Strong database names on database server
database, database-design, naming, sql-server
Solution
Our naming strategy is usually based on the concatenation of 'three letters acronyms' (TLA's) representing the different 'dimensions', of the database, separated by underscores. This rule is applied for sites, applications, clients, etc.
For example, when my app acronym is `ABC`, and our United Emirates Office is a suscriber to the ABC database, this database name will then be `ABC_UAE` (Using then the offical/ISO TLA of the country is of course a nice choice).
Once you give your clients a TLA identifier, you can use it to build your database name:
- `ABC_ACM`: for the main/central ABC database for Acme Company
- `ABC_ACM_CAN`: for its subscriber's in Canada
Now, if you maintain different database versions, you have the choice between:
`ABC_012_ACM` if version 1.2 is maintained for multiple clients
`ABC_ACM_012` if Acme has its specific 1.2 version
In case these databases have subcribers, the meaning of `ABC_ACM_012_CAN` is then quite obvious. I'd advise you to use a standard 3 digits numbering for version numbers. It makes things really easier!
This rule suffers some exception when talking about development databases. For example, my developer's version of `ABC_ACM` database will be `ABC_ACM_pgrondier`, if development is maintained by client, or `ABC_012_pgrondier` if development is maintained by version. As a matter of fact, having the last 'dimension' of the database name not implementing the TLA rule is also quite common when you come to individual suscribers:
`ABC_ACM_012_username` is subcriber to `ABC_ACM_012`
`ABC_ACM_012_CAN_username` is subcriber to `ABC_ACM_012_CAN`
Problem
We have a SQL server with many databases in it. We have customers with multiple versions of a similar app and multiple apps for a single customer. Almost all databases are tied to specific websites. How do you stay organized with your database names? Surely there is no single answer, but do you have a database naming strategy that is working for you? We are considering: Customer + Product + Phase of Development (Production, Staging, etc.) But that becomes awkward when a customer runs three versions of a product.