Everyone has their own favorite host naming conventions. Usually it’s something arbitrary, like naming all machines after characters from a TV show.
My convention is to name everything after chemical elements. This is handy for a couple of reasons. Every element has an atomic number that can be used as the last digit of an IP address. On my LAN, hydrogen resolves to 192.168.1.1, lithium is 192.168.1.3, carbon is 192.168.1.6, and so on. Every element also has a standardized abbreviation, allowing for short CNAMEs (h.local.domain, li.local.domain, c.local.domain, etc). Elements have classifications that can be applied to hosts. On my network, hydrogen is my router, rack-mount servers are alkali metals, embedded devices are noble gasses, gaming consoles are halogens, and laptops are other nonmetals.
Naming hosts after elements was not originally my idea. I heard about it a couple years ago on a forum, but I can’t find the thread now. I admit this naming convention is more for the massive nerd factor than practicality. If you have more than about 20 machines, just give them numbered hostnames and be done with it.
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17 Comments
Works for me, too! The IP address for my indestructable system that’s always up even when the power is out for three weeks has the atomic number of unobtainium.
Did you post this because you thought I’d make fun of you? :-)
That’s a good idea, actually.
I personally, being a major geek and sci-fi fan, use the names of star trek ships (and sometimes those of other shows) for my systems (albeit not being a system admin for anything other than a laptop and a desktop and the occasional family computer).
Generally, the space stations are servers, desktops are named after starships, laptops are after smaller ships/shuttles, and mobile devices are after probes and similar.
Love the naming scheme. We used to use elements at DynDNS and never thought to use the shorter names until we got too far in. Moved away from elements when we got to the hard ones and more importantly, when we ran out of elements. We cheated with some gems and compounds too :)
You are my new favorite person. I though I was the only one who did this. On a similar note I name my Bluetooth devices after elementary particles, not in any real scheme, but just to keep the pattern with everything else.
Very cool, you could also pre-create a hosts file for every machine, and setup dhcp for the 150-254 range (just to be safe for what could happen in our lifetime)
I actually do almost the same thing, all computers are named after noble gases. Just to keep some constraints on how many computers I can have at home ;)
I hate to be negative, but this means you are still stuck in the early 90s manually assigning IPs to your hosts… *shudder* It is 2010, use DHCP and DNS!
My firewall is named “fw”. My fileserver is “fs”. And I never have to think of the IPs.
Actually I do use DHCP and DNS. I set up static leases for my machines. If anyone joins my wireless network, they’ll get an IP in the 150+ range.
I do this too at work (140proof.com). I got the idea from the engineering machines at the umich.edu computing lab. Fun to see that others are using the same scheme. :)
A long time ago, my LAN support group absorbed another division in the company. Naturally we had to become acquainted with the network rather quickly. It sure was inconvenient that instead of server names such as dc1, dc2, dns1, etc we had all these chemical elements to map out. Since we didn’t know them by heart, this created another layer of abstraction on top to determine function. So I guess I’m not a fan of this method and prefer naming them after their function.
Hmm…cool idea, but probably doesn’t scale very well.
I’ve opted for superheroes names instead. Hell, you can even make up your own.
CaptainSweatpants file server anyone?
This is really one of the coolest naming schemes I’ve ever heard about, especially because it offers both hostnames and IP addresses.
If you are looking for alternative naming schemes, I recommend you have a look here http://www.namingschemes.com/
That is a fantastic idea.
It’s also a good excuse to get a cool periodic table, especially while they look so perfectly balanced:
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2010/04/enjoy-this-beauty-it-will-not-last.html
I personally use mythical weapons. My cell is always Grungnir, my iPod is Mjonir, My computer is Excalibur etc.
I’ve been using this method for more than 10 years. I stick to eletrical conducting elements. GOLD, SILVER, PLATINUM, COPPER, CARBON, LEAD, etc. etc. It’s a great naming convention..
Another place if you are looking for naming your devices http://namingschemes.com
This is a cool and old idea. :-) It is used e.g. in The Art of Automounting (1991).
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Server Naming Schemes & IP Assignments…
It seems that I’ve only ever hinted to my current host naming scheme, and that was all the way back in 2007.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of hostnames (for those non-techies out there), then a hostname is exactly what it sounds like. Ho…
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