Travel Technology - What is your server / network naming scheme?

Maybe everyone else will think this is weird, but this topic triggered the idea:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5853914#post5853914

Over the years- and I'm not even in IT anymore- I've seen a lot of different server names and naming schemes.

Greek/Roman and sometimes Egyptian gods seem to be very common. I've worked with domain controllers named Thor and print servers named Isis, etc.

My company seems to prefer a logical approach- at least its logical to someone other than me. They use the first 3 letters of the data center's city then 4 letters of the server's function then a number. So an exchange server in Atlanta is atlexch01 for example.

At home I use ski resorts for servers and operating systems for workstations. My domain controllers are Aspen and Vail, my VoIP box is Whistler, etc...

I'm curious what everyone else out there uses or has seen. Anything good or original?

Maybe everyone else will think this is weird, but this topic triggered the idea:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5853914#post5853914

Over the years- and I'm not even in IT anymore- I've seen a lot of different server names and naming schemes.

Greek/Roman and sometimes Egyptian gods seem to be very common. I've worked with domain controllers named Thor and print servers named Isis, etc.

My company seems to prefer a logical approach- at least its logical to someone other than me. They use the first 3 letters of the data center's city then 4 letters of the server's function then a number. So an exchange server in Atlanta is atlexch01 for example.

At home I use ski resorts for servers and operating systems for workstations. My domain controllers are Aspen and Vail, my VoIP box is Whistler, etc...

I'm curious what everyone else out there uses or has seen. Anything good or original?

Just not nerdy enough, SpaceBass. Characters from The Lord of the Rings :)

Domain is Elbonia, systems are Pointyhairboss, Dilbert, Alice, Catbert, Bob and Ratbert.

domain is '106miles', computers are jake and elwood.

I ran a computer lab in college. All of the stations were named after countries, with no rhyme or reason to which computer got what name - the domain controllers were namibia and djibouti, and united-states, germany, france, etc. were all workstations.

Coming from a telco background, seeing CLLI codes used in the naming is VERY common.

For personal use, I've ended up going with various types of law/intelligence agencies. Interpol, politburo, dsx, etc. Kinda fun, especially for people's reactions ("you're logging into WHERE?")

-JC

Pseudo-CLLI.

In the US, it's city-state-class (workstation or server)-function/owner-number.

So, an Atlanta based SMS box might be:

ATLGASSMS01

By some freak of nature (and an overly US- attitude) the same box in Manchester, UK will be:

MANUKSSMS01

And somebody's workstation in chicago will be:

CHIILWJOEBLOW01

Unix stuff is just city-state-server number:

SEAWASRV01

The network guys have all the fun with their interface DNS, and the IBM people (AS/400s and the like) do whatever they want for the most part.

Back in the old days (circa '95) when I was an ISP guy, we'd name the boxes after greek gods. That did not scale very well.

At home? "ClueByFour's Laptop", "ClueByFour's Desktop", "ClueByFour's file-print." I've been doing this stuff to long to be cute about it anymore.

My PCs are Laptop and Athlon, print servers are Upstairs and Downstairs.

Should it be more imaginative that that?

My alma mater's Engineering school used hotel chains (Hilton, Ritz, Super8, Motel6, etc). The Arts & Sciences school used fruits (lime, apple, pear, melon, banana, etc).

I work for a company with some fairly big data centers.

Until recently we used to let the account teams select the names for the boxes, with predictable results: lots of mythology, science fiction, Tolkien names, etc. I actually have one named after me, from when I was a client of this company (not my idea).

Now the policy is that boxes have to be named something corresponding to function/physical location. Bummer.

Many year ago I was visiting a client in Houston. I noticed a mapping table on the workstation with something like:

SnowWhite--HOU101
Doc--HOU102
Sneezy--HOU103

Well, you can probably guess the punchline. Apparently during some computer problems a senior executive heard the IT guy say "Oh, I've got to go reboot Dopey!" - and thought that sounded unprofessional and made them change it.

One of my clients uses names/terms from Star Trek for all their machines. It's actually really irritating because they have upwards of 200 servers in their data centre and I'd rather not have to remember that a certain database is on 'trieste' or 'voyager'. The 7of9 server is rather nice looking though...

domain is '106miles', computers are jake and elwood.


Jake and Elwood...that's great!

I agree with folks in big data centers using CLLI or something similar.
I have a client that uses gods excpet for one server called 'waldo'...apparently it was lost in shippment at some point prompting people to ask "where's waldo?"... I find it quite annoying to have to remember all that. Then again, I'm not in IT anymore and I have to remind myself thats not my business.

Jake and Elwood...that's great!I once used those two names for routers at opposite ends of one of the first set of dial-on-demand internet routers, Telebit Netblazer (http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/personal/telebit.html)s. One was in Chicago :D

'Round here we use Grateful Dead names. Like with Star Trek, there are a *lot* to choose from...

The Simpsons characters--there's an almost unlimited supply. Of course, if we run out, we can always use the name of the state in which they reside. ;)

The Simpsons characters--there's an almost unlimited supply. Of course, if we run out, we can always use the name of the state in which they reside. ;)

But what state do the Simpsons live in?!?! (I have a thought on this but thats a topic of another board I guess)

I like the Grateful Dead idea...but that might send my mind in the wrong direction everytime I ping strangetrip.americanbeauty.cc :D

Greek mythology - Lot of them
Cartoons - all sorts (looney tunes, simpsons etc..etc.. )
geographic: area, city, airport initials, building names, department,
Lot of names from: http://www.godchecker.com/
functional and purpose based names.

Weather conditions in the UK: thunder, drizzle, cloudy and out colour printer is called rainbow.

Home network: precious metals (gold, silver, copper)

At work: we're working on a robotic satellite servicing demonstration. so we've named them after robots in 60s TV shows: gigantor, rosey, voltron, bender, tobor, twiki

I have been a few places with astronomy-themed names. Planets, moons, constellations, etc.

But my favorites were Larry, Moe, Curly, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo. :D

Home network: precious metals (gold, silver, copper)

At work: we're working on a robotic satellite servicing demonstration. so we've named them after robots in 60s TV shows: gigantor, rosey, voltron, bender, tobor, twiki

Hummm in Longmont though....guess we don't work for the same place
Our servers out there are named after famous nerds...not sure why they don't have to use the CLLI scheme but its cool :D
I love the robot theme!

Mine is actually quite complicated, but does follow a certain logic:

Server/desktop machines acquired used/old are named after dinosaurs
Server/desktop machines acquired new are named after lizards
Mobile(handheld/laptops) systems acquired used/old are named after ancient flying lizards
New laptops and such are named after modern, extant birds of prey.

Which gives me machines like:
gecko, iguana, thornydevil and komodo as well as ones like hadrosaur, dimorphodon, dromaeosaur, kestrel and merlin.

Maybe everyone else will think this is weird, but this topic triggered the idea:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5853914#post5853914
<snip>
I'm curious what everyone else out there uses or has seen. Anything good or original?

Wallace and Gromit stuff -- network name = 62 West Wallaby, individual machines are Wallace, Gromit, Shawn, Wendellyne etc...

RFTraveler...
:D :D :D

We still use Disney characters over here . . . Dumbo, Triton, Abu, Aladdin, Jafar . . . .

I once used those two names for routers at opposite ends of one of the first set of dial-on-demand internet routers, Telebit Netblazer (http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/personal/telebit.html)s. One was in Chicago :D



Was the other ~106 miles away? :)

On a completely unrelated note, somebody at IDOT must have an odd sense of humor, as one of the mileage signs on I-55 has "Chicago - 107 miles" on it.

Group shared machines, instruments and servers: dead rock stars
Notebooks, PPCs: strippers

Currently coming to you from Sonja, if that is her real name :)

Beer names.... :D

back in the days, I used to use the fairly common scheme (planets)

At one job it was the three stoodges theme too.

At another it was animals, don't remember exactly, but servers were fish, pc's were mammals, etc.

Now it's out of my control, it's NYFS01 for New York File Server number one, boring stuff like that, XS for exchange server, etc.

Now it's out of my control, it's NYFS01 for New York File Server number one, boring stuff like that, XS for exchange server, etc.

I must be alone on this: I think that the "boring" stuff makes perfect sense. Trying to figure out where "Larry" is among 420 some sites (in my case) worldwide might get a bit old.

If I still worked in a small shop, I'd probably still be doing it the fun way. I just can't fathom it on a medium or large scale.

At my previous company, the desktops and servers had standard naming protocols. The printers varied by office, but usually included the local sports team(s). We added two printers in my group, and had a poll to name them. Rocky and Bullwinkle narrowly beat out Kirk and Spock.

I tried this method on my China project, and they didn't get it. :rolleyes:

I must be alone on this: I think that the "boring" stuff makes perfect sense. Trying to figure out where "Larry" is among 420 some sites (in my case) worldwide might be a bit old.

If I still worked in a small shop, I'd probably still be doing it the fun way. I just can fathom it on a medium or large scale.

It can actually be pretty confusing to figure out where Cobain is even in a small shop.

I must be alone on this: I think that the "boring" stuff makes perfect sense. Trying to figure out where "Larry" is among 420 some sites (in my case) worldwide might be a bit old.

If I still worked in a small shop, I'd probably still be doing it the fun way. I just can fathom it on a medium or large scale.

Even in my small house lan I often forget what is what. It is just something I've done for years and never got around to changing... :D

I must be alone on this: I think that the "boring" stuff makes perfect sense. Trying to figure out where "Larry" is among 420 some sites (in my case) worldwide might be a bit old.

If I still worked in a small shop, I'd probably still be doing it the fun way. I just can fathom it on a medium or large scale.

In a small environment, its not a bad idea to use names. If they are desktops
you can always associate the name with the person using it..
and for the server, you can easily associate with the function and
personality (if the names are picked that way)
but beyond a couple of dozen systems, its a mess to track the names down.

but for a large environment, you need to go by geographic information,
building name, floors, corners etc.. boring, but very effective.

I've used several schemes over the years. At one point I had Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde.

Currently I'm using wooden roller coaster names. Raven (http://rcdb.com/id136.htm), Thunderbolt (http://rcdb.com/id122.htm), Phoenix (http://rcdb.com/id143.htm), Cyclone (http://rcdb.com/id222.htm), Tremors (http://rcdb.com/id550.htm), Aska (http://rcdb.com/id1244.htm), and CBExpress (short for "Cornball Express (http://rcdb.com/id741.htm)", which would be a bit unwieldy a name for a computer ;) ) My only real requirement is that it be a coaster I've actually ridden, but that leaves ~100 (http://www.gregleg.com/coastershrine/viewTrackRecord.php?userID=1&rideType=Wooden) names available still (minus duplicates -- there's a bunch of "Cyclones" out there for instance)

At home it's all names.. .(HP DJ, HP LJ, Laptop, Desktop), etc. No server here. At the office the machines are named for the users (bad convention, I know but we don't have much turnover and have a small office staff) and the servers are all named for different cuts of beef (Ribeye, tenderloin, fajita, porterhouse and my favorite, pizzle).

I recently had to replace a Novell server.

Now, Novell servers must reside in a tree and you must have at least one organization to hold things.

Thus:
Tree = Tree
Organization = Branch
Server = Leaf


Then some glitch with the client caused an error message: 'Can't find tree "tree"
'! :D

I recently had to replace a Novell server.

Now, Novell servers must reside in a tree and you must have at least one organization to hold things.

Thus:
Tree = Tree
Organization = Branch
Server = Leaf

'! :D

You're still using Novell...ok, get out....seriously get out :D

Currently I'm using wooden roller coaster names.

What, no Rebel Yell? :cool:

I use the Simpsons names for my server/PC names.

Wi-Fi SSID: Springfield
Server: Bart
Old Desktop: Homer
Wife's Desktop: Marge
Old Laptop: Lisa
Personal Laptop: Maggie
Replay TV: Abe Simpson
Travel Router SSID: Shelbyville


Once a machine dies, I retire the name.

I used elements from the periodic table for server names when I was green. I learnt about that pretty quickly. My current major client, I have 90K desktops, 5000ish servers, 650 sites, 500K users.

If the client is only in one or two datacenters, I do something to the tune of LocationCode-Purpose## e.g. CO-XMB01 - Central Office Exchange Mailbox 01. More distributed clients I use the nearest major airport ICAO code ORDXMB01 - Chicago eXchange MailBox 01.

As far as server purpose codes, I can think of offhand:

XMB - Exchange Mailbox
XOW - Exchange Outlook Web Access
XGW - Exchange Gateway
XPF - Exchange Public Folder
XCN - Exchange Cluster Node
XCS - Exchange Cluster Server
SCN - SQL Cluster Node
SCS - SQL Cluster Server
SQL - SQL Server
ORCL - ORACLE Server
??DB - Some application database, with the first couple letters being some application identifier code
DNS - DNS
DHCP - DHCP
WEB - Web Server
FTP - FTP Server
SMTP - SMTP Server
DC - Active Directory DC
?DC - AD DC in a multidomain environment - some one letter code for the domain at the beginning
SRV - General purpose server
PRN - Print Server
FIL - File Server
GSX - GSX Host
ESX - ESX Host
VIS - MS Virtual Server Host

Workstations - I've seen so many naming conventions, each one depends on how the client's business organization works usually.

Network Hardware - I usually go for something to the tune of Airport Model Purpose Number. ORD6509BBR02 - Chicago 6509 Backbone Router 02. DEN6509ASW01 - Denver 6509 Access Switch 01.

You're still using Novell...ok, get out....seriously get out :D


Unlike Windows, Novell servers are stable. The most common reason to take mine down is going on vacation.

For the home network my devices are named after Oregon rivers. Thus I have:

Deschutes
Santiam
Willamette
McKenzie
Metolious

A couple of months ago I helped a friend setup his home network are we used:

Ralph
Norton
Alice
Trixie

Unlike Windows, Novell servers are stable. The most common reason to take mine down is going on vacation.

you know...there is something to be said for that.
I was a CNA (long time ago) and those suckers are rock solid!

Unlike Windows, Novell servers are stable. The most common reason to take mine down is going on vacation.

I don't want to start one of those Windows Novell Linux wars, but, being an operations person on a very large scale for an all Windows environment, I manage to deal with hundreds of servers on my own in addition to my job duties (which don't really include maintaining them). If they weren't stable I'd be spending my days chasing servers that were bouncing, blue screening, etc. Really, Windows 2003 is not the NT4 days.

We are pretty boring at work. Countrycity-apptype-server count.

So a US, HQ based, Exchange server where we have only one is. ushq-ex-1


Used to go with nameing servers after the companies products but that ended when we had a server named us-snowypoodle.

Starfury, blackomega, whitestar...

I name my computers by color... in Hawaiian.

So a white iBook I used to have was "Kea." My dark grey/black Dell is "Eleele" and my aluminum PowerBook is "Ahinahina."

Fortunately, I don't have very many computers... ;)

Before my company merged, they used Sesame Street characters...
Bert, Ernie, Bbird, Oscar, Elmo (was actually a homegrown software program), Snuffy.
Now they use Geo/OS type names... which are boring but informative.

At home... HALxxxx (xxxx = the year I bought the computer).
HAL 1999, HAL2003, HAL2004.
Server is HAL9000.
Although I did just deliniate and named a new laptop Nomad. No idea why.

My SSID is starbucks.

A place I used to compute at had a network of workstations each named after a famous communist, Marx, Engels, Stalin etc.
They also had another network where the machines were all named after types of trees.

At home I use names of computers from the 1970s BBC science fiction series "Blake's 7". We have Liberator, Orac, Scorpio, Gambit....

Audrey

Names - ideal, mobile, mental, rest, holiday, phone, etc

Domain - home.org

I use the names of the official mascots of the Sydney 2000 Olympics (Syd, Millie and Ollie) and the mascot of the paralympics (Lizzie). I also have small "stuffed" versions of the mascots sitting my boxes.

Domain is scifience.jp.

Servers are named by geographical location and then server number (tyo001, tyo002, sjc003, sat001, etc.)

Workstations are just random Japanese words. Looking at the list of clients, I have machines named okonomiyaki, tsubasa, and miko, among others.