Server Naming and DNS

[MasterRacker]

We have a number of servers whose names start with an underscore that we need to rename because, as I understand it, the WIN2k version of DNS doesn't play well with machine names starting with an underscore. I read recently that there are some applications that do not like dashes embedded in machine names, however the piece did not name any. Does anyone have a specific example? I currently name my workstations "SYS-xxxxx" where xxxxx is a unique asset number. Our network is all NT server, TCP/IP only with DNS. WINS thru DNS and DHCP. I have no problems at all with the current naming scheme, however I'm wondering what I may run into in the future.

 

[jsauce]

I have not heard of these problems. In fact I'm pretty sure the default name of the computer when WIN2K was installed, was set to a name that started with an underscore, or at least had an underscore or dash in it. <p>John D. Saucier<br><a href=mailto:jsauce@net1plus.com>jsauce@net1plus.com</a><br><a href=

http://www.net1plus.com/users/jsauce>Registry

Backup</a><br>

 

[MasterRacker]

According to the admins at our parent company, Win2K can handle a machine name with a leading underscore, but the DNS will choke on it. I don't have any details beyond that. Just looking for input. I suppose you could set up different DNS and machine names, but I wouldn't think that multiple names for a machine under different services would generally be a good practice.

 

[NumberFive]

Was I asleep at the wheel? I thought that win2k was still a beta release.

 

[MasterRacker]

NumberFive, you're right. It is a beta. Actually, as it turns out I just found a couple DreckNet articles on the subject. The underscore is not allowed under NT4 either. It is stripped out from the DNS name, so I already have machines with multiple names depending on the service. Evidently, the underscore is not allowed by specification. The following is from &quot;Understanding DNS&quot; in the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit:<br>
<br>
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Note In general, domain names and computer names have naming restrictions that allow only the use of characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and the dash or minus sign (-). The use of characters such as the slash (/), and underscore (_) is not allowed by specification, and the use of the period (.) is allowed only between domain names (for example, “reskit.com”) or at the end of a FQDN. Domain names are not case-sensitive.<br>
However, the Microsoft DNS server does allow the use of underscore (_) in a name, to support NetBIOS names that included the underscore. You can configure the DNS server to enforce all RFC character restrictions or to ignore all character restrictions. It is best to enforce all RFC character restrictions, so that non-Microsoft clients can access the DNS server.<br>
==========<br>
<br>
We could probably get by, but it looks like our best bet is still to rename our older servers. That's going to be fun :-(

 

[jbits]

MasterRacker --- you may run into issues in the future as I have ---- using a W2K server (with an underscore in its name) as an intranet host, we started running into problems with Internet Explorer and security patches

According to Microsoft Article Q319182, Active Server Pages (ASP) cookies are blocked if the server name has non-DNS supported characters in it. The article specifically mentions underscores.

It remains to be seen what else materializes