodruff, Daniel wrote:
>
>
> -->
> 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