We went from naming desktops to naming servers which I think are two different things. Here at Textron we use a tag # (TFC005647) and track our 1000+ desktops that way. Servers follow a <location (airport code like MSP)><job function><numeric> format. As Roger said, with a couple hundred servers and several admins across the map, the "friendlier" names simply become too cumbersome.
Working for a smaller shop years ago when I was the only admin my servers (and print servers - Novell) were all "fun" names like TORQUE (as a tangent when Textron bought the company I managed to keep HORSEPOWER as a DC name since they grandfatherd it in :-). Oddly, when I worked for Intel ten years ago - not as an admin, but I could still run SLIST - they had 100's of Novell servers and they were ALL unique "fun" names, like "Beetles" and "Zeppelin", etc. They managed them all somehow. Note that when I heard I had to conform to a "stupid" logical acronym naming format I rolled my eyes because the names look stupid. Now I see the wisdom in it as if I'm asked to check out the e-mail server in Minneapolis I know what server it is without having to look it up. Bottom line, if it works for you and your dept. then it's a good naming convention. Dave Lum - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sr. Network Specialist - Textron Financial 503-675-5510 -----Original Message----- From: Roger Seielstad [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, March 14, 2003 05:31 AM To: NT 2000 Discussions Subject: RE: Desktop naming conventions I'd couldn't disagree more, assuming that the standard naming convention is reasonably well designed. For servers, we use the 3 letter city code, followed by a set of descriptive abbreviations and an ordinal number. I can pretty much guarantee that any reasonably intelligent[1] observer would have no problem knowing or at least guessing what the server does: ATLDC2 Atlanta DC #2 ATLPSDEV1 Atlanta PeopleSoft Development envrionment DALEXMB1 Dallas Exchange Mailbox Server #1 CONEXCON1 Concord Exchange Connector Server #1 Now - we have also used common names for other boxes as well. What are Tungsten, Beryllium and Cerium? How about Socrates, Copernicus and Kepler? The last 3 are my personal workstation and 2 servers at the house. When you have 5 machines, its easy to use that kind of naming standard. When you manage 200+ in 9 different locations with a staff of 6, that becomes a much less optimal solution. Roger -------------------------------------------------------------- Roger D. Seielstad - MCSE Sr. Systems Administrator Inovis Inc. [1] Probably any life form higher than SSM[2] [2] Strategically Shaved Monkey > -----Original Message----- > From: Adam Smith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2003 5:27 PM > To: NT 2000 Discussions > Subject: Re: Desktop naming conventions > > > On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 08:21:22AM -0600, Fanta, Ken said: > > > Another example is SSUNH-TS1. The S stands for Sever. SUN is the > > location Sun Prairie, H in this example is Headquarters and > the TS1 is > > the server name in this case Terminal Server 1 > > How many locations/machines are we talking about here? Do > you give your servers "real names" as well? > > If I said to you "Ken, can you go and check out the web > server, it appears to be down," how would you know what to > connect to off the top of your head? What if you got > confused, because you weren't sure if you needed to connect > to SSUNH-WB6 or SSUNH-WB2? > > What if you called them "Parry" and "Worzel?" I bet you'd > remember which one had which service. We're not robots, > we're humans, and that's one reason I don't believe in these > 'logical' naming conventions. ------ You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives: http://www.swynk.com/sitesearch/search.asp To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
