Server Names

[scotyboy56]

Have the best of both systems. Give the servers interesting names, then add the service/role names as CNAMEs. That way you can name them after the characters of 50 shades, but refer to them by DC01, DC02, SIMS, etc.

 

Using CNAMEs also gives scope to split services to separate servers later with minimal config changes, just change the CNAME.

 

Okay I've learnt something new, how do you do that?

[IrritableTech]

We've named ours after metals. I find it easier to remember personally, but understand those that don't. Physical servers are precious metals; gold, silver, platinum. Virtual machines things like iron, copper, titanium, tungsten etc.

 

Everything is documented so a new person coming into the school could quickly decipher what ran what. The CNAME suggestion above isn't a bad shout either.

[GuyJD]

We have 3 Servers and they are called Admin, Currserver and Telserver, so imaginative, all named before I took over running the ICT here.

[X-13]

We've named ours after metals.

 

Thrash, Death, Doom, Power, Nu...

 

I find it easier to remember personally, but understand those that don't. Physical servers are precious metals; gold, silver, platinum. Virtual machines things like iron, copper, titanium, tungsten etc.

 

oh... That's not as cool.

[Irazmus]

Okay I've learnt something new, how do you do that?

 

That depends on what DNS you're running.

I'm running Bind, so for me it's a matter of adding something akin to

git     CNAME     trixie

to my Bind config.

For Windows DNS it's Add Alias with the service name as the Alias name and the server's FQDN for the target. I've not used Windows DNS since Server 2003 so the terms may have changed, but I doubt it.

[X-13]

For Windows DNS it's Add Alias with the service name as the Alias name and the server's FQDN for the target. I've not used Windows DNS since Server 2003 so the terms may have changed, but I doubt it.

 

Yeah, it's the same in 2012r2.

 

No clue where it's supposed to go, though... [Can you tell I don't mess around with DNS, yet?]

[Oaktech]

My machine naming strategy is boringly functional:

 

LAP-BASELOCATION-NUMBER - Laptops - LAP-LRC-01

WS-LOCATION-FUNCTION/OWNER - Workstations - WS-OFFICE-BM, WS-STAFFROOM-01

SVR-FUNCTION Servers - SVR-DC1, SVR-DAG-01

 

However, places I've worked have been way more creative - For example, one place, ages ago, the DCs were named after members of take that, the exchange/bridgehead servers after the spice girls, terminals servers after 1 hit wonders (aqua, [dj pied]piper, luhrmann). Another place more recently, all named after premier league football clubs. Our local NHS seems to use sci-fi related things. My wife's branch office server is called Gaiman, the terminal server is called Rose (after the Dr Who character) and the server that runs the hospital admissions portal software is called Zaphod.

[truebluesteve]

Ours is boring but practical

 

HWS-SR-Role

 

so

hws-sr-sims

hws-sr-sqlsvr

hws-sr-access

hws-sr-backup

 

and so it goes on. Even I'm bored now

[JLambert97]

When I was a student at college, different server types were named after trees, for instance the printing servers were PINE1, PINE2, PINE3

[mdench]

We have a variety of names

 

Some are female names (started before I got here)

 

 

Mia

Hannah

Hope

Sky

Emma

Eva

Bex

Pippa

Isobel

Grace

Chloe

Ellen

Rosetta

Liz

Ella

Kate

Mila

Lucy

 

TF2 characters (more to come):

Sparky

 

Star Wars:

Leia

Luke

 

 

Various Space Ship Names:

Enterprise

Aurora

Sigma

Freedom

Faith

 

Anyone watch Red Vs Blue? (I do hope you do)

Sarge

Grif

Caboose

Simmons

 

Some normal names

Sims2012

Student2008term

Staff2008term

 

and then one its own our ICT Lab Router

Dave

[caffrey]

Boring names here ***-dc-01 -prt-01 etc

 

Old job was Harry Potter

 

Hedwig - mail server

Gringotts - sql server

Voldemort - ISA server

Hagrid - Active directory

 

might've been a few more

[clareq]

I name servers in a boring, easy to remember way - school code-role-number, but a colleague, who looks after the firewall, insists obscure names are more secure. Hence our current firewall is hosted on Ash, and I think the new one will be on Bernie.

[Zoom7000]

In my previous place we had a plethora of servers, all named by the Network Manager at the time, after Greek mythological characters, in celebration of the Olympics returning to their home land in 2004 (when we set up the new domain)

 

Domain: Olympus.local (Vanilla Windows Server 2003 - Oh how I miss vanilla!)

Athena (First DC)

Apollo (Second DC)

 

Installed at a later date:

Zeus (Third DC and Multimedia Server)

Artemis (Xserve)

Odysseus (MacMini Server when the above died!)

Prometheus (Can't remember what this was for!)

Hera (Backup Server)

Hermes (Remote Access Server)

Ares (Exchange Server)

Eros (FTP Server - I'm sure that's the God of lust and erotica! Dunno what he was thinking about when naming that for a school!)

Metis (File Server)

 

We also had a separate SIMS server boringly called -SIMS.

 

Why on Earth we ended up with so many servers I'll never know, but alas, it worked until RM came in and ripped it all out. Some pretty, pretty, powerful HP G6s some with at least 16GB RAM and a few TBs of hard disks just sitting in a store cupboard gathering dust since 2013. My request to salvage them for use in my charity school was denied

[rickjames]

Always wanted to follow a scheme with Simpsons characters, but never had the chance. Ah.

[mowgli82]

one the schools I took over they were all called after greek gods, agamemnon was not the best name for a server

[Simcfc73]

I decided on Simpsons.

 

Homer and Homer 2 for the hyper-v Hosts

Skinner for the mail server

Lisa used to be a DC but now its Maggie and marge

Bart is the backup

Krusty is the web host

Moe is the RDP server

[manc_techie]

Ours are based on UN Location Codes as we have sites all over.

 

GBMNCPWDC01 - A physical Windows DC located here in Manchester.

[cpjitservices]

Funnily enough, I visited a school recently - quite a large secondary with an All windows network, and the Servers where named after Linux Distros.... Haha... they had a Mail Server call Debian, File Server was Arch and Proxy was Mandrake... there where more but can;t remember what now.

 

All switches etc had names too - Named such things as 95,98,ME,2000

 

*Belly Chuckle*

[JLambert97]

Funnily enough, I visited a school recently - quite a large secondary with an All windows network, and the Servers where named after Linux Distros.... Haha... they had a Mail Server call Debian, File Server was Arch and Proxy was Mandrake... there where more but can;t remember what now.

 

All switches etc had names too - Named such things as 95,98,ME,2000

 

*Belly Chuckle*

 

That's awfully strange...

[dry]

What's with all the hyphens?! Previous place we followed the protocol school initials, role, number- so xyzdc1, xyzdc2, xysps1. Makes it easier when remotely connecting to them.

 

Current place, the 'support' company who installed the server before my time gave it the imaginative name 'server1' and proceeded to install every role imaginable on one instance of Server2008. Grr.

[markwilfan]

I decided on Simpsons.

 

Homer and Homer 2 for the hyper-v Hosts

Skinner for the mail server

Lisa used to be a DC but now its Maggie and marge

Bart is the backup

Krusty is the web host

Moe is the RDP server

Exactly what we have lol abundance to choose from.

 

My favourites are Krusty who is our backup server and quimby who is our sccm server

Edited May 15, 2015 by markwilfan

[Soulfish]

My home lab uses names of cosmological bodies (stars, galaxies, planets, astroids, moons etc) giving me a fair number to playnwith

 

Work is a standardised naming scheme which includes country, city, datacenter, role and number.

[Asgard]

Our network uses Stargate references

[gmonks]

Here we have:

Vhost1

Vhost2

Dangermouse

Mutley

Morph

Norwich

Terminal

Ink

Penfold

[Sagima]

We use a short descirptive name such as Exc1 or FS1 or DC1 - if it's virtual then it gets a v- in front of it