Device Naming Conventions

Article Purpose

UAA has adopted the following naming conventions for university owned devices connected to UAA's network in order to a) uniquely identify devices, and b) reduce the possibility of device naming conflicts. This naming format is recommended in order to include the most information possible using the 15 character maximum imposed by Microsoft Active Directory.​​

​General Recommendations

In general devices should begin with the location code of the campus it is affiliated with. UAA has the following campus codes:

• anc - Anchorage Campus, including metropolitan locations such as AvTech, ENRI, Eagle River, University Center, Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson.
• fbk - Military Extension sites in Fairbanks, including locations such as Ft. Wainwright, Eielson AFB
• kbc - Kachemak Bay Campus
• koc - Kodiak Campus
• krc - Kenai River Campus, including locations in Kenai, Soldotna, and Seward
• msc - Matanuska-Susitna College
• pws - Prince William Sound Community College, including locations such as Valdez, Cooper Basin Campus, Cordova Campus

Elements of the device name should be separated whenever possible by a dash ( - ). In cases where a worthwhile name would exceed 15 characters it is permissible to remove as few dashes as necessary to achieve a 15-character name. The dashes should be removed starting from the right side of the name working left. A few examples are:

• Incorrect: anc-isb100l1a-01 (16 characters)
• Correct: anc-isb100l1a01 (15 characters)
• Incorrect: anc-eh400lg01-01m (18 characters)
• Correct: anc-eh400-01m (14 characters)

Multi-boot workstations should use the same workstation name for all operating systems appended by one of the following:

• m - for Mac OS systems
• w - for Windows systems
• u - for Linux/Unix systems

A few general examples are:

• anc-adm102-scw
• anc-adm102-scm
• anc-adm144-01m
• anc-adm144-01w

Important Note: A multi-boot workstation cannot use the same workstation name for both operating systems. This will cause a conflict in Active Directory. They must use different names.

Employee Workstations

The naming conventions for Employee workstations is:

Locationcode-Last9digitserialnumber(-OSFlag)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, followed by up to the last nine digits of the workstations serial number, and optionally the OSFlag for multi-boot workstations to provide a unique name for each operating system. A few examples are:

• anc-123456789-w
• anc-123456789-m
• anc-a93b912nb-w
• anc-a93b912nb-m
• msc-cxj289lv9
• msc-jf93kg9
• koc-cv84nz0

Note: Because device serial numbers can include the characters 'm' or 'w' as the last character in their serial number string we separate out the OSFlag in this instance by including a dash (-) character before hand.​

Smart Classroom Workstations

The naming convention for Smart Classrooms is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom-sc(OSFlag)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, and the room number of the classroom, followed by sc which stands for Smart Classroom, and optionally the OSFlag for multi-boot workstations to provide a unique name for each operating system. A few examples are:

• anc-ssb118-sc
• anc-adm142-sc
• anc-psb166-sc
• anc-adm102-scm
• anc-adm102-scw

Note: Locations that have more than just a single Instructor’s computer should follow the conventions for a Computer Lab/Classroom provided below.

Conference Room Workstations

The naming convention for Conference Rooms is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom(-OSFlag)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, and the room number of the location, and optionally the OSFlag for multi-boot workstations to provide a unique name for each operating system. A few examples are:

• anc-admin201
• anc-adm204
• anc-ssb101-m
• anc-ssb101-w

Note: Conference rooms that have more than just a single workstation should follow the conventions for a Computer Lab/Classroom provided below.

Computer Labs/Classrooms

The naming convention for computer classrooms/labs is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom-WorkstationID(OSFlag)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, and bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, the room number of the classroom, the WorkstationID is a unique identifier for each specific workstation, and optionally the OSFlag for multi-boot workstations to provide a unique name for each operating system. A few examples are:

• anc-smh105-01
• anc-smh105-02
• anc-smh110-01
• anc-ssb172-01
• anc-lib210-01
• anc-lib210-20m
• anc-lib210-20w

Note 1: It is encouraged that the workstationID be entered as a two digit number with a leading zero (0) for numbers less than ten (10).

Note 2: Instructor/Presentation/Consultant stations are typically encouraged to adapt a workstation ID of 00 (e.g. anc-smh105-00, anc-lib210-00, etc.) in order to distinctly identify that device from the rest of the lab. In the cases where two, or more podium workstations have been deployed the workstations should all have the standard workstation ID of 00 with a letter appended starting with 'a' and incrementing as needed (e.g. anc-smh105-00a, anc-smh105-00b, anc-smh105-00c, etc).

Laptop/Tablet Carts

The naming convention for laptop cards is:

Locationcode-DeptcodeCrtZ-WorkstationId(OSFlag)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, deptcode represents a 3-4 character abbreviation of the department that the cart belongs to, crt representing that it is a laptop/tablet cart, Z representing an alphabetical (e.g. a-z) distinguisher for departments with multiple carts, the WorkstationID is a unique identifier for each specific device, and optionally the OSFlag for multi-boot workstations to provide a unique name for each operating system. A few examples are:

• anc-soncrta-01
• anc-soncrta-02
• anc-soncrtb-03
• anc-cerccrta-01
• anc-cerccrtb-04

Note 1: It is encouraged that the Workstation ID be entered as a two digit number with a leading zero (0) for numbers less than ten (10).

Note 2: If there is a dedicated instructor/presentation device it is encouraged to adopt a workstation ID of 00 (e.g. anc-soncrta-00) in order to distinctly identify that device from the rest of the cart.

Note 3: For departments with that currently only have a single cart it should be represented with the alphabetical distinguisher "A" (e.g. anc-cdtcrta-01). This way if more carts are purchased in the future the existing one does not need to be renamed.

Video Conferencing Cameras

The naming convention for fixed mount video conference cameras is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom-vc(UnitID)

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, and the room number of the location, followed by vc which stands for Video Conferencing, and optionally the UnitId for locations that have more than one video conferencing unit deployed. A few examples are:

• anc-admin201-vc
• anc-adm204-vc
• anc-ssb122-vc

Printers - Networked

The naming convention for general network (personal or group) printers is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom-Model

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, and bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, the room number, and model represents the model of the device. A few examples are:

• anc-ssb170-4350
• anc-lib101-4650

Printers – Managed Print

The naming convention for printers utilizing UAA's Managed Print Service is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom-TypeDeviceID

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, and bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, the room number, type represents the printer type (e.g. BW for black & white, clr for color, etc.), and deviceID represents a numerical number to uniquely identify multiple printers of the same type. A few examples are:

• anc-ssb170-bw1
• anc-ssb170-bw2
• anc-lib103-bw1
• anc-lib103-clr1

Workstations will be configured to print to the Spool Queue for the location, and not directly to the physical printer. The naming convention for Spool Queues is:

Locationcode-BldgRoom_Type

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, bldgroom represents the short building identifier as listed below, the room number, and type represents the printer type (e.g. BW for black & white, clr for color, etc.) A few examples are:

• anc-ssb170_bw
• anc-lib103_bw
• anc-lib103_clr
• anc-smh111_bw
• anc-smh111_clr

Note: Since spool names are not device names it is permissible to exceed the 15-character limitation imposed by MS Active Directory.

Servers

The naming convention for servers is:

Locationcode-InfrastructureroleDeviceID

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, and infrastructurerole represents what the device is used for, and deviceID represents a numerical number to uniquely identify multiple devices of the same type. A few examples are:

• anc-fs03
• anc-sql01
• anc-sql02
• anc-web01
• koc-fs01
• koc-web01

Network Devices

The naming convention for networking devices is:

locationcode-bldg-room-type&increment#

Where locationcode is the campus abbreviation, and bldg represents the short building identifier as listed in below, the room number, type represents purpose, and increment # indicates number of the device.

The type abbreviations are:

• Environment Monitor = EVM
• Firewall = FW
• Long Range Ethernet = LRE
• PSTN Gateway = PSTN
• Router = R
• Switch = just include increment number
• Voice Gateway = VG
• Wan Router = WR

A few examples are:

• anc-ssb-170-1
• anc-ssb-123-r1
• anc-ssb-123-1
• anc-ssb-123-2
• anc-ssb-123-wr1
• anc-ssb-123-fw1
• anc-ssb-123-fw2
• anc-uc-126-1
• anc-adm-146-1

Note: Since network devices are not joined to Active Directory it is permissible to exceed the 15-character limitation imposed by MS Active Directory.

Limitations

Microsoft’s Active Directory currently has the following restrictions regarding device naming:

• Names are limited to a max of 15 characters.
• Periods should not be used
• Device names cannot be composed completely of numbers
• The last character must not be a minus sign

Allowed characters

Computer names can contain only alphabetical characters (A-Z), numeric characters (0-9), and the minus sign (-). No distinction is made between upper and lowercase characters.

Disallowed characters

Device names cannot contain the following characters:

• Ampersand ( & )

• Apostrophe ( ‘ )

• Asterisk ( * )

• At sign ( @ )

• Backslash ( \ )

• Braces ( { } )

• Caret ( ^ )

• Colon ( : )

• Comma ( , )

• Dollar sign ( $ )

• Exclamation point ( ! )

• Greater than sign ( > )

• Less than sign ( < )

• Number sign ( # )

• Parentheses ( ( ) )

• Percent ( % )

• Question Mark ( ? )

• Quote mark ( “ )

• Slash mark ( / )

• Tilde (~)

• Underscore ( _ )

• Vertical bar ( | )​

UAA Building Abbreviations

Anchorage Campus Building Abbreviations

 

Kachemak Bay Campus Building Abbreviations

 

Kenai River Campus Building Abbreviations

 

Kodiak Campus Building Abbreviations

 

Mat-Su Campus Building Abbreviations

 

Prince William Sound Campus Building Abbreviations