Recommended naming conventions for IU Windows computers and groups

• Overview
• OUs and DFS root names
• Servers, workstations, printers, groups, group policies, contacts, mail-enabled public folders, and distribution lists

Overview

The Microsoft namespace used at Indiana University is a completely flat namespace.

In your school or department, this means that even though your servers or workstations may be in a domain, this domain name is not part of the computer name. Names of computers, groups, and other objects need to be unique across campuses. Since there is no built-in hierarchy, hierarchy must be implemented through the names themselves. Computer names are limited to 15 characters.

OUs and DFS root names

The syntax Campus-Department is used for organizational units (OUs) and Distributed File System (DFS) root names. Examples of this syntax include:

• BL-UITS
• IN-MDEP

Servers, workstations, printers, groups, group policies, contacts, mail-enabled public folders, and distribution lists

The syntax Campus-Department-Descriptor is used for servers, workstations, printers, groups, group policies, contacts, mail-enabled public folders, and distribution lists. Examples of this syntax include:

• BL-UITS-Server1
• IN-MDEP-WebServ1
• BL-UITS-WS1
• IN-MDEP-WS1
• BL-UITS-HP8000
• BL-UITS-MyGroup
• IN-MDEP-MyGroup
• BL-UITS-LoopbackPolicy
• IN-MDEP-OfficeXPDisk1InstallPolicy
• BL-UITS-GmailContact-JaneDoe
• IN-MDEP-Username-Purdue
• BL-UITS-SharedPTOCalendar
• IN-MDEP-PublicFolderContacts