…but I never want to ever hear the words “Oh no! Slortar is going down from a DOS attack!!”
Chiming in with Bartman and Opengrave, I’d also have to say that, in the end, computer names that tell you something about the machine are best. A former boss of mine developed a naming scheme centered around the Batman series. The primary cluster servers were Batman and Robin, another server was Alfred, and we had Joker, Catwoman, etc…
It was amusing until you tried to actually get any work done “Okay, which one is the primary DNS server again?” “Ummmm, where’s the primary SQL database?” “Okay, Joker is acting up again… which machine is that?”
My usual naming convention is to use computer names that tell me where the box is physically located (WESTWING1, RECEPTION3, etc…) and then to use the computer description to give the box’s function (Standard Workstation, Reception Shared Machine, …)
Dead dull, but it really comes in handy when you’re sitting at your station and have to figure out where to go and what to do when a machine starts misbehaving.
Why not name them after royals? or how about Popes?
Or name them after the ‘problems’ the (l)users have with them.
Neverclosesanyapplicationsoitrunsoutofmemory
Downloadstoomuchporn
Fowardsannoyinge:mails
Snackcrumbsinthekeyboard
Name them after famous schools and universities.
Princeton
Harvard
Emory
Georgia Tech
MIT
UGA
ect…
Name them after properties in “Monopoly”…Boardwalk, Park Place, etc.
Oh wait! I know!
Catholic Saints
If you (god forbid) ever ran out of names (which would be next to impossible) you could petition the church for new ones!
Our print devices are named this way. PRNW208 is printer, west building, room 208. The LAN guys love it because they can always go straight to the problem. It is nice for the users because it makes it really easy to find the right printer when you need to direct your output to someplace other than your default printer.
My roommate and I have a mini-network set up. The server is Unimatrix One, and all of the computers hooked up to it are “1 of 5”, “2 of 5”, “3 of 5”, etc. (We only have a total of five computers in the network, so it works for us).
Bob, Bill, Jim, Dave, etc.
If you decide to ignore the pluses of using boring but functional names, I like the names from literature.
Or band names.
Theres a list somewhere around here.
I would warn you against using names that might confuse someone into thinking the computer represents someone else’s resource. For example, country names, state names, or university names.
Another thing to think about is finding a theme that has classifications build into it so you can map them to classes of devices on your network. For example, ISTR one of the astronomy groups at Colorado.edu named their mainframes and servers after constellations and their printers after galaxies and nebula.
Unfortunately, other than that one and various mythological ones, I can’t think of a scheme that meets the requirement and has classes well populated enough to serve your current and future needs.
How about name each station with names from Magic the Gathering? There are thousands of names you can choose from. Imagine hearing from one of the tech guys saying, “Yeah I think SerraAngel is sucking up most of the bandwidth and Draco definitely has a virus.”
I used to work for a state geological agency, and all the computers on the network there were named after different minerals.
The Monarchs of England.
Knights of Camelot.
Towns in your near area.
Children’s first names.
Or, inviting a bit of anti-technology humor,
Names of places which were destroyed. (Troy, Sodom, Angkor Wat)
Cthulu, Gog, Magog, Baal, etc.
The seven deadly sins (small network, that)
The line of Adam, See: Genesis Chap 5
You have lots of good idea’s already! I like the idea of using Doper’s screen names, as well as Disney characters. The idea of using the naming convention suggested by bughunter. Perhaps you can come up with a naming scheme that relates to the industry your company serves. For example, a medical supply company might use names of bones, muscles or systems. A school system might use the names of the different degree programs. Well you get the idea.
Maybe after famous angels and fallen angels? I think that’d sound pretty cool and be reasonably creative. But failing that, I absolutly adore the elements idea.
I know it’s incredibly cliched to mention Monty Python-anything on the internet, but…
Have you considered Monty Python names?–You could use John, Eric, Graham, Jones, Gilliam, Michael and Carol as the upper level names and their characters or skits as the lower level ones.
“Damn! I’m having trouble with John’s petfisheric!”
Ya know, from what I understand, after all, you are British.
Gunslinger beat me to it. Whaever you do with the others, you simply must have one called Bob and one called Dave.
The others? hmmm. Diseases? Sexual positions? Naughty words? Insults? Internal organs?
Why don’t you use words from this thread?
Try using gems, like amber, garnet, obsidan, ruby, topaz, and diamond. Oh BTW, skull is not a gem.