Naming convention for corporate environment

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xpd

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#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 ?

XPD / Gavin

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#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

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#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.

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#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

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#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.

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#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.

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trig42

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#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.

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#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.

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#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.... :)

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#1046221 16-May-2014 12:23

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

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#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.

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#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.

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#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.

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#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...

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#1046227 16-May-2014 12:33

Call it something semi-generic like Rangitoto or Waiheke

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#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.

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