Naming convention for corporate environment

Forums › IT Pro and developers › Naming convention for corporate environment

xpd

Geek @ Coastguard NZ
13765 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#145372 16-May-2014 11:26

Currently we have a large number of systems and all have a particular naming convention which contains the end users name, but this can be a pain especially when the user leaves or is given a new PC, asset records have to be updated, PC name changed etc.
Its handy for tracking down a PC to a particular user but otherwise I dont see any other benefits....

How do you deal with naming of systems on your network ?
Do you have a fixed convention and if so, does the name contain any details about the end user ?

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

LinkTree

1 | 2

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1046171 16-May-2014 11:36

The large SOE I work for uses machine serial numbers (although they are fairly short serial numbers) eg R88GFXZ.

Servers and switches are named with location shortcodes device type code and a number eg DNMSRV001

amanzi

Amanzi
1292 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1046174 16-May-2014 11:38

Associating computer names with user names is generally a bad idea apart from really small networks. Computers should just have simple names with an incrementing number, e.g. PC1, PC2, PC3, or, comp001, comp002, comp003. I wouldn't even bother differentiating between notebooks and desktops, your asset register should maintain those details. I've also seen computers named with the serial number instead of an incrementing number - just as long as it's consistent and generic, it should be fine.

lxsw20

3552 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1046175 16-May-2014 11:40

No details of end user, we keep a spreadsheet for that. We used to use site/type/number as in DC001 would be a desktop in CHCH, but because we swap machines around offices a bit we are chaining to DT001 or LT001 as in desktop or laptop. Servers start with the site name then what it does IE DunAD1/DunExchange1

geekiegeek

2513 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1046176 16-May-2014 11:40

I've never used any user details in a PC name. The only identifiers I've used in the past are something to show if its a desktop or a laptop and which city its in.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1046180 16-May-2014 11:47

we dont have usernames in the computer name but do keep the computers updated in AD with the user who currently has the system. Laptops and desktops go into different OU's for group policy. When the computer goes to someone else we just update AD, works quite well for us.

Do surveys for Beer money (referral link) - Octopus Group

Link for buying beer (not affiliated, just like beer) - Good George

trig42

5810 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#1046181 16-May-2014 11:48

For our head office users, we use PC type, and Serial (actually, since we are a Dell house, we use Service Tag) so LAPTOP-<Service Tag>. For Servers we use location (NZ or AU) and what they do NZ-TS01 or NZ-SQL.
In our sites, we use wha the PC is used for, and an incremental name along with Site number. eg NZ032 (Site Number) - WKSTN01 (NZ032-WKSTN01). Different roles on site (eg a storeman) are always given the same number PC, so across all our sites, we know (for eg.) the storeman always has WKSTN07, The site manager always has another number and so-on. All our sites always have static IPs assigned to PCs also, so WKSTN07 will have an IP address ending in x.x.x.37 where the x.x.x is different for each site.

CYaBro

4583 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1046210 16-May-2014 12:11

As we deal only with small local businesses we don't really have a specific naming convention but we do always put ????-PC or ????-NB so we can see quickly on the network if it is a desktop or a notebook.
We also put the current user in the Computer Description box as you can still view these by running 'net view' from a cmd prompt.

Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

sidefx

3711 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1046220 16-May-2014 12:19

trig42: For Servers we use location (NZ or AU) and what they do NZ-TS01 or NZ-SQL.

Psht, that sounds far too sensible. Servers should be named after characters from your favourite movie, tv series, cartoon or comic book series. Basically whatever obscure pop-culture reference strikes the BOFH fancy and tells lusers as little as possible about the server in question.... :)

"I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there." | Octopus Energy | Sharesies
- Richard Feynman

billgates

4705 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1046221 16-May-2014 12:23

We use asset tags. e.g [company short name 123456] [company short name 123457] etc

Do whatever you want to do man.

Demeter

709 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

One NZ

#1046222 16-May-2014 12:23

What type of assets are you going to be tracking? If you have multiple domains or locations, I would probably do:

{ LOCATION/DOMAIN // ASSET TYPE // IDENTIFIER } Eg. AUK-PC-0001 or VFNZPC0001. As for the asset types, PC is obvious, NB for Notebook, DI for Display, TA for Tablets - you get the picture :)

Basically you want something that'll make Active Directory (if that's what you're using) nice and tidy to look at. I'm a bit of a stickler for that.

TwoSeven

1624 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#1046223 16-May-2014 12:24

Many companies I have seen sometimes use an asset management system and use the asset number as the machine name.

Software Engineer
(the practice of real science, engineering and management)
A.I. (Automation rebranded)
Gender Neutral
(a person who believes in equality and who does not believe in/use stereotypes. Examples such as gender, binary, nonbinary, male/female etc.)

...they/their/them...

Dynamic

3867 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1046224 16-May-2014 12:25

sidefx:
trig42: For Servers we use location (NZ or AU) and what they do NZ-TS01 or NZ-SQL.

Psht, that sounds far too sensible. Servers should be named after characters from your favourite movie, tv series, cartoon or comic book series. Basically whatever obscure pop-culture reference strikes the BOFH fancy and tells users as little as possible about the server in question.... :)

I quite liked Telecom Mobile's (when it was a separate entity in the early days) Windows NT server naming conventions - kauri, rimu, totara, kowhai, etc.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

Referral links to services I use, really like, and may be rewarded if you sign up:
PocketSmith for budgeting and personal finance management. A great Kiwi company.

Behodar

10504 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1046225 16-May-2014 12:26

We used to have Office-Type-Version-Number, for example it might be "RDC23" for a Desktop in Rotorua, hardware version "C", and the 23rd machine with those specs.

That became a pain so we switched to Type-Name, with the types simplified down to WorkStation or SerVer in most cases, for example my current machine is WSBEHODAR (or would be if that was my real name) :P

Now IT is talking about changing back to serial numbers again...

dacraka

766 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#1046227 16-May-2014 12:33

Call it something semi-generic like Rangitoto or Waiheke

davidcole

6034 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1046228 16-May-2014 12:35

We used to have asset tags. But is now based around the user (large, and I mean LARGE multinational). When a user leave the machine is just re-imaged with the new user. It's not that onerous.

Previously known as psycik

Home Assistant: Gigabyte AMD A8 Brix, Home Assistant with Aeotech ZWave Controller, Raspberry PI, Wemos D1 Mini, Zwave, Shelly Humidity and Temperature sensors
Media:Chromecast v2, ATV4 4k, ATV4, HDHomeRun Dual
Server Host Plex Server 3x3TB, 4x4TB using MergerFS, Samsung 850 evo 512 GB SSD, Proxmox Server with 1xW10, 2xUbuntu 22.04 LTS, Backblaze Backups, usenetprime.com fastmail.com Sharesies Trakt.TV Sharesight

1 | 2