[chef] Re: Hostname Naming Strategies

[Ryan Dooley < >]

 On 8/5/2010 1:01 PM, Ryan Chavez wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> We're starting to think through more of our infrastructure work, and I'm 
> curious how you all approach naming your boxes.  We were thinking a simple 
> prefix followed by an index that increments with each new box that starts 
> up.  But we're wondering what the best way is to manage that counter.  Is 
> that something you all delegate to the opscode server?
>
> And how do you deal with host names when you scale up/down capacity?
>
> We're trying to figure this stuff out on our own, so looking to learn from 
> those who have been down this road already.
>
> Thanks!
> Ryan Chavez

Machine names (well, A records) should not convey function is pretty
much the rule we lived by here at Powerset.

Our machines are named something like this:

aa0-006-4.u.powerset.com

aa = the data center
0   = the network core
006 = the switch number in the data center (switches are named
aa0-006.u.powerset.com)
4 = the switch port.

u.powerset.com is our giant DDNS zone where all of our hosts live.

All the 'details' for a host, such as the data centers physical address,
the model of the switch or the host, are all in our inventory database
we call Boltz. 

If we have to associate a function with a machine we use CNAMEs which
follow the convention:

fucntion.datacenter.powerset.com (e.g. ganglia.aa.powerset.com)

function might be something like nagios or ganglia
datacenter follows the hosts naming structure above.

Cheers,
Ryan