I think it will be good idea to setup some naming standards throughout your database servers’ farm. Most of us already have these standards in place. And if there is nothing, I understand that it’s not going to be an easy task to implement standards, especially within an existing environment. BUT, it’s never too late. Let’s have something now.
Server name – <Three or Four Characters for Datacenter location> + <Two, Three or may be Four characters for Server type> + <three or four digit number>
Location example: USA, IND, DEL, LON, ZUR, NYK etc
Server Type example: SQLS, SSIS, SSRS, SSAS, ETL
So, server name should look something like – DELSSRS001 (or DEL-SSRS-001), by looking at the name only, anyone can now understand that this server is for SSRS & located at Delhi (DEL) datacenter. Additionally, you can define standards for named SQL instances.
Database Name – Naming database is a crucial task, it’s like finding a good name for a new born baby. This can be good idea to associate database name with the applications as family name. Like, <AppName> + <Underscore> + <Three Characters for Environment> + <version number>
Example: MyApp_Prd1, MyApp_Dev1, MyApp_UAT2
Data/Log Files – Once database name is set, it comes to Database Files & File groups. Database files should follow the same logic as database name. So, it will become something like
<databasename> + <Underscore> + <dat> + <count number>.mdf
<databasename> + <Underscore> + <log> + <count number>.ldf
<databasename> + <Underscore> + <dat> + <count number>.ndf
Example: MyApp_Prd1_dat1.mdf, MyApp_Prd1_dat2.ndf, MyApp_Prd1_log1.ldf
File Groups : <fg> + <Underscore> + <purpose1> + <purpose2> + <count number>
Example: fg_data1, fg_myindex_1
Stay tuned for upcoming posts on this series.
