Todd's Blog

I am just browsing Slashdot this evening and I see a interesting article on naming conventions. http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/02/2228254

I always find it interesting how people name machines. Some people name their servers based on a theme like cartoon characters or vehicles, ie, Homer, Bart, Maggie, etc. Others will use a scientific approach, like S-NX-MX-01 where the letters will represent type, location, role, and seniority number. I think a case can be made for using both types of naming conventions. Cartoon characters names can be redirected using a CNAME DNS entry so www points to homer or SQL points to Maggie and it gives some freedom to the naming. People also tell me they will use different themes based on location. For example, one lab might be Simpsons, another Star Wars. Draw backs to the arbitrary naming convention is you can’t look at a server and know where it is and what is does. That being said, if using the scientific approach and a machine is moved or re-purposed, you then have to rename for it to make sense. Nothing worst then a machine being moved but not renamed, and then going to look for it.

Myself, I use a little of both types of naming. My workstations are named pretty scientific, they are matched up to a map that sits at the circ desk so patron computer number 12 is named, patron12. My servers are also scientific, but my test lab has all cartoon character names.

No matter what you choose as a naming convention for your machines, the thing is, make it easy to remember for you and document for the next person, in case you win the lottery.