CODEWITHSUNDEEP
.netvalidationhostname
Anthony
Anthony

Reputation: 12397

What constitutes valid machine name syntax?

The MSDN documentation for ServiceController.GetServices stipulates that the function will throw an ArgumentException when

The machineName parameter has invalid syntax.

How can I validate a machine name for valid syntax? Is it similar to Wikipedia's Restrictions on valid host names? I imagine that it would have to cover at least that, but does Windows put any further restrictions on what's valid?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 400

Answers (3)

HighCs
HighCs

Reputation: 69

This is actually not as easy to answer as it seems. The problem is that a machine name often is used unchanged for identification in other services. So its possible to just test its validity as a name for the machine (alphanumeric characters only, no control character, no spaces, no extended charset) but depending on your solution you may want to validate that it also functions as a valid DNS name and perhaps some other services?

I suggest you test both for validity as a NetBIOS and DNS name, here is a good page that describes the rules for both http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264.

Upvotes: 1

MMorrison
MMorrison

Reputation: 21

.Net has an API to verify whether the specified host name is a valid DNS name. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.uri.checkhostname(v=vs.110).aspx which could be a good run-time check. Use this then you won't have to create a parser for the machine name looking for illegal chars or strlen restrictions.

Upvotes: 1

Sri
Sri

Reputation: 11

Have a look at this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/909264

Though it mentions Active Directory, I believe the NetBIOS names section applies to all scenarios.

Hope this helps.

Sri

Upvotes: 1

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