Hey Paul, > Core1-rtr-to-ge1-1-1-vl20.nexicom.net > > Core box #1, rtr=router, to=location, ge1-1-1=interface, vl20=vlan etc > etc.... > That's disturbingly similar to ours :)
tflns2-ge0-1-vl1.caneris.com TF = Toronto/Front LNS #2 = LNS #2 ge0-1 = interface vl1 = VLAN 1 > > Going forward, I'd like to examine a better method to identify the > devices.... does anyone have published standards on what they use or > that of other networks and maybe even why they chose those > methods? > One of my colleagues has written an overview and pros/cons of the most common naming conventions (purpose, geographic, purpose+geographic, and "themes") at http://www.watson-wilson.ca/blog/name-conv.html. He's a systems guy, so it's not written in the context of net ops, but some of the ideas are common. > But what do folks do for "aggregation devices" such as > dial-up shelves, > BAS devices etc? > See my example at the top. > > Finally, we have a fair amount of gear (that we own) at customer > premises that act as either a managed device or a demarcation > point .... > how to you name those today? > Currently similarly to this: MANAGED-DSL-1xxxx, where the 1xxxx is the account number. At the time it was decided to use this for no other reason than when a box/link goes down, it's trivial to find the customer/contacts in the OSS since the device name in the monitoring alert already has an account number embedded in it. Silly reason perhaps, but it's simple and it works. > > Open ended questions obviously - looking for many ideas. > There are many ways of doing it and many factors to consider, I'll just throw some food for thought: -Purpose / device type -Geography -Hierarchical naming -Scalability of the naming system -DNS -Humans - who's using the names and how? Reading/writing - how/frequency? What information do you want to convey (for obvious reason, this may vary greatly depending both on the target and the device)? -Systems - what else is using your names or may be using your names in future? OSS/provisioning/monitoring/graphs for interfaces - automated? Limitations on character set and length of name, e.g. DNS, stupid switches with absurdly short max lengths of port description fields, etc. A regexp can come in handy to define this (and perhaps your entire naming scheme) precisely. In a heterogeneous environment, you have all sorts of stuff where you may have two or more names to refer to the same thing. -Prefixes/suffixes -Mergers and acquisitions - what happens when you have to merge your network with someone else's? Though I can see the value of prefixing, I don't like naming conventions which prefix everything with an abbreviation of the company for two reasons: -Typing extra keystrokes repeatedly every day for no reason isn't fun -Sorting/lists don't work nicely, especially when you would otherwise use a key to go down to the first letter of a name -Traceroutes: I recall reading the slides from a NANOG presentation (unfortunately I don't recall the author's name and don't have a link now) which discussed naming devices in a traceroute-friendly way (friendly as in meaningful to those outside the org as well); you might want to find this. -Finally, look at how others do it - there are plenty of examples Erik ________________________________________ From: Paul Stewart [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, March 13, 2010 10:47 AM To: NANOG list Subject: Network Naming Conventions Hi Folks... With many changes going on this year in our network, I figured it's a good time to revisit our naming conventions used in our networks. Today, we use the following example: Core1-rtr-to-ge1-1-1-vl20.nexicom.net Core box #1, rtr=router, to=location, ge1-1-1=interface, vl20=vlan etc etc.... Going forward, I'd like to examine a better method to identify the devices.... does anyone have published standards on what they use or that of other networks and maybe even why they chose those methods? The core of the network is fairly easy for us to look at different changes where you have interfaces, subinterfaces, locations etc. to deal with. But what do folks do for "aggregation devices" such as dial-up shelves, BAS devices etc? Finally, we have a fair amount of gear (that we own) at customer premises that act as either a managed device or a demarcation point .... how to you name those today? Open ended questions obviously - looking for many ideas. ;) Paul ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which it is addressed and contains confidential and/or privileged material. If you received this in error, please contact the sender immediately and then destroy this transmission, including all attachments, without copying, distributing or disclosing same. Thank you."
