Who would have thought that server and workstation naming would be such a pain in the ass? Because Active Directory limits a computer name to 15 characters, the creativity options are thrown out the window.
Based on a number of websites, this is what I came up with:
For Servers
ee-loX-fffff-YY, where
ee: Abbreviation for environment. (DV for Development, QA for Quality Assurance, UA for User Acceptance, SG for Staging, TR for Training). Can leave this out if this is a production server
lo: Location code, either city, state or region (CH for Chicago, MI for Michigan, NY for New York, etc)
X: Number 1-9 for location within a region
fffff: Function that usually ranges from 3 to 5 characters. If this function is a cluster, the last character should be a digit (i.e. ESX01 represents a VMWare ESX cluster)
YY: Iteration of a specific function type. If there are multiple web servers, for example, 01-99
Here are some examples:
CH1-WEB-01: First web server in Chicago 1 location
CH2-WEB-01: First web server in Chicago 2 location
NY1-ESX01-02: Second node of ESX01 VMWare cluster
QA-CH1-SQL-03: Third SQL Server in Chicago 1 location for QA purposes
Clusters are a little different, as you may need to list the server cluster, a database cluster object, and then the cluster nodes. Here's an example of how I'd use the naming convention to solve this issue using a SQL cluster as an example.
CH1-SQL03-DB: SQL03 database cluster object in AD
CH1-SQL03-CL: SQL03 system cluster object in AD
CH1-SQL03-01: SQL03 node 01
CH1-SQL03-02: SQL03 node 02
For workstations, laptops, printers
This one is a bit easier. Based on some websites I've read, although it may seem like a good idea to include a location in a workstation name, boxes move a lot, they change hands, and they might need to be renamed. This is a pain.
So, this should be kept simple:
tt-xxxxxxxx, where
tt: type of device (WK for workstation, LP for laptop, PR for printer)
xxxxxxxx: ID tag of asset, usually a company barcode number or serial number
Examples:
WK-00124892: Workstation with ID tag 00124892
LP-012993: Laptop with ID tag 012993
PR-11220: Printer with ID tag 11220
Printer aliases
Printer aliases should represent the location and type of printer. This can easily be customized depending on how specific you want to get in the name. For my convention, I wanted to limit specificity to office location, similar to servers.
loX-ffff-YY, where:
loX: Geography code and location number, similar to server naming
ffff: Abbreviation of printer function (i.e. BWLJ for Black and White Laser Jet, CLLJ for Color Laser Jet, CLCP for Color Copier, MFP for Multi-Function Printer)
YY: For number of printer at location 01-99
Examples:
CH1-BWLJ-01: Black and White Laser Jet in Chicago
NY2-CLCP-02: Color Copier in New York 2 location
What are your thoughts? I have some conventions for network devices like switches and routers that are specifically tied to a datacenter or IDF, but one of the network guys I know is thinking this may need some work.
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1 comment:
This is something I just put a document together about at work recently. Ours primarily consist of the following
1. Two-letter ISO standard name of the country where the server is physically located
2. Single letter indicator of environment (Dev, QA, Prod)
3. Single letter indicator of whether this is a physical or virtual server.
4. Number indicating the function performed by the server. We established ranges of numbers for different roles; web server, database server, app server, etc.
We never come close to the 15 character limit of AD. I like your thoughts, Zach. I'm a BIG fan of sensible server naming and standards in the work place as it makes the job much easier when you can look at a server name and immediately know the skinny about it. Though my non type-A attitude would vote for naming them after characters from the Lord fo the Rings or something.
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