Re: Server naming conventions

["Stanclift, Michael" <michael.stanclift () ROCKHURST EDU>]

We also use the Saints or Jesuit convention. Our VMWare host servers are the boring ones (ESX1, ESX2, etc) ... 
occasionally we'll name something for what it actually does, but not often.

Although we did name our Exchange storage array THBGNSTY after a sandwich sold at a department favorite. It's "The Big 
Nasty" with all the vowels removed. It is big, and nasty.

Michael Stanclift | Network Analyst | Computer Services
Rockhurst University | 1100 Rockhurst Road, Kansas City, MO 64110
Phone: 816.501.4231 | Fax: 816.501.4014 | http://help.rockhurst.edu<http://help.rockhurst.edu/>

PHelp keep our campus green, think before you print!
ÏRUCS will never ask you for your password!

From: The EDUCAUSE Security Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU] On Behalf Of Greg 
Francis
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 2:29 PM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] Server naming conventions


We typically use either saints or jesuits. For the saints, we used what they were the patron saint of in selecting the 
name. Used to be fine with <50 servers. Now as we approach 200 servers, that's started to go away. We're not out of 
saints, just ones that are well known! For certain services, like our Citrix farm, we just use something like 
CITRIX-01, etc. Boring, but effective.

Our log management data collector is LMAO.

Greg

Greg Francis
Director, Central Computing and Network Support Services
Gonzaga University
francis () gonzaga edu<mailto:francis () gonzaga edu>
509-313-6896



On Feb 10, 2010, at 11:17 AM, Woodruff, Daniel wrote:


-->
What kinds of naming conventions do everyone follow when building new servers?

Currently, our Windows hosts are named following the pattern 'its-w2ks#' or similar, where the # is the next in the 
sequence, and the names are published in DNS. What are the potential drawbacks or using a scheme like this? Do you 
think it is any better or worse from a security perspective than using something like 'its-oracle-1' which has the 
service right in the name? We're concerned about disclosing the purpose of the machine via its name, and are trying to 
get an idea of what other schools do for their machines. Thanks in advance.

Dan Woodruff
University IT Security and Policy
University of Rochester