Computer Naming Conventions

Computer Naming Conventions

Computer Host Names

The primary concerns are that:
1. New computers have a consistent but unique name
2. Rebuilt or upgraded computers (whether physical or virtual) or computers that have OS reinstalled are given the name as the original computer with a new number appended . Eg: Customer-PC-01 becomes. Customer-PC-01-02

New computers should never have a number appended to an old name. For example, if you are replacing XYZ-CO-06, and the last computer installed is XYZ-CO-17, the new computer should be XYZ-CO-18. Do not use XYZ-CO-06-02. 

Try to use the customer's name or abbreviated name in a way that makes it obvious what customer the computer belongs to. (You can see examples of this in the list of computers in ScreenConnect.)

Please don't change the computer name in a way that demeans the customer or makes it seem as if we don't know the customer's name, just for the purpose of saving a few letters. (We used to have a customer called Pestcoe who purchased all new computers, and a tech changed the computer name prefixes to Pest!)

The Windows limit on the number of characters in a device name is 15. If you rename a computer via RMM, the RMM agent may accept more than 15 characters, but the actual resulting host name will be truncated. Therefore, it's best to choose hostnames with no more than 12 characters, in case we ever need to append a new number to the name (e.g., Custum-PC-01 > Custum-PC-01-02). 

For Hyper V Hosts - Special Considerations

Always include HVHOST in the name. This is helpful for proper device filtering in RMM and searches. 


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