Name Deployment Nodes Consistently

Use this skill when creating VMs, zones, or deployment nodes in deployment.c4 or operations.c4.

Prerequisite: Read model-deployment skill for basic structure and hierarchy.

Naming Formula

Virtual Machines (VMs)

Pattern: {Environment}{ServiceName}Vm (PascalCase)

likec4

// Examples following pattern
ProdApigwVm      // prod + apigw + vm = production API gateway VM
ProdUploadVm     // prod + upload + vm = production upload service VM
ProdWorkerVm     // prod + worker + vm = production processing worker VM
StagingApiVm     // staging + api + vm = staging API VM
DevDatabaseVm    // dev + database + vm = development database VM

Rules:

•Environment prefix: Prod, Staging, Dev, Test
•Service name: Meaningful abbreviation (Apigw, Upload, Worker, Database, Queue)
•Suffix: Always Vm for consistency
•FQN identifier: Use lowercase kebab-case: prod-apigw-vm, prod-upload-vm

Zones (Network Segments / VLAN Regions)

Pattern: {Tier}Tier or {Function}Zone (PascalCase)

likec4

// Tier-based naming (for layered architectures)
Dmz          // Demilitarized Zone (edge security)
AppTier      // Application tier (microservices)
ProcTier     // Processing tier (async workers)
DataTier     // Data tier (databases, storage)

// Function-based naming (for specialized infrastructure)
SecZone      // Security & monitoring
InfraZone    // Backup & disaster recovery
NetworkZone  // Load balancing & CDN

Rules:

•Use Tier suffix for layered architecture (App, Proc, Data, Dmz)
•Use Zone suffix for functional groupings (Sec, Infra, Network)
•Each zone should have a description with VLAN details
•Never abbreviate inconsistently (not AppT or ProcZone)

Environments

Pattern: {Environment} (PascalCase)

likec4

Prod       // Production (customer-facing)
Staging    // Staging (pre-production testing)
Dev        // Development (local testing)
Test       // Test (automated testing)

External Nodes

Pattern: {Provider}{Service} (PascalCase)

likec4

VirusTotalService     // SaaS antivirus provider
AwsS3Bucket           // AWS cloud storage
GoogleAnalyticsApi    // Google SaaS analytics
DatadogMonitoring     // SaaS monitoring platform

Rich Zone Descriptions with Network Details

Always include network and infrastructure specifications in zone descriptions:

likec4

AppTier = Zone "Application Tier (VLAN 101: 10.1.0.0/24)" {
  description """
    Microservices deployment zone
    
    | Property | Value |
    |:---------|:------|
    | VLAN | 101 |
    | Network | 10.1.0.0/24 |
    | Gateway | 10.1.0.1 |
    | Firewall | DMZ → AppTier (ingress 443) |
    | Firewall | AppTier → DataTier (egress 27017, 9000) |
    | Purpose | Production microservices |
  """
  
  // VMs in this zone
  ProdUploadVm = Node_Vm "prod-upload-vm" { ... }
  ProdRetrievalVm = Node_Vm "prod-retrieval-vm" { ... }
}

Zone Description Template

likec4

Zone SomeTier "Human Readable Zone Name (VLAN N: CIDR)" {
  description """
    Brief purpose of this zone
    
    | Property | Value |
    |:---------|:------|
    | VLAN | 101 |
    | Network | 10.1.0.0/24 |
    | Gateway | 10.1.0.1 |
    | Firewall Rules | List relevant rules |
    | Purpose | What runs here |
    | Tags | #Production #Networking |
  """
}

VM Description with Infrastructure Specs

Use Markdown tables to make deployment specs scannable and self-documenting:

likec4

ProdUploadVm = Node_Vm "prod-upload-vm" {
  #Deployment
  technology "Node.js + Docker"
  
  description """
    File upload handler and validation service (fail-fast validation)
    
    | Property | Value |
    |:---------|:------|
    | Hostname | prod-upload-vm |
    | IP Address | 10.1.0.12/24 |
    | OS | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
    | CPU | 2 vCPU |
    | RAM | 4 GB |
    | Disk | 100 GB SSD |
    | Port | 3001 |
    | Protocol | HTTP/2 |
    | Container | Docker |
    | Monitoring | Prometheus metrics on 9090 |
    | Backup | Daily snapshots |
  """
  
  uploadApp = Node_App "Upload Service" {
    instanceOf vault.uploadService
  }
}

VM Description Template

likec4

Node_Vm "vm-name" {
  technology "Runtime + Tools"
  
  description """
    Human-readable purpose and role
    
    | Property | Value |
    |:---------|:------|
    | Hostname | prod-service-vm |
    | IP | 10.x.x.y/24 |
    | OS | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
    | CPU | 2 vCPU |
    | RAM | 4 GB |
    | Port | 3001 |
    | Container | Docker |
    | Monitoring | Port 9090 |
  """
}

Complete Example: Multi-Tier Deployment

likec4

deployment {
  Prod = Node_Environment 'Production Datacenter - EU' {
    #Production
    
    // Edge security zone
    Zone Dmz "Network DMZ (VLAN 100: 10.0.0.0/24)" {
      description """
        Perimeter security zone with TLS termination
        
        | Property | Value |
        |:---------|:------|
        | VLAN | 100 |
        | Network | 10.0.0.0/24 |
        | Gateway | 10.0.0.1 |
        | Purpose | Edge services |
      """
      
      ProdApigwVm = Node_Vm "prod-apigw-vm" {
        technology "Kong / API Gateway"
        description """
          Edge API gateway terminates TLS and routes
          
          | Property | Value |
          |:---------|:------|
          | IP | 10.0.0.10/24 |
          | OS | Ubuntu 22.04 LTS |
          | CPU | 4 vCPU |
          | RAM | 8 GB |
          | Port | 443 |
        """
        
        apiApp = Node_App "API Gateway" {
          instanceOf vault.api
        }
      }
    }
    
    // Application services tier
    AppTier = Zone "Application Tier (VLAN 101: 10.1.0.0/24)" {
      description """
        Microservices deployment zone
        
        | Property | Value |
        |:---------|:------|
        | VLAN | 101 |
        | Network | 10.1.0.0/24 |
        | Gateway | 10.1.0.1 |
      """
      
      ProdUploadVm = Node_Vm "prod-upload-vm" {
        description """
          | IP | 10.1.0.12/24 |
          | Port | 3001 |
        """
        uploadApp = Node_App "Upload Service" {
          instanceOf vault.uploadService
        }
      }
      
      ProdRetrievalVm = Node_Vm "prod-retrieval-vm" {
        description """
          | IP | 10.1.0.13/24 |
          | Port | 3002 |
        """
        retrievalApp = Node_App "Retrieval Service" {
          instanceOf vault.retrievalService
        }
      }
    }
    
    // Processing tier
    ProcTier = Zone "Processing Tier (VLAN 102: 10.2.0.0/24)" {
      ProdQueueVm = Node_Vm "prod-queue-vm" {
        description "| IP | 10.2.0.14/24 | | Port | 5672 |"
        queueApp = Node_App "Message Broker" {
          instanceOf vault.jobs
        }
      }
      
      ProdWorkerVm = Node_Vm "prod-worker-vm" {
        description "| IP | 10.2.0.15/24 |"
        workerApp = Node_App "Processing Worker" {
          instanceOf vault.worker
        }
      }
    }
    
    // Data tier
    DataTier = Zone "Data Tier (VLAN 103: 10.3.0.0/24)" {
      ProdDatabaseVm = Node_Vm "prod-database-vm" {
        description "| IP | 10.3.0.16/24 | | Port | 27017 |"
        dbApp = Node_App "Database" {
          instanceOf vault.docDB
        }
      }
      
      ProdStorageVm = Node_Vm "prod-storage-vm" {
        description "| IP | 10.3.0.17/24 | | Port | 9000 |"
        storageApp = Node_App "Object Storage" {
          instanceOf vault.minio
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Naming Consistency Checklist

• VMs follow {Environment}{Service}Vm pattern (e.g., ProdUploadVm)
• FQN identifiers use kebab-case (e.g., prod-upload-vm)
• Zones use {Tier} or {Function}Zone naming
• Zone descriptions include VLAN number and CIDR block
• VM descriptions include table with IP, OS, CPU, RAM, Port
• External services named {Provider}{Service} (e.g., VirusTotalService)
• All zones have descriptive purpose in comments
• All VMs have technology specified
• Each VM has one Node_App with instanceOf linking to model container

Common Mistakes

❌ Don't	✅ Do	Why
`ProdApiVM`	`ProdApigwVm`	Inconsistent casing (VM vs Vm)
`prod_upload_vm` variable	`ProdUploadVm`	Variable names should be PascalCase
`AppServers` zone	`AppTier` zone	Zone names should be singular, use Tier/Zone suffix
No VLAN in description	`VLAN 101: 10.1.0.0/24` in description	Networks require VLAN/CIDR for ops
`dev-upload-vm` for production	`prod-upload-vm`	Environment prefix must match node
Generic name `Vm1`, `Server1`	`ProdUploadVm`	Names should indicate purpose

Related Skills

•model-deployment - Deployment structure and hierarchy
•write-rich-descriptions - Detailed markdown tables in element descriptions
•structure-deployment-tiers - Organizing zones into logical tiers