Server Naming Convention Guidelines

A standardized naming convention for servers and infrastructure components is essential for maintaining clarity, consistency, and operational efficiency across your technology environment. This document outlines our recommended naming structure and provides examples for various use cases.

Naming Structure

Use the following format for all server and infrastructure resources:

[ENV]-[REGION]-[ROLE]-[PROJECT]-[INSTANCE]

Components

Each segment of the name serves a specific purpose:

Component	Description	Examples
ENV	Environment designation	PROD, STAGE, DEV, TEST
REGION	Geographic location or cloud region	EU, US, APAC, eu-west-1, us-east-1
ROLE	Server function or service	BE, FE, DB, CACHE, LB
PROJECT	Project name or client identifier	respirastudio, flo, ledges
INSTANCE	Numeric identifier or specialized role	1, 2, 3, primary, replica1

Environment (ENV)

The environment specifies the deployment stage in the application lifecycle:

Code	Environment	Purpose
PROD	Production	Live systems serving end users
STAGE	Staging	Pre-production environment for final testing
DEV	Development	Used by developers for ongoing development
TEST	Testing	Dedicated to QA and automated testing

Region (REGION)

The region indicates the geographic location or specific cloud provider region:

Code	Description
EU	Europe (general)
US	United States (general)
APAC	Asia-Pacific (general)
eu-west-1	Specific AWS EU West (Ireland) region
us-east-1	Specific AWS US East (N. Virginia) region
westeurope	Azure West Europe region

Role (ROLE)

The role defines the server's function within the architecture:

Code	Role	Description
BE	Backend	Application servers running business logic
FE	Frontend	Web servers delivering UI components
DB	Database	Database servers (SQL, NoSQL)
CACHE	Cache	Memory caching services (Redis, Memcached)
LB	Load Balancer	Traffic distribution services
API	API Gateway	API management and routing
AUTH	Authentication	Identity and access management
LOG	Logging	Centralized logging services
MON	Monitoring	System monitoring and alerts
STOR	Storage	File/object storage systems

Project (PROJECT)

The project name identifies the specific application, client, or initiative:

• Use lowercase letters for consistency
• Avoid spaces and special characters
• Use hyphenation for multi-word projects (customer-portal)

Instance (INSTANCE)

The instance identifier distinguishes between multiple servers with identical roles:

• Numeric values: 1, 2, 3 for simple sequential numbering
• Functional identifiers: primary, replica1, replica2 for database clusters
• Availability zones: az1, az2 for infrastructure spread across zones

Usage Examples

Backend Servers

PROD-EU-BE-respirastudio-1        # Primary backend server in production (Europe)
STAGE-US-BE-respirastudio-2        # Second backend server in staging (US)
DEV-APAC-BE-respirastudio-1        # Development backend server (Asia-Pacific)

Frontend Servers

PROD-EU-FE-respirastudio-1        # Production frontend server (Europe)
DEV-US-FE-respirastudio-1        # Development frontend server (US)
STAGE-EU-FE-respirastudio-az2    # Staging frontend server in availability zone 2

Database Servers

PROD-EU-DB-respirastudio-primary    # Primary production database
PROD-EU-DB-respirastudio-replica1    # First read replica
STAGE-US-DB-respirastudio-primary    # Staging database (US region)

Specialized Services

PROD-EU-CACHE-respirastudio-1        # Production Redis cache server
PROD-EU-LB-respirastudio-public    # Production public-facing load balancer
DEV-US-API-respirastudio-1        # Development API gateway

Best Practices

1. Consistency: Apply the naming convention across all environments and projects
2. Documentation: Keep a registry of all named resources
3. Tool Integration: Configure monitoring and automation tools to respect the naming scheme
4. Resource Tags: Complement names with metadata tags for additional categorization
5. DNS Records: Align DNS CNAME records with the naming convention where possible

Implementation Guidelines

• When creating new infrastructure, always follow this naming convention
• During migration of existing systems, rename resources according to this standard
• Include server naming in your infrastructure as code templates
• Update all documentation to reference the standardized names

By adhering to this naming convention, you'll improve system organization, simplify troubleshooting, and enhance team communication around infrastructure resources.