ReadyNAS 516 - Why can't I use an underscore to name my NAS drive?

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Kezooz wrote:

Hi everyone.

 

Just wondering why I can't name my NAS drive with an underscore? i.e. Mullins_NAS

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The standard for hostnames ( https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc952 ) restricts the characters to A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and -.  So underscore is forbidden.

While some devices will allow you to use other characters in a local hostname, internet hostnames (the part before the first period) are still restricted to the original set of characters. This wiki article says that IOS 14 will give you a certificate error is you attempt to browse with https to a hostname with an underscore:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostname

FWIW, this standard is very old (1985). One consideration was that some terminal devices (in particular ASR-33 teletypes) didn't have an underscore character, and some of those devices were still in use at the time.

So the net here: Netgear is just following the standard for hostnames.