Hostnames

Some people name their machines according to what they do, for example:

• web
• mail
• dns
• backup

I dislike this practice because it means you can't use a machine for anything other than one job (or if you do, the name loses its significance).

I far prefer to give machines generic names (often involving some specific theme) and then use DNS CNAMEs to point web, mail, dns and backup to whichever machines do those jobs; some of them can then easily perform more than one task but still be accessible using more than one task-based name.

Thinking up a theme can be more of a challenge than you realise at the start.

The most common trap to fall into is choosing a theme which only has a limited number of names available (for example, characters in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, planets in the Solar system, or even the names of chemical elements).

So, take for example the Seven Dwarfs:

• Bashful
• Doc
• Dopey
• Grumpy
• Happy
• Sleepy
• Sneezy

Once you get an eighth machine, what do you do?

How about:

• Dumpy
• Frumpy
• Gropey
• Hippy
• Humpy
• Mopey
• Sleazy
• Sneaky
• Squeaky

If those still aren't enough, you can always go off in the direction of Bashful and Doc:

• Candid
• Fearless
• Frank
• Fretful
• Nurse
• Porter
• Prof
• Reticent
• Sheepish
• Spooky
• Sultry
• Tranquil

Whatever theme/s you choose for your machines, have fun :)

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