Best DNS Naming Scheme For Small/Medium Businesses? 481
Bandman writes "My business just purchased a couple dozen blades, and with our existing servers, this brings us to around 60 machines. We're geographically dispersed, and most of the users who need to connect to servers are not technical (if that matters).
We used to use theme-based naming schemes, but we've been migrating to a more utilitarian system. I think it's clearer and more concise, but I've had some feedback from users who didn't find it understandable.
What do you use for your internal DNS schemes? How big is your network, and what do you recommend for future expansion? Does it matter to your users at all?"
I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
The guys at work seem to enjoy their time with Jenna quite a bit.
Short and Concise (Score:1, Funny)
Server0001
Server0002
Server0003
Server9998
Server9999
Two words. (Score:5, Funny)
Body parts. Easy to remember.
"Where is that file?"
"In the nose."
Nice short concise meaningful systematic names... (Score:5, Funny)
...therefore all my servers are given a hostname string equal to the Dell "Service Tag", followed by a dash, followed by the Dell "Express Service Code".
I really love my junior admins, and whoever the poor schmuck is that will take my place as senior sysadmin once I'm gone from here.
Re:Simpson Characters (Score:3, Funny)
Didn't you get the memo?
SideShowMel replaced SideShowBob a while ago.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
How much of a load can Jenna handle?
We use a series of numbers (Score:5, Funny)
What we do is use a series of numbers separated by periods to designate a hierarchy. For example, the servers in the company all share the first number, say 192. Then, each department has its own number, say 168, giving us 192.168. Then, each location in the department has a number, such as 204, taking us to 192.168.204. Then we give each server a unique number, like 10, bringing us up to 192.168.204.10. It's very easy for me to recognize where a machine is by that address. We try to keep the numbers under 255 to make them easier to remember, and it's really not many more digits that a long distance code and phone number.
Re:Short and Concise (Score:5, Funny)
what goes after Server0003?
interesting idea (Score:4, Funny)
Cheeses (Score:4, Funny)
The University of Wisconsin CS Dept. used cheeses. Never seemed to have a problem with running out, although they named two machines kraft-slices and velveeta, and the lawyers moved in and made them change.
Incidentally, included among the cheeses were puff, whiz, and head (the latter is also a popular Wisconsin food product, so it's all good).
Re:Short and Concise (Score:5, Funny)
...
Re:Short and Concise (Score:1, Funny)
You have a problem here... (Score:2, Funny)
If you can't name more superhero characters than you have servers then either...
(a) We're going to take your official geek card away.
or (b) You should already know more about naming conventions than anyone reading this.
Seriously, there shouldn't be a problem with a mix and match scheme. For instance, name a typical server ohio-27-002.mycompany.com but use DNS to give the important ones a second name as in wolverine.mycompany.com
Re:Simpson Characters (Score:2, Funny)
Must be an enterprise system. They're always a bit slow to upgrade.
Re:Simpson Characters (Score:3, Funny)
Re:interesting idea (Score:5, Funny)
That way you get a unique naming scheme that's both logical, understandable (you can convert the host name into its counter value through a simple rainbow table) and reasonably safe from hash collisions.
Screw DNS (Score:4, Funny)
If they can't remember IPs, they shouldn't be allowed on your network.
Power Users must be able to identify machines by MAC as well as IP.
Admins must be able to do both - in hex, decimal, binary AND octal.
Octet delimiters are for pussies.
Southpark Character (Score:4, Funny)
We had a test server which started off as something bland but since it was a test server people kept crashing it often. It became affectionately known as "Kenny". Now everyone just says "Who Killed Kenny!" when it dies a horrible death.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
Three. Anyone can get in on port 80, 22 if she knows you, and 443 requires a little bit of negotiation.
Re:No acroynms, use short names/words (Score:3, Funny)
Ah, that's a fun system. I use Starcraft hostnames in my house:
Old Desktop: Goliath
Server: Overmind
Router: Nexus
Wii: Pylon
New Desktop: Tassadar
I was thinking if I ever got a small, low power 24/7 mini box, I'd call it Zergling.
I know the tech people at RPI name internal domain names after pokemon - I get the feeling there are more of those available now than network addresses that can fit in the IPv4 space.
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Keep it simple, stupid (Score:3, Funny)
Our mac solution was simple.
We say sorry, we don't support macs.
If they win the political battle to get a mac in (or bring in a personal mac), they still have the standard issue desktop in the office to access everything.
Re:Two words. (Score:1, Funny)
Which workstation was it with the virus?
Oh yeah, vagina.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
Three. Anyone can get in on port 80, 22 if she knows you, and 443 requires a little bit of negotiation.
I would think port 79 would be a gimme for Jenna.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
IOW more than a simple handshake.
In the nose (Score:3, Funny)
Brings new meaning to picking through your files....
Re:Two words. (Score:5, Funny)
There are enough anatomical details for the female reproductive system to provide a complete and scalable solution to this problem. Stop acting like you're new here, dammit :)
Re:Two words. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Short and Concise (Score:4, Funny)
On the other hand, It seems to be a genuine innovative idea using Morse for server names.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:5, Funny)
Just to warn you, a Jenna server will go down on you often, while still giving you plenty of uptime.
Dwarf Stars (Score:4, Funny)
Him: I dunno. How about... stars?
Me, looking at a smallish server: Okay, what's a famous dwarf star?
Him: Sneezy.
Re:I use porn stars (Score:3, Funny)
Just a warning, this is not an ideal naming scheme as we found out the hard way after we had a customer call and demand to know why we had a server named after him. (John Holmes)
Re:I use porn stars (Score:2, Funny)