Computer Naming in admin areas and offices

[Guest Guest]

For desktops we use a two character abbreviation of the building name, the room number, followed by PC and a two digit PC number (whiteboard PCs end in IWBPC to allow collection creation in SCCM) eg MB-01-PC01

 

For laptops we use KS followed by the keystage followed by LTOP and two digit laptop number eg KS3-LTOP01

[HereIGoAgain2601]

We always go with these formats - the first two letters being the site identifier, the second the room number or abbreviated name… and then we use different endings for the devices for the dynamic groups.

 

We use IWB for anything front of class, SD for any staff desktop e.g offices etc. pupil pcs just named 01-02

 

HS-R019-IWB

HS-R019-SD01

HS-R019-01

 

Laptops for staff

 

HS-LAP-SL01, 02 etc

 

Pupil laptops

 

Department identifiers or trolley number

 

HS-TR1-LAP01

HS-SEN-LAP01

 

We did consider switching to asset labels but with the same endings to make sure our dyanmic SCCM collections keep working. Maybe we will when devices refresh this time around. We don’t get much movement of devices.

[StAwash]

This has all been a very interesting read.

 

I thought I'd add mine in, as I intend to implement it soon. The previous naming convention was fine for the school, apart from the year gap between technicians meant a lot of machines went walking. So we now have finance using meeting room pcs etc.

 

USE{1:Choose} AREA{10} "-" NUMBER{2}

Ex: TMaths5-01

 

Use is a choice from:

"O" = Office - used by teachers away from students

"T" = Teach - used by teachers in rooms occupied by students

"S" - Student - used by students

"X" = Special - used for special circumstances such as Laser printer

 

Area is up to 10 characters long + room number. Number is the concurrent number of that machine in that area.

 

This should group all the Teachers computers together, and make it a more useful distinction from Office computers.

I do love the asset tag idea. And if this had been implemented from the start I may have continued it. However, at some point between my predecessor, his predecessor, and myself; the tagging appears to have stopped. So I have a lot of machines with asset tags and a lot more without. Monitors and keyboards too! They really went a little happy with them...

[localzuk]

Next time I'd just use serial number to be honest.

Until you get a Samsung device with its million digit serial.

 

We use asset numbers here, with a three letter prefix for type of device:

 

DES

LAP

TAB

PRN

 

etc...

[harry]

For desktops we got the caretakers plans which have sequential door numbers, on for the whole school and name them [school initials-room number-computer number] in that room. So going into a room the first one on the left is 01 and going clockwise around the room it increases eg: ABC-11-01, ABC-11-02 etc.

The caretakers put numbered discs on the door.

 

For laptops, we use school initials-trolley number-computer number. eg ABC-T2-01.

[Oaktech]

All of my sites begin WS for a wired workstation, LAP for a laptop and TAB for a tablet PC. Then usually a shortform description of the model number for example 5060 for an optiplex 5060, 100E for a Lenovo 100E, etc.

 

If the device is assigned in asset management to an individual, it's given their initials - usually a laptop or tablet. For example we end up with LAP-X360-JS for a laptop HP Spectre X360 belonging to John Smith

 

If the device is in a classroom, one site uses the 'base number' off the site plan, leaving us with WS-5060-B03 for a wired workstation optiplex 5060 in Base3. The other site uses the class code to form WS-5060-1JS.

 

Shared devices are named for the year group they serve or the cabinet they belong in: LAP-100E-6-30 for a Lenovo 100E, in the year 6 cabinet number 30, or LAP-100E-R1-30 for the 30th laptop in the Red 1 cabinet.

 

ICT suite devices are named for the room name on the site plan, or the name of the suite. WS-BASE03-01 or WS-SUITE1-01 - we don't bother with the device type for suites because they're all the same devices.

[dsmith8]

We use abbreviations for example PBS-AD-001 so PBS Identifying the site, AD meaning Admin Desktop then a number.

[zedster]

This isn't mine, but what was used at my previous job (which was a multi sited FE)...

 

First Letter - Primary User type - A for Staff devices, U for student

Second letter - Type of Device - W for desktop (workstation), L for Laptop

Third and fouth - Location of device - S1 for site one, S2 for site two

Fifth and Sixth - Block and floor - for example E1 for East wing, first floor, W3, West wing 2nd floor, etc.

Sevent and Eight - Room number - 23, 35, etc.

Nine & Ten - Device number , 01 to 99

11 - Hyphen

12 - OS - M for Mac, W for Windows

 

So we get, as an example IT teaching suite with macbooks and desktops and a teacher device

AWS1E313501-WUWS1E33501-W to UWS1E33530-WULS1E33501-M to ULS1E33510-M

Edited May 10, 2022 by zedster

[theofarrer1]

Where I work (local government) all devices are given a “blue sticker number” which is internally tracked by the Service Desk/IT. Regardless of the serial number or location, it is always the blue sticker number that is used. In the backend AD, it’s all labelled ORGNAME-BSN (Blue Sticker Number), but before we had W10 implemented it used to be ORGNAME-BSNL (for laptops), ORGNAME-BSND (for desktop) and I’m sure our ageing VMware environment was W7-x86-XXX (with that being a random number based on which machine we connected to). Servers follow a shorter naming scheme of SHORTORGNAME-number (e.g Green Abbey School would be GAS-01).

 

When I was in school a variety of naming conventions were used. From what I can remember, SD-XXX, TN-XXX and TD-XXX was used (SD - Student Desktop, TN - Teacher Notebook and TD being Teacher Desktop). Servers were SCHOOL-SVR ROLE-XX (e.g SCHOOL-SIMS-01 or SCHOOL-MAIL-01)

[IrritableTech]

I can’t get over how many of you name you pc’s after something or someone that may change. Devices move rooms, people change roles, staff change, I just can’t make it make sense to me.

 

Similar to the blue sticker number above, we give all our devices in school an it asset number. Abbey High would be AHXXXX. AD is built in a way so that each device is sat in an OU describing the office, classroom or area. In classrooms the IT asset numbers are placed sequentially around the room.

 

The number lives and dies with the device. The number easily gives a rough idea of age of the device. I can easily find out exactly what the device is by cross referencing a spreadsheet (could be in AD description to I suppose). I can find them due to good AD structure management. Users know a straight forward way to identify the device when there is an issue.

 

Worked for us for more than a decade now.

Edited May 12, 2022 by IrritableTech

[Oaktech]

I can’t get over how many of you name you pc’s after something or someone that may change. Devices move rooms, people change roles, staff change, I just can’t make it make sense to me.

 

Similar to the blue sticker number above, we give all our devices in school an it asset number. Abbey High would be AHXXXX. AD is built in a way so that each device is sat in an OU describing the office, classroom or area. In classrooms the IT asset numbers are placed sequentially around the room.

 

The number lives and dies with the device. The number easily gives a rough idea of age of the device. I can easily find out exactly what the device is by cross referencing a spreadsheet (could be in AD description to I suppose). I can find them due to good AD structure management. Users know a straight forward way to identify the device when there is an issue.

 

Worked for us for more than a decade now.

 

They don't move nearly enough for it be a futile excercise, and having been in an organisation that did use asset tags for machine names, it's a lot easier to ask a teacher 'are you in your room, in PPA - which machine, or on your laptop' and type a machine name in a known format into the remote viewer, than to try and talk them through finding and reading the asset tag, or even going to the desktop and extracting the right bit of information from the BGInfo display.

[Rob_D]

I can’t get over how many of you name you pc’s after something or someone that may change. Devices move rooms, people change roles, staff change, I just can’t make it make sense to me.

We stopped using Staff Names on PCs because yes, it was getting a bit ridiculous. (or the machines weren't getting renamed which caused confusion).

But location/room# isn't a problem as if a PC is changing location it's probably going to get reimaged anyway, so changing the name isn't any extra work.

[Roberto]

I can’t get over how many of you name you pc’s after something or someone that may change. Devices move rooms, people change roles, staff change, I just can’t make it make sense to me.

 

Similar to the blue sticker number above, we give all our devices in school an it asset number. Abbey High would be AHXXXX. AD is built in a way so that each device is sat in an OU describing the office, classroom or area. In classrooms the IT asset numbers are placed sequentially around the room.

 

The number lives and dies with the device. The number easily gives a rough idea of age of the device. I can easily find out exactly what the device is by cross referencing a spreadsheet (could be in AD description to I suppose). I can find them due to good AD structure management. Users know a straight forward way to identify the device when there is an issue.

 

Worked for us for more than a decade now.

 

Surprised this is even a source of debate in 2022. When I joined my college employer in 1998 they were using a code based on the asset tag, and we were using a homebrew database to track location and history for each device and to sign out/loan portable devices to individuals. The current user, current location, year of purchase - these all belong in the CMDB now we're in 2022 and I don't see the point of duplicating them in the host name.

 

I truly cannot doing it any other way these days - I'd seriously lose my mind the first time a laptop named "joe-laptop" came in to the IT office in Fred's hands because we took it back from Joe and re-issued it 2 years ago.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Roberto

[TechMonkey]

I can’t get over how many of you name you pc’s after something or someone that may change. Devices move rooms, people change roles, staff change, I just can’t make it make sense to me.

 

Similar to the blue sticker number above, we give all our devices in school an it asset number. Abbey High would be AHXXXX. AD is built in a way so that each device is sat in an OU describing the office, classroom or area. In classrooms the IT asset numbers are placed sequentially around the room.

 

The number lives and dies with the device. The number easily gives a rough idea of age of the device. I can easily find out exactly what the device is by cross referencing a spreadsheet (could be in AD description to I suppose). I can find them due to good AD structure management. Users know a straight forward way to identify the device when there is an issue.

 

Worked for us for more than a decade now.

 

And naming devices after rooms has worked for 2 decades + for people. Doesn't make that anymore valid than your solution. Different things work for different people and situations. Some would find having to look up a device in a spreadsheet non-sensical when you could just very quickly work out the name from the room it is in.

 

I have heard of a mid ground solution of naming devices after serial/asset and then using DNS to name devices something sensible. But then you have another record to keep up to date and manage. Swings and roundabouts. You pick the system that works for you and your setting.

[DrCheese]

yarp - Location works perfectly for us - We have

 

TC-RoomName (Teacher Computer)

SC-RoomName (Student Computer)

AC-RoomName (Admin computer)

 

If we have more than one (eg IT suites) we just add on -01/02/03 and so on

 

Laptops we name after the asset tag tho, eg

 

SLP-xxxxx (Student Laptop)

TLP and so on

 

Naming fixed computers after asset tags would annoy me.

[chris11256]

We name computers after the room they're in. Current scheme is SchoolInitialsDT-RoomNumber-ComputerNumber. So the first computer would be 01 and so on.

[Chaton]

For classroom PCs we typically just name it the [Room]WS[xxx], and the teacher's PC is [Room]REGPC. The room is typically something like 107, so the teacher's PC would be 107REGPC with the first computer is 107WS001. We try to draw a line through all the computers starting at the teacher's PC, so if we get a computer number we can quite easily find where it is physically.

 

Other rooms such as teaching staff workrooms or admin staff offices typically either have the proper room number, or the purpose of the computer, whichever makes more sense.

 

We don't need to add any further information to the name as we can either just look up the service tag on Dell Support, or check our own purchase records.

[jthompson]

Way more useful than coded hostnames for me is having a good asset inventory system (Snipe, GLPI) that you can query quickly and easily from anywhere, so that punching in an asset tag, room name or staff member name is trivial. Lots of flexibility to allow for things like staff with more than one device or office, temporary loans or computers with a storied maintenance history.

 

The asset tag convention also extends beyond things with a hostname here. Projectors and the like. All tagged and listed in the same asset inventory.

[IrritableTech]

Different things work for different people and situations.

 

Totally. Its fascinating to me at least that these completely different approaches work for different people in the same industry. The question gets even more interesting when you expand it beyond a building or site, school or trust, datacentre or country...

[RMUser]

for pcs: -

 

RM-Building+Roomnumber (every room was numbered, and i mean EVERY room)+WS(Workstation)+count

e.g.

RM-A101-WS22

RM-B221-WS04

RM-C024-WS01

RM-D007-WS07

 

-PR = printer

 

RM-E221-WS01

RM-E221-WS02

RM-E221-WS03

RM-E221-WS04

RM-E221-PR01

 

PL = Plotter

[TechMonkey]

Totally. Its fascinating to me at least that these completely different approaches work for different people in the same industry. The question gets even more interesting when you expand it beyond a building or site, school or trust, datacentre or country...

 

That is probably one of the defining factors. Although I have heard of multinational companies using actual names based on location/role, most are scripted by information available on the device because with that number of devices it isn't practical to worry about individual device names. This is then where a good asset DB comes in and proper linked service desk.

It's always good to see what bigger orgs are doing, but doesn't always means it suits all.

[jthompson]

Presumably in a multi-org environment, you'd have AD domain names doing some of the work for you anyway in terms of uniquely naming systems?

 

Agree that it's been an interesting thread to watch, and surprised that asset tags are in such a minority. There really is more than one way to skin a cat.