diff --git a/src/groups.js b/src/groups.js
index 0ad72eb4b..b8aa5f609 100644
--- a/src/groups.js
+++ b/src/groups.js
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ function validateGroupname(name) {
     assert.strictEqual(typeof name, 'string');
 
     if (name.length <= 2) return new GroupError(GroupError.BAD_NAME, 'name must be atleast 3 chars');
-    if (name.length >= 255) return new GroupError(GroupError.BAD_NAME, 'name too long');
+    if (name.length >= 200) return new GroupError(GroupError.BAD_NAME, 'name too long');
 
     return null;
 }
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ function create(name, callback) {
     var error = validateGroupname(name);
     if (error) return callback(error);
 
-    groupdb.add(name /* id */, name, function (error) {
+    groupdb.add('gid:' + name /* id */, name, function (error) {
         if (error && error.reason === DatabaseError.ALREADY_EXISTS) return callback(new GroupError(GroupError.ALREADY_EXISTS));
         if (error) return callback(new GroupError(GroupError.INTERNAL_ERROR, error));
 
diff --git a/src/test/group-test.js b/src/test/group-test.js
index 6b9eab3b7..3ad60e2dd 100644
--- a/src/test/group-test.js
+++ b/src/test/group-test.js
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ var database = require('../database.js'),
     GroupError = groups.GroupError;
 
 var GROUP_NAME = 'administrators',
-    GROUP_ID = GROUP_NAME;
+    GROUP_ID = 'gid:' + GROUP_NAME;
 
 function setup(done) {
     // ensure data/config/mount paths