We likewise use a similar naming convention to that used by Austin College (see
below). We do, however, separate the building abbreviation from the room number
with a dash and also follow the room number with a dash if a direction, an AP
count (in a really dense deployment), or if an "-H" is appended meaning "in the
hall near the door to". Our campus room number standard has an optional leading
letter followed (with no separation) by four digits (which also indicate the
floor) followed by an optional letter (again, with no separation).
Hence an AP name with a specified building location could look like any of the
following:
LIB-101
LIB-A101
LIB-101A
LIB-A101A
LIB-A101A-NE - an AP in the northeast corner of A101A
LIB-A101H - a valid room number not to be confused with
LIB-A101-H - an AP in the hall outside of room A101
LIB-A101H-H - an AP in the hall outside of room A101H
LIB-P404A-23 - the 23rd AP (numbered clockwise starting immediately left of the
main entrance door) in room P404A of building LIB
LIB-101AF or LIB-AF101 or LIB-AF101HM or LIB-G-103-4 are all invalid room
numbers --- not in the form: optional single leading character, three or four
digits (rapidly renumbering rooms to 4 digits now), optional single trailing
character with no separation between the three parts
We print a label to go on the outside of each AP giving its name. Our Cisco APs
are white, so we use a 1/2" white tape with black characters to make the label.
This size is easily seen from the floor of even a tall room but blends into the
AP housing quite well. We are starting to have some resistance to visible APs
is new auditoriums with "cloud" type ceilings and even sometimes in black,
exposed ceilings. So far though we have been able to get them treated with the
same respect as a fire sensor.
So, our AP names (6K+ right now) give physical location info with their name
and nothing more. This tells the tech exactly where the AP is. He might not
even need to know what closet it is wired from depending on his task. But, if
he needs to know and doesn't already know that info, he can go to any comm
closet in the building and look at a printed map posted there of the entire
building showing what areas of the building go to which comm closets.
The person who does the hands-on work with the APs needs to know where the AP
is or should be. He usually doesn't care what the IP address is, and may not
even care whether it is working or not. If he has been told to go replace the
AP named LIB-101. He doesn't really need to know anything else. Our
installation/maintenance techs do not do any troubleshooting other than maybe
pull a phone out of their pocket to see if it works or maybe look at the
lights. In by far the majority of cases, our NOC has determined that an AP is
bad and needs to be replaced and simply dispatches a tech to do that. For new
installs, once again the tech pulling the wire, mounting the APs, and patching
the wiring to the switches has nothing to do with the configuration of the
AP/controller. All he needs to know is which AP gets put where and what comm
closet does it need to be fed from, which we supply to him via a printed
AutoCAD floor plan that has been properly marked.
-jcw
[UA Logo]
John Watters The University of Alabama
Office of Information Technology
205-348-3992
From: The EDUCAUSE Wireless Issues Constituent Group Listserv
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Thomas Carter
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2016 11:57 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [WIRELESS-LAN] Naming conventions for WLAN devices
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]<mailto:[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
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