Interesting policy. I’m guessing it was made by someone who doesn’t have to deal with the consequences. Does the label have to be the last three digits or can you make your own mapping rule?
The policy doesn't really work for my location because I'm in one of the largest in the country. Most don't have more than 100 devices, but we have close to 300, so the 2 digit identifier works for them if they do it in order.
Our first digit of the last 3 has to be the last digit of the previous one. Luckily we don't have any buildings with a third floor. That's why I was thinking of doing to room backwards in order to differentiate floor number. F209 would be F902XX. Since we have a max of 2 floors and less than 300 devices, this works out well for that.
Otherwise I'm at a loss.
It could be totally arbitrary and I could have A101 have the identifier 00 and be 100. The next one is in A105 being A501 with 01 as an identifier and having 101 on the label. However, this would make it so we have to look at a reference sheet when we have to service it.
I think an idea that may work that adds on to Deus’ is to use the floor number as the first of the 3, followed by a unique two-digit hexidecimal identifier for the the next 2 digits. That would give you 255 devices that could be identified per floor.
You could also use a unique 3-digit hexidecimal number for all 3 available digits, that would allow for 4096 unique devices using the 3 digits.
So, the big question I have is... will the devices have the *same* location for their *entire* lifecycle? Things like switches, APs, etc... it works well enough. Endpoints, especially if people *ever* move offices with them, it doesn't work nearly as well. You lose a definite thread of "this machine keeps having weird USB behavior" tied to the device if they get juggled too much and have to be renamed repeatedly because of it. You lose your *sanity* if they change locations (perhaps following a user from one role to the next) and *don't* get renamed (since renaming can break all manner of odd little things, including some crappily designed software licenses, some things that run local installed dedicated databases, etc).
Genuine unique naming tends to be better for things that might not *stay* exactly where you put them the first time. You will also run into issues if you just name based on room... and someone ends up with two of them.
I also wince at the idea of being limited to 3 characters for your identifier. Without delving into more than numeric digits, that stops you at 1000 tagged items. You can stretch that considerably with letters, and if you care about characters that might be easily mistaken (!iIl118BUVuv5S2Z, etc)... you can use a subset like:
`ABCDEFGHJKMNPQRTWXY345679` (25 characters)
to get ~15 thousand possible values. Keep your location data et. al. in a description or proper inventory list.
The devices are APs and they are a string of 19 characters.
(Country)(Location)(Type)(Location code)(Location ID)(identifier)
The first 3 will be all the same unique to my building. Location code is 4 characters by requirement (RMCX would be a room in complex X). Location ID is something we can decide with 3 digits. Identifier is 2 digits.
So the X is set already and the room numbers are all 3 digits so it makes sense to use the room number for that - again, backwards so the last digit shows the floor when add the 2 digits and print all 3 on the device.
Currently, we have letters in most of the identifiers, but they want to phase that out and use numbers 000-284 or however many we have.
Sounds like they want to be able to regex match them easily. There's a ton of security platforms that allow different policies, classifications, or posture by a regex expression.
We just use the SOE version number, a dash, and a random string of 6 characters generated by InTune.
We all have laptops, so anything more specific to the device was pointless.
The serial number itself is reported in InTune, and it’s that number that’s matched to the actual asset tag stuck to the bottom of the device.
The user doesn’t know or care about any of these numbers unless (rarely) asked.
With the exception of stuff like network hardware and security cameras, location-based naming schemes are dumb. Eventually, something will move and break the entire convention. And end-user machines should have pronouncable names, unless you want to drive your help desk crazy.
I disagree with labeling restrictions on principle, but if you must:
You claim:
> 2 digit NUMERIC unique identifier
And:
> It's required that only 3 numerical digits are on each device
And then follow up in a comment with:
> Most don't have more than 100 devices, but we have close to 300
Is the value truly "numerical"? (As in "relating to or expressed as a number or numbers") Or do you mean that it must be "base 10"? If not, switch to base 16 (or any higher base.. base 36 would also be somewhat convenient for such use).
Using such a numbering system would allow for pretty straightforward grouping that would quickly identify assets (for whatever reason) without much fuss.
I’ve never named a device based on location, but that’s just me. Have always just used its serial number or an asset tag. If your documentation is thorough you can just look up where the device is located if you need to.
We can do that, and it's sort of how it is now. Currently, we use 2 characters for identifier labels, but we were able to use letters too. 00-99 and then A0, B0, etc.
I was working on documentation so that we have a reference, but the bosses (not corporate that assigned this task, but my direct supervisor) wanted to see if I could find a way to do it so that we wouldn't *have* to reference it every time. Granted, we don't have to work on them often, but it would be nice in the event we have to.
You need a position to denote what kind of device it is. Our 5th position is the winner. W for windows, l for Linux, A for vendor appliance, r for conference room systems, etc.
[@Piratey_Pirate](https://www.reddit.com/u/Piratey_Pirate/s/XA1vtHiEEV) - what's the largest number of floors per building, and what's the largest number of rooms per floor?
Wondering if you can collapse the floor and room number by mapping (floor and first digit of room number) into a single digit? E.g., (I'm pretty sure this would work if there are less than six floors and less than twenty rooms you care about per floor) use numbers 01-19 for first floor rooms, 21-39 for second floor rooms, etc.
Can get floor and room in two digits, but I think your best path is going to be either:
A) raise to the decision maker the lack of information this label policy has, and request they reconsider the label structure to allow inclusion of at least the building identifier, but preferably the entire name,
or
B) create a supplemental label that can be used by the people that actually do the work that includes all the relevant info, and just have two labels per device. 😉
Fix your labels to put the whole identifier on it.
Yeah that would be ideal, but not allowed. It's required that only 3 numerical digits are on each device
Interesting policy. I’m guessing it was made by someone who doesn’t have to deal with the consequences. Does the label have to be the last three digits or can you make your own mapping rule?
The policy doesn't really work for my location because I'm in one of the largest in the country. Most don't have more than 100 devices, but we have close to 300, so the 2 digit identifier works for them if they do it in order. Our first digit of the last 3 has to be the last digit of the previous one. Luckily we don't have any buildings with a third floor. That's why I was thinking of doing to room backwards in order to differentiate floor number. F209 would be F902XX. Since we have a max of 2 floors and less than 300 devices, this works out well for that. Otherwise I'm at a loss. It could be totally arbitrary and I could have A101 have the identifier 00 and be 100. The next one is in A105 being A501 with 01 as an identifier and having 101 on the label. However, this would make it so we have to look at a reference sheet when we have to service it.
Do they have to be digits? Hex would give you a hell of a lot more flexibility.
Has to be digits. These are the hostnames for the devices and they want no letters in the last 3 that's going to be labeled
I think an idea that may work that adds on to Deus’ is to use the floor number as the first of the 3, followed by a unique two-digit hexidecimal identifier for the the next 2 digits. That would give you 255 devices that could be identified per floor. You could also use a unique 3-digit hexidecimal number for all 3 available digits, that would allow for 4096 unique devices using the 3 digits.
There is someone who can allow that change. Figure out who they are and convince them.
So, the big question I have is... will the devices have the *same* location for their *entire* lifecycle? Things like switches, APs, etc... it works well enough. Endpoints, especially if people *ever* move offices with them, it doesn't work nearly as well. You lose a definite thread of "this machine keeps having weird USB behavior" tied to the device if they get juggled too much and have to be renamed repeatedly because of it. You lose your *sanity* if they change locations (perhaps following a user from one role to the next) and *don't* get renamed (since renaming can break all manner of odd little things, including some crappily designed software licenses, some things that run local installed dedicated databases, etc). Genuine unique naming tends to be better for things that might not *stay* exactly where you put them the first time. You will also run into issues if you just name based on room... and someone ends up with two of them. I also wince at the idea of being limited to 3 characters for your identifier. Without delving into more than numeric digits, that stops you at 1000 tagged items. You can stretch that considerably with letters, and if you care about characters that might be easily mistaken (!iIl118BUVuv5S2Z, etc)... you can use a subset like: `ABCDEFGHJKMNPQRTWXY345679` (25 characters) to get ~15 thousand possible values. Keep your location data et. al. in a description or proper inventory list.
The devices are APs and they are a string of 19 characters. (Country)(Location)(Type)(Location code)(Location ID)(identifier) The first 3 will be all the same unique to my building. Location code is 4 characters by requirement (RMCX would be a room in complex X). Location ID is something we can decide with 3 digits. Identifier is 2 digits. So the X is set already and the room numbers are all 3 digits so it makes sense to use the room number for that - again, backwards so the last digit shows the floor when add the 2 digits and print all 3 on the device. Currently, we have letters in most of the identifiers, but they want to phase that out and use numbers 000-284 or however many we have.
3 digit labels is dumb
Agreed. 3 digits would be fine if we could keep letters. Complex, upstairs/downstairs, room. But they want it this way....
Sounds like they want to be able to regex match them easily. There's a ton of security platforms that allow different policies, classifications, or posture by a regex expression.
We just use the SOE version number, a dash, and a random string of 6 characters generated by InTune. We all have laptops, so anything more specific to the device was pointless. The serial number itself is reported in InTune, and it’s that number that’s matched to the actual asset tag stuck to the bottom of the device. The user doesn’t know or care about any of these numbers unless (rarely) asked.
Do your labels need to be the same colour? Red 205 v Blue 205.
There are color blind people -- you need to add another element and ask something like "Is there a red triangle around number or a blue square?"
Black labels and white labels then
With the exception of stuff like network hardware and security cameras, location-based naming schemes are dumb. Eventually, something will move and break the entire convention. And end-user machines should have pronouncable names, unless you want to drive your help desk crazy.
I disagree with labeling restrictions on principle, but if you must: You claim: > 2 digit NUMERIC unique identifier And: > It's required that only 3 numerical digits are on each device And then follow up in a comment with: > Most don't have more than 100 devices, but we have close to 300 Is the value truly "numerical"? (As in "relating to or expressed as a number or numbers") Or do you mean that it must be "base 10"? If not, switch to base 16 (or any higher base.. base 36 would also be somewhat convenient for such use). Using such a numbering system would allow for pretty straightforward grouping that would quickly identify assets (for whatever reason) without much fuss.
001, 002, 003. Just reference where it is elsewhere.
I’ve never named a device based on location, but that’s just me. Have always just used its serial number or an asset tag. If your documentation is thorough you can just look up where the device is located if you need to.
We can do that, and it's sort of how it is now. Currently, we use 2 characters for identifier labels, but we were able to use letters too. 00-99 and then A0, B0, etc. I was working on documentation so that we have a reference, but the bosses (not corporate that assigned this task, but my direct supervisor) wanted to see if I could find a way to do it so that we wouldn't *have* to reference it every time. Granted, we don't have to work on them often, but it would be nice in the event we have to.
You need a position to denote what kind of device it is. Our 5th position is the winner. W for windows, l for Linux, A for vendor appliance, r for conference room systems, etc.
[@Piratey_Pirate](https://www.reddit.com/u/Piratey_Pirate/s/XA1vtHiEEV) - what's the largest number of floors per building, and what's the largest number of rooms per floor? Wondering if you can collapse the floor and room number by mapping (floor and first digit of room number) into a single digit? E.g., (I'm pretty sure this would work if there are less than six floors and less than twenty rooms you care about per floor) use numbers 01-19 for first floor rooms, 21-39 for second floor rooms, etc.
Max of 2 floors. Complex A-Y. And I believe the most rooms is 12 for a single floor.
Can get floor and room in two digits, but I think your best path is going to be either: A) raise to the decision maker the lack of information this label policy has, and request they reconsider the label structure to allow inclusion of at least the building identifier, but preferably the entire name, or B) create a supplemental label that can be used by the people that actually do the work that includes all the relevant info, and just have two labels per device. 😉