Hostname Naming Compliance

[Gregory Hicks]

> Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:07:31 +0000
> From: Evan Hunt <Evan_Hunt at isc.org>
> To: "Eric C. Davis" <eric at mail.rockefeller.edu>
> Subject: Re: Hostname Naming Compliance
> Cc: "bind-users at lists.isc.org" <bind-users at lists.isc.org>
> 
> On Mon, Feb 23, 2009 at 01:54:46PM -0500, Eric C. Davis wrote:
> > I know the option to use this compliance checker is present, but I'm 
> > curious to know if there are plans to make it mandatory to comply.  We 
> > aren't using this feature now, but I would like to.  My problem is 
> > politicking my way around the issue of breaking something that works.  
> > If Bind were to say they were going to start forcing compliance with 
> > this naming standard, then I simply have to say it's a standard that is 
> > being enforced.  Shouldn't enforcement be applied across the board 
> > anyway instead of at the operator's discretion?
> 
> I haven't heard anyone at ISC suggest this, but if I did, I'd argue
> against it.  I don't think we have any wish to be the "enforcers". :)
> And anyway, if we put "mandatory" compliance into BIND, people who
> wanted to break the rule would just hack it back out again.

If you want to "enforce" compliance, get M$ on board.  Otherwise it
ain't gonna fly.

I had good luck with $PREVIOUS_JOB with getting the company to
implement a "policy" of what host names should look like and then, when
a user tried to register a host via the helpdesk, the HelpDesk
personnel 'enforced' the naming standard.  (We also ran into several
places where non-compliance "broke things".  (And no, I don't remember
what they were...)

I personally, whenever I saw a non-compliant hostname, would contact
the user and tell them that their hostname, formatted thus-and-so,
could cause problems and "Why don't you let me fix the name for you?"
990 times out of a 1,000, I got a "Go ahead.  Let me know when you're
finished."  ($COMPANY's host table had some 48,000-50,000 names in it
any one time...  There were MANY chances to excel there.)

Regards,
Gregory Hicks

> 
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> Internet Systems Consortium, Inc.
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Gregory Hicks                           | Principal Systems Engineer
                                        | Direct:   408.569.7928

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