dan takes a poll: server names

[Robert Brockway]

On Thu, 29 Apr 2004, Matthew Gamble wrote:

> We used to use characters from William Gibson novels at work (jones,
> chevette, wintermute, etc) but once the network got past 10 or so
> servers, that just became too hard to grow with.  I've found that while
> a 'theme' for servers is nice, it's a real pain once you pass a certain
> point.  Now we just name everything with what it does (spamfilter,
> perdition, mailstore, rhbuild, etc) and I find it makes network
> management 100% easier.

Altough I agree that server naming becomes annoying past a certain point I
(and a certain RFC) recommend against naming boxes after functions.
Functions tend to change faster than hostnames do and it is not unknown
for the two get out of sync.

I was once confused when looking at a Linux box as a consultant one day.
A box called faxserver which no longer served faxes.  Now that's useful.

Also, if the hostname is used for item tracking or for service agreements
and support contracts (common in traditional Unix land) it can be
problematic to change the hostname and associated paperwork whenever a box
changes function (and therefore name).

This approach is also problematic when it comes to boxes hosting multiple
functions.  I highly recommend having all service names as aliases.  I
learnt this lesson the hard way.

If the number of boxes is really big then numeric hostnames aren't too
bad, eg, acme1, acme2.

I don't like naming workstations unless they are very few in number.
Numeric names work there too IMHO - ws1, ws2, etc.

> Trust me - at 3AM when you get a page saying "mycatchyname" is down, you
> will be stuck scratching your head trying to remember what it does.  A
> page from "radiussrv1" it a lot more informative.

I find admins who work with the boxes day in and day out tend to remember
the particular services they offer all too well :)

An old employer had all hostnames starting with a Z.  I thought that was
cute: zinger, zippo, zulu, zenith, zero, ...

Rob

-- 
Robert Brockway B.Sc. email: robert-5LEc/6Zm6xCUd8a0hrldnti2O/JbrIOy at public.gmane.org, rbrockway-cFo9iiqjkw8eIZ0/mPfg9Q at public.gmane.org
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