NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
FOR
WINDOWS SERVER
Abstract
Naming convention for Windows Servers
Document Reference
NAMING CONVENTION FOR SERVERS V1.0.DOCX
Document Type
Naming Convention Guide
Version
1.00
Classification
INTERNAL USE
Status
DRAFT
Date of Issue
13-Jul-17
File Location
To Be defined
# Pages
14
Produced by
Benoît Lejoly
Reviewed by
Authorized by
Mohammed Al Ghannam
©2012 This document and its content are the property of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It may not be copied or in any way reproduced to a third party without prior consent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
INTERNAL USE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
2.
2.1
2.2
2.3
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................... 3
PRESENTATION ................................................................................................. 3
INTENDED AUDIENCE .......................................................................................... 3
SOURCES ....................................................................................................... 3
CHANGE HISTORY .............................................................................................. 4
FORECAST CHANGES .......................................................................................... 4
ABBREVIATIONS / GLOSSARY ................................................................................ 4
NAMING CONVENTION STRUCTURE ................................................................. 5
THE STRUCTURE ............................................................................................... 5
THE NAMING IN ITSELF ........................................................................................ 5
NAMING EXAMPLES ............................................................................................ 6
©2012 This document and its content are the property of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
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INTERNAL USE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Presentation
The goal of this document is to provide an update on the current MoFA Server naming
convention and include in the updated naming convention described here under additional
elements to have a future proof naming convention.
In order to follow market best practices on the subject, this naming convention has taken the
following elements into account:
1. Server names must have a fixed length: In the current naming convention, we
have different names lengths, meaning that we can’t easily use scripting to classify
and automate tasks (sometimes, machine name is used in scripts to crosscheck
operations in automated packages deployments). Example: If all machines in a test
environment are starting with “T” then it’s easy to set a rule in the deployment
console.
2. Server location: In a today naming convention, the recommendation is not to
include any location information in the server name. Indeed, with the arrival of
virtualization technologies inside the datacenter, we can easily have a machine that
is today located in a datacenter that moves to another location. In this case, the
server location contained in the name will not be accurate anymore. If we would
have the location information for each server, it is recommend to use one of the
Active Directory field or another tool to put location information. Doing this is like
treating the server location as a parameter or attribute that can be changed without
impact. Indeed, changing a server name is technically feasible but will have
consequences and for some products, it means full reinstallation. To align with this
recommendation, no locations information have been included in this naming
convention.
3. Server name length: During discussions, we agreed that the server name should
not be too long. As a best practice, the total server name can’t be more than 15
characters. Indeed, as soon as we are going above this limit, some software (like in
Unix and Mainframe worlds) can’t communicate anymore with the Windows world as
the server name is too long to enter in the field. The naming is therefore adapted to
stay with the shortest name as possible.
4. Special characters: Special Characters are generating issues when scripting is
used. Indeed, in most scripting languages like PowerShell or Perl, special characters
like “-“ are interpreted as “minus” signs and therefore scripts are failing. The best
practice is to only use standard letters in a Windows Active Directory based server /
desktop naming convention. All special characters have therefore been removed
from the naming convention.
1.2 Intended audience
MoFA Operation’s team; MoFA persons requesting servers.
1.3 Sources
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NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
1.4 Change history
Version
Nature of change
Date
1.0
First version
20/09/2012
1.5 Forecast changes
Version
Nature of change
Date
1.6 Abbreviations / Glossary
Abbreviation
Full text
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NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
NAMING CONVENTION GUIDE
2. NAMING CONVENTION STRUCTURE
2.1 The structure
The naming convention is divided into five blocks. Each block plays a specific role in the
naming convention structure:
Block 1: Provides the environment with one character
Block 2: Provides the Network Zone with one character
Block 3: Provides the Server role with one character
Block 4: Provides an application description view with three letters and two
numbers
Block 5: Provides the service role provided by the machine
With these five blocks, we end-up with a name that is always 11 characters long.
2.2 The naming in itself
A server name will always have the following structure:
“ENRAAAxxSSS” where we can see that each server has a name in 11 positions.
The “E” is representing the Environment.
The "N" is representing the Network Zone. These are zones that have been
discussed and agreed with Network team.
The “R” is representing the server role. It’s describing, from a generic point of view,
the role played by the server in the environment
The “AAAxx” are describing, for the three “AAA” the application that is running on
top of the machine and the “xx” are replaced by numbers. These numbers must
always start with “01” and increase when the number of machine is increasing. The
current list of “Application descriptions” can be extended to cover new applications.
The “SSS” at the end of the machine name are describing Windows services that are
associated with the server.
The here below table is describing current possible values for the whole chain letter:
Microsoft Excel
Worksheet
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2.3 Naming Examples
You’ll find here under some examples built using the new naming convention as example and
references:
SQL Cluster Production server for BioSP:
1st letter => P as it’s a production server
2nd Letter => Database servers are in the backend zone => B
3rd letter => Role is a database server => D
4th to 8th letter => SQL01 as this is the first SQL server (SQL is considered as consolidated
here). The number here is indicating the cluster number.
9th to 11th letter => N01 for node one of the cluster and N02 for node two of the cluster.
Numbers here are indicating the n° of each node inside the cluster.

Server names are:
o
Node1 of the cluster: PBDSQL01N01
o
Node2 of the cluster: PBDSQL01N02
Load balanced Enjaz IIS in External production:
1st letter => P as it’s a production server
2nd Letter => External zone => E
3rd letter => Role is an IIS server => W
4th to 8th letter => ENJ01 as this is the first Enjaz server. The number here is indicating the
IIS cluster number.
9th to 11th letter => L01 for node one of the cluster and L02 for node two of the cluster.
Numbers here are indicating the n° of each node inside the cluster. It’s an “L” in this case and
not an "N" as IIS nodes are load balanced, not part of an MSCS cluster.

Server names are:
o
Node1 of the cluster: PEWENJ01L01
o
Node2 of the cluster: PEWENJ01L02
3rd Test ESX Server of first ESX cluster – Application zone:
1st letter => T as it’s a test server
2nd Letter => Application servers are in the Application zone => A
3rd letter => Role is an hypervisor/virtualization server => V
4th to 8th letter => ESX01 as this node is part of the first ESX cluster.
9th to 11th letter => N03 for node three as this ESX host is the third ESX box being part of the
first ESX cluster.

Server names is:
o
TAVESX01N03
©2012 This document and its content are the property of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
It may not be copied or in any way reproduced to a third party without prior consent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.