We do something similar to what you are thinking of. With a smaller campus, we have an IT standard 3-letter naming convention for all buildings (e.g. LIB might mean library, etc). This is used across IT for naming (printers, switches, APs, etc). Then, like you, room number and an optional location description (more later) for multiples in one room. Our room numbers always denote floor, so floor number is redundant. And a majority of APs are the only one in a room, so we leave off the optional location for those. So in your case, the ap might be BSD101. If there are multiple in one larger room, we use compass directions, so the one on the south side of the room would be BSD101S and the north side BSD101N (we have a couple of SW / NE / etc).
We also don't care to have the function in the name. When dealing with names, we generally already have narrowed the function - for example, AP id BSD101 has failed and needs to be replaced. We haven't had a problem with confusing an AP with a similarly named switch or PC or printer. YMMV. Maybe it's my aging brain, but the short names are easier to remember, work with, and communicate. Thomas Carter Network & Operations Manager Austin College From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Norman Chu Sent: Tuesday, February 2, 2016 11:38 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [WIRELESS-LAN] Naming conventions for WLAN devices We're looking for ideas to improve our current naming convention for network devices. For an access point, it currently consists of: <buildingName>-<floornumber>-ap<arbitrarynumber> e.g. burnside-1-ap24 For controllers, we use: wireless-<its role>-wmc e.g. wireless-local1-wmc (wmc = wireless mobility controller) For access points, we're thinking of adding location info instead of the arbitrary number, so something like: burnside-1-ap101a where 101a is the first AP in room 101 (101b would be the second AP, etc.) Switches: burnside-sw1, burnside-sw2 UPS's: burnside-ups-1, burnside-ups2-1 PoE midspans: burnside-poe-1, burnside-poe2-1 What do other organizations use for naming conventions for their network devices? Thanks. Norman Chu Network Analyst - Network Infrastructure group Systems Engineering - McGill NCS (514) 398-7299 ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/. ********** Participation and subscription information for this EDUCAUSE Constituent Group discussion list can be found at http://www.educause.edu/groups/.
