May 21, 2015 at 6:59 am
How about this naming convention:
[application][enviroment][location]
May 21, 2015 at 7:05 am
We have five databases: PROD, STAGE, TEST, BETA, and DEV. We embed those names into the middle of of the actual database names where all the rest of the characters are the same. We also have removed all rights for IT to directly modify any data in PROD (Production) through SSMS. When we have to make changes to the data in production we have to execute the sql through an app that records into a table (that can't be edited) the commands executed, who did it, when it was done, and what JIRA ticket # it was associated with. Those entries are randomly verified by other people each month to make sure what was done matches what was on the ticket.
May 21, 2015 at 7:06 am
yetd (5/21/2015)
How about this naming convention:[application][enviroment][location]
Can you squeeze all that into 15 characters?
May 21, 2015 at 7:16 am
Yes. for example. SalesT3r23s4, Sales DB, T for Test, P= production, D=dev, Server Room 3, rack23, slot 4.
The hard part is getting others to do it, because they always have better ideas.
May 21, 2015 at 7:16 am
Why is including location in server name important for some?
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
May 21, 2015 at 7:20 am
I have settled on using prefixes for the elements most likely to cause problems, e.g. DEV_EDW_SQL and PROD_EDW_SQL for our development and production Enterprise Data Warehouse SQL servers, and DEV_EDW_SSAS_BLD, DEV_EDW_SSAS_QUERY for the development SSAS servers used for building cubes and servicing queries. As mentioned several times, there is no perfect taxonomy for naming servers. The key is clarity and consistency for your environment.
There are no facts, only interpretations.
Friedrich Nietzsche
May 21, 2015 at 7:20 am
I'm lucky (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it), all of mine are hosted in the same physical location. Some have their servers scattered in several buildings for disaster recovery purposes.
May 21, 2015 at 7:22 am
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
Why is including location in server name important for some?
Because when I'm querying a London server from Seattle, I like to know that I can step out for a cup of coffee while I wait for my results to come back. 🙂
May 21, 2015 at 7:22 am
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
Why is including location in server name important for some?
In my experience it often comes from 'platforms' people, especially when you have systems that are clustered across multiple sites.
Where I work we had that arrangement and then the company closed our secondary site. Now all the servers have been relocated, but still have a name reflecting the original location because they haven't reached end of life yet.
They came up with a new naming convention last year and still haven't learnt the lesson - in fact it's now worse as it includes physical/virtual in the scheme as well.
May 21, 2015 at 7:28 am
dmbaker (5/21/2015)
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
Why is including location in server name important for some?Because when I'm querying a London server from Seattle, I like to know that I can step out for a cup of coffee while I wait for my results to come back. 🙂
With SQL Azure the database is hosted at two or more regional sites, and you don't know which will return your data.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
May 21, 2015 at 7:33 am
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
dmbaker (5/21/2015)
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
Why is including location in server name important for some?Because when I'm querying a London server from Seattle, I like to know that I can step out for a cup of coffee while I wait for my results to come back. 🙂
With SQL Azure the database is hosted at two or more regional sites, and you don't know which will return your data.
Yeah, but we're not quite there yet at our company. I wonder when I'll have a chance for coffee when we are though? What am I talking about, there's always time for coffee.
May 21, 2015 at 7:53 am
call.copse (5/21/2015)
I too have seen all these styles used - Star Wars or Star Trek characters, simple numeric, suffix and prefix. Often mixed up as the administrators decide on one thing or another then changed their minds over time.The best advice I saw was to change the colour scheme in SMSS to red or something to indicate live server - I think you can change the tab font colour on a per server basis. Still, I don't do that anyway. Like most I check, check and check again if doing anything update-y. You can never be too paranoid.
Agree. You need to check and check. The colors fade into the background for me over time.
May 21, 2015 at 7:54 am
phegedusich (5/21/2015)
We have thousands of servers. Each is named after a random six-character word. Each is provisioned in the domain to which it makes sense (prod, dev, etc.).Why, you ask? Well how many six-letter words are in the dictionary? Our management system plays well with this scheme.
Also, as mentioned above, be careful with embedding meaning in server names. We all know that's a bad data practice.
That's great.
May 21, 2015 at 7:57 am
Eric M Russell (5/21/2015)
Why is including location in server name important for some?
This used to be important for us because we often physically rebooted servers. It was helpful to know if you had to drive to plant A or building B to get to a machine. However that was in the days before RDP and we didn't have remote consoles.
Now I'm not sure it matters, and perhaps is detrimental as we move machines, especially virtual ones, around.
May 21, 2015 at 8:17 am
Executive managment has requested that available MB disk storage (zero padded to 10 digits) be appended to the end of all server names. You know... as a convenience for the users, so they have that information when they connect. It has been suggested that you kick off a nightly job to update the server names enterprise wide and then send email notifications to everyone with database access so they can change their connection strings accordingly. We'll need this deployed by June 1 before you go on vacation. :hehe:
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
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