Easy Naming Schemes

Friday, 3. September 2010

One of the worst things you can do for a network is give every computer random names. I work for a school district, and we use the following name scheme:
<School>-<Room Number><Student or Teacher><Number>
So, for an elementary school student computer in room 106, the first computer going from the left side of the room when you walk in all-around back to the door would be called:
ELEM-106-s01
(the “S” is for student, “T” for teacher, “nb” for notebook)

The advantages:

Looking through Ghost, Active Directory, or Desktop Authority, we can know instantly where a computer is.
It’s alphabetical, so any computer is easy to find.
It’s easy to remember.
I can instantly know what side of the building it is on based on whether it is elem (elementary) or hs (high-school).

“What about Descriptions”
Though it is true that you can set up descriptions instead of giving proper names, a program such as Ghost will not display these in any sort of order based on location.

Other Naming Schemes:
Many buildings do not have room numbers. You should look at naming computers after their floor and department.
For mobile computers, you might even consider using the primary users name (eg: nb-jesse-zylstra) if the computer moves around a lot.