Application server naming conventions

Before you install a new WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS® environment, it is important to carefully plan your naming convention. Your naming convention should be able to grow with your system when you increase the number of cells, nodes, servers, and clusters. It should also be able to accommodate Sysplex and LPAR names, as well as instances such as test, integration, and production stages in your environment.

Application servers are like IMS or CICS® regions.

They contain tailored procedures for the controllers and servants.
They contain tailored environmental variables for each instance of a server.
They use WLM Classification of regions, working within the regions, and are defined as application environments.
They may be self-contained or dependent on other servers.
They need RACF® definitions for Control and Server STC (user IDs, resource profiles), as well as UNIX permissions.
Their users must be allowed to access the servers and to use various objects within them.

Avoid trouble: If you are using a global resource serialization (GRS) ring to attach one or more monoplexes to a sysplex environment, the cell name of any servers running in any of the monoplexes must be unique within the entire GRS environment. This requirement means that the cell name of a server running in any of the monoplexes:

Must be different than the cell name of any servers running in the sysplex
Must be different than the cell name of any servers running in another monoplex that is attached to the sysplex

If you have servers with duplicate cell names within the GRS environment, WebSphere Application Server cannot differentiate between the sysplex cell and the monoplex cell, and treats both servers as part of the same cell, This inaccurate cell association typically causes unpredictable processing results.

The product environment consists of a number of address spaces which require the installation to manage security profiles, workload classification constructs, and so on. To create, manage, and recognize application servers, it may be helpful to create a template for naming your servers and server instances. You can find an example template in the Sample configuration and naming conventions topic.

It is also important to plan the naming conventions for your data sets carefully.

SMP/E target data sets, depending on your maintenance process (regular data sets and the HFS, including its mount points)
Customization HFS, including its mount point
HLQ for your customization data sets (*.CNTL, *.DATA, and *.SAVDCFG)
Error logstream names
DB2® collection and package names