Re: [SAGE] Naming conventions for servers, network gear, etc.

[Etaoin Shrdlu <shrdlu@deaddrop.org>]

Jason Antman wrote:

>>Have there been any papers done on naming conventions for servers,
>>network gear, etc?
>>    
>>
>I work for Rutgers University, which has pretty large IT operations
>department. University-wide, the hosts are named using department-specific
>names, which are a hodgepodge of functional names  such as NBCS for New
>Brunswick Computing Services, and "random names" - Eden, Clam, etc.
>Clustered servers are named such as Eden-u1, Eden-u2, etc.
>  
>
I have found over time (and I've seen a lot of time) that *any* 
consistent naming scheme works. It's helpful if the names have some sort 
of internal sense that makes NBCS-Room449 something that is part of your 
responsibility, where Eden-u1 is clearly someone else's (just for 
example). Another thing that's important is the long view. As we know, 
certain operating systems and applications do *not* like being renamed 
(think Oracle; think Windows2k3). The less emotional attachment there is 
to a naming scheme for servers and network devices, the better.

Let me reiterate the excellent work already quoted so many times. I 
don't think it gets better than that.

http://www.nanog.org/mtg-0405/ringel.html

>For my personal networks, I really prefer names that have nothing to do
>with the functional nature of the machine, as I view this as making
>network reconnaissance too easy. My home development network has "SATURN"
>as the main DHCP/DNS/LDAP server, and the other machines are named after
>Saturn's moons, allowing approximately 56 unique names.
>  
>
Amusing, but what on earth makes you think anyone interested in your 
personal network will care in the slightest about what the *name* of 
anything is? If it's interesting enough for someone to care, they will 
*know* that you have all those services running on just one machine, and 
it'll be over. OVER. On the other hand, unless you have the ability to 
support a bunch of bots, I doubt that the bad guys care. Everything's so 
automated now, anyway.

My router is usually named rooter, because it makes me laugh. When it 
comes to small networks, I'd just as soon have names that are memorable 
for the entertainment value, as anything. Some of my favorites have been 
muscle cars (Cobra, Mustang), Nobel Prize winners for physics (with an 
honorary mention for Hawking, who *should* win), and insect predators 
(Mantis, Widow).

-- 
I will put Chaos into fourteen lines
    And keep him there; and let him thence escape
         If he be lucky...
Edna St. Vincent Millay