Client Domains

[ict2842]

I am curious to see your "algorithm" for client domains.

I am still considering the business name, so I don't have anything official yet. I am think to use the initials of the company name (indicated here as abbr).tld to keep things short. The current concept name is 4 words and 27 characters without spaces.
I am also thinking to use .systems for my actual machines, so say: pbx-dfw-01.abbr.systems, pbx-dfw-02.abbr.systems, pbx-nyc-01.abbr.systems along with mail-dfw-01.abbr.systems, etc.
For actual client domains of the PBX, I think it would be easiest and simplest to create DNS records for *.abbr.tel and have the point to the servers using SRV records. The other part of this question is how client domains are specified. Is it easiest to do CompanyA.abbr.tel, or use the client ID such as 263.abbr.tel, or even order ID 1456.abbr.tel?

Unrelatedly, I'd likely setup a URL shortener for sending links using abbr.link.

 

[DigitalDaz]

Set it up however it suits you, what you are suggesting looks OK.

One thing to bear in mind and why I always try and keep my domains short.


If you end up with something called mysuperlongpbxnesrockstheworld.com

Then the client has mynameisareallylongone

and then you end up with

mynameisareallylongone.mysuperlongpbxnesrockstheworld.com

then you have clients using long names in the from, you may well find you get intermittent call failures on UDP because your packets get fragmented.

 

[Bifur]

Never considered that at all. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[ict2842]

If you end up with something called mysuperlongpbxnesrockstheworld.com

Just as you mentioned, if I added any of the 3 organizations I am looking at right now along with my full business name, it would be xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com, xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com, and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.com. Quite lengthy, even though I would be copy pasting it.
With the abbreviation, it comes to be abrr.systems, but even putting their name in front of that is quite lengthy.
A client may want several domains. If that is the case, putting the client ID as the subdomain to abbr.systems would be troublesome.
The best way, with this process of elimination, would be to use the order ID. It doesn't give me information on the client at face value (I can't look at it and say, "oh, that's X company!"), but it would be guaranteed to be unique.

I still very well interested in what others have to recommend on the topic.

 

[ad5ou]

It helps if your primary domain is somewhat short. We use clientname.ourpbxname.com The client name is usually their single word recognizable name or an abbreviation If the client name is abbreviated to just a few initials, we add the full client name in the "Description" field for the domain along with any other pertinent info such as account id, default host, main contact # etc.

We label the server name similar to what you described. <datacenter><server number>.ourpbxname.com

 

[ict2842]

We label the server name similar to what you described. <datacenter><server number>.ourpbxname.com

I am planning to register an LLC and do all that fun stuff tomorrow so that I have domains and company to use while setting everything up.
I tried to make SRV records using * as the host to point everything to some other servers, but it seems * is not an option. For DNS of all your client domains, do you manually create DNS records or is there an easier way?

 

[Bifur]

Each client will have its own a record. CompanyA.yourdomian.com, CompanyB.yourdomain.com, etc. Just create them under your domain registrar.

 

[ad5ou]

I prefer to set each client as a CNAME which points to the A record or servername.mydomain.com
I have health checks to update the single A record for fail over events.

I know some DNS providers/servers will allow for a wildcard A record which would allow one less step in setting up a new client, but have not tried that method

 

[ict2842]

I prefer to set each client as a CNAME which points to the A record or servername.mydomain.com
I have health checks to update the single A record for fail over events.

I know some DNS providers/servers will allow for a wildcard A record which would allow one less step in setting up a new client, but have not tried that method

I was hoping to do things with SRV records, or is that not the optimal way to go?

 

[ad5ou]

SRV records are an option but poses some security risks and not all endpoints implement SRV support fully.

 

[KitchM]

Just to clarify a possibly overlooked point. There need not be any relationship between you LLC name and the domain name you register. I appreciate you using initials, but you can use anything else. Such as a word that better describes a part of your business.

I totally support the idea of keeping it short. Life is too short to deal with a long domain name.

Good luck in your project.

 

[Adrian Fretwell]

Keeping domain names short also helps with keeping UDP packet size down to avoid MTU issues, especially in BLF NOTIFY messages.

 

[ict2842]

I got the LLC setup, domains purchased, Green membership, and now I'm trying figure out exactly how I install Postgres on separate servers for the HA cluster in Dallas. For now, I am provisioning two Ubuntu 18 VMs.
For the actual topic here, I have decided <order#>.gwts.tel keeps it short and guaranteed to be unique.

I am not sure what I'll do if I ever get to the point where I am running multiple clusters and, as ad5ou mentioned, need to specify cluster numbers in there. That's a long ways down the road so I'll leave it for then.