Hi Jody:

I just started at my current library in March, and was horrified to
discover that our ILS Web server hostnames were "sirsiweb" and "iLink".
Our library was a victim of vendor branding from several years back,
when our vendor installed and configured our servers for our trusting
librarians. The worst part is that we actually refer to our OPAC as
"iLink" in all of our library documentation and training materials for
students -- this adds one more hook into the vendor's grip on our
account and will make it that much more painful if we decide to switch
to another ILS system some day.

Let this be a strong plea to your readers to choose nice, generic
hostnames for their public-facing servers to help them avoid vendor
lock-in.

Dan Scott

>>> On 10/26/2006 at 3:39 PM, Jody Fagan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Dear Code4Lib folks,
>
> I'd like to write an anecdotal article about library server
nomenclature
> ... I'm for-sure that most librarians don't even know our servers
have
> names. I am hoping that some of you might be willing to share
(off-list)
> server names you have known in libraries, how/why you chose them,
and
> any random thoughts you have about them. Did you inherit them? Did
you
> get to pick them out? Do you think the whole idea of server names is
> silly or do you secretly like the fact that your servers have names?
> I am happy to guarantee anonymity (that is, I won't use your name or
> institution in conjunction with any server names) unless you
> specifically want to be identified or given credit for your
statements.
> I plan on sharing my institution's server names in my article, but
not
> say where they are from....
>
> thanks for considering this,
>
> Jody
>
> --
>
> Jody Condit Fagan
> Digital Services Librarian, James Madison University
> 540-568-4265
> [log in to unmask]
>
> "Machine. Unexpectedly, I’d invented a time" -- Alan Moore
> http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.11/sixwords.html