So about servers versus services

As an good IT guy the very first thing you should know is to distinguish between the server and the service. Print is the service, nyc-print01 is the server.

For UNIX it's pretty easy to set this up - create an alias for the server, make sure any certificates it's using are signed for both names and you're usually groovy. I'm probably 70% Windows though, most UNIX admins I knew as I started out where college grads and that intimidated me.

Anyways, in Windows you can do most of the same thing. I don't guarantee it will work with any service but we've had good luck so far. First you do the same thing as with the *nix box, create an alias (the service is the alias, the server is the actual record. I'll make a post on the DNS specifics later.

Then you add two registry keys:

Key one, optional server names: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters make an OptionalNames entry, REG_MULTI_SZ is the type. Add one of each of the SERVICE names. I'm pretty sure you don't need to put the server name in.

The second key, Disable Strict Name Checking:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\lanmanserver\parameters
Dword value: DisableStrictNameChecking
Value data (Decimal): 00000001

Finally if you use certificates you'll need to issue certs to the alias, ususally this means a new cert for the server, still having the server listed as the hostname but with aliases defined. Windows Certserver is a pain in the butt.

Oh and you may need to add it's second name in AD, under adsiedit (don't screw around in here, this is kind of like the registry for AD). I'll post it later when I can look it up.

Even this point you may not get full functionality with your alias (printers) instead of your hostname. Try to find ways to resolve that if it's something can live with.