how do you name your AIX servers? 1

[hfaix]

Do you use standardized names or "random" names (example "bert and earnie" or "bill and ted"? I'm not asking for what names you use...just how you come to a name (standard or random).

Just curious.....this is a big discussion around our shop.

 

[sbrews]

I have seen both ways at the places I have worked: random (usually follows a theme - like Deity gods/goddesses) as well as standard (aka cryptic) names.

Random names:

zeus, appollo, venus, etc....

Standard names:

AAODB01

which would translate something like this:

1st char = location
2nd char = OS (a for aix, h for hpux, etc)
3rd - 5th = what it is used for. IE odb = oracle database
6th - 7th = instance number. IE there might be 3 different oracle DB servers, so ...01, 02, 03, etc.

Having used both, I prefer random (along a theme) names. I find the "standard" names much harder to remember - especially in larger environments.

 

[FrankieAIX]

sbrews,

Thanks for yuor detailed response to hfaix's post. I found it to be very interesting as I have never really given server names much thought.


Cheers!

-FrankieAIX

 

[sbrews]

your welcome.

 

[hfaix]

Good post sbrew. I thought this might be a sensive topic for some, so thanks.

We do a little of both. I prefer randomness with a theme.

 

[DukeSSD]

We use randomness with a theme based on generation.
So the old boxes are planets.
Next Gen (power4) were chemical elements.
Latest Gen (power5) are types of trees.
We have a small cluster based on The Simpsons names with Marge as the CSM.
It seems to make it much easier to remember where you are and what you are working on.

 

[KenCunningham]

Just one question - how can something be 'random with a theme'? Doesn't a theme imply some kind of boundary, which to me at least negates the randomness to some extent.

For the record, we just use the application name for our servers, incrementing a suffix number if there are more than one.

I don't mind people who aren't what they seem. I just wish they'd make their mind up.

 

[khalidaaa]

Yeah, in my company i use the same convention as KenCunningham!

The P5570 server number + The application name + sequence

 

[hfaix]

For KenCunningham....you've got me. I suppose truly randomness can't have a theme.

 

[KenCunningham]

No worries hfaix, I wasn't trying to be clever, it just struck me as a strange combination for some reason!

I don't mind people who aren't what they seem. I just wish they'd make their mind up.

 

[spamly]

My company has a new naming standard:

4 characters - Server support line acrocnym (ie. midrange team, wintel team, mainframe, datacomm, etc.)
3 characters - application/function
1-2 characters - server number (ie. up to 99 servers in a cluster)
optional tst/dev/rel - for test/development/release

Example:
MIDREHR23
(Midrange Server: Electronic Health Record Application: 23rd server in the series)

It's a little ugly, but it works.

 

[grepper]

I do not like theme based naming if you have multiple data-centers or server locations. It gets real confusing. It does add some character to a data center. I.e. having a failover server named "Plan B" or something like that.

 

[kHz]

Actually you should not put what the server is used for in the host name. If someone gains access to the server then they already have a head start of what to look for, or if they are scanning it may be of interest to them.

For example, if a server is named 't3e45' that doesn't give any information, but a server named 'uxdb1' would give a good indication that it is a unix server hosting a database.

That is the standard with the companies I have worked for.

 

[spamly]

kHz,

You're idea makes sense, but in a shop with 1100+ servers and 800+ applications, we like the convenience.

Not that a security naming standards with concern to security is unimportant, we just haven't (and probably won't) made it a priority.

 

[DukeSSD]

OK, if you have a thousand systems then the random - abstract theme system will not be viable, a) you will probably spend more time thinking of server names than doing any work. b) you would never remember what was what anyway.
I've seen several methods used and in the big farms they tend to use a purely academic naming convention and then use an asset tracking intranet database to allow searching for any specific detail, like by machine type when firmware updates are due, by application when updates or patches are due, by department when users come and go, etc.