My main server is named Postulate (an idea that you assume for the sake of argument), my desktop is named Axiom (a proved postulate), and my backup server is named Corollary (an idea that follows from an axiom).
What are your computers named, and why?
i’m not good with names.
my server’s name is… server
Currently running
server3after some mishaps including a torched OS drive 🫠
poweredge-t620-0poweredge-t620-1poweredge-r520-0macbook-2011pi-0throughpi-3
having read all these other comments, i’m now feeling like i should come up with a more creative naming scheme… for what it’s worth, my phone is named
bob.A five character name in the form of CVCVC that doesn’t show up as a common English word. The main reason is that I want my colmena and host names to be nicely lined up, there is a lot of space in there, and it happens to be the pattern of a race of telepaths in my fantasty world where telepathy is loosely based off of IPv6 addresses and REST and remote RPC calls.
Previously, my computer names were based on Lojban gismu based on their use, so names like fraxu (forgive), briju (office), etc.
On the other hand, my dad’s computer names are: bob, bob2, bob3, bob4, bob5, bob6, bob7, bob8, steve, bob9, bob10, bob11, bob12, bob13, bob14, bob15, and bob16.
My mother’s company were all named off of international currencies (we were doing a stock trading project), so dollar, mark, franc, pound, euro, etc.
My other dad’s computers are named after logical constructs: axiom, theory, etc. He was a scientist.
Damnit, I’m boring af. Machines are named by their model for laptops/consumer devices and buy their CPU for home built stuff.
Except for Crimson-Binome.local 🏴☠️
My Proxmox server is named Atlas, as the titan holding up my network.
My VMs on the proxmox server are named:
- TrueNAS (I didn’t have a good name)
- Poseidon for my docker server (Something something docker -> whale -> ocean)
I also have a raspberry pi running for testing out some stuff. It’s named Eileithyia after the greek goddess of birth.
My old desktop, now relegated to torrent/fileshare duty, is named USELESS-BRICK (you can guess why)
My brand new desktop is named SPEEDY-BRICK (you can also guess why)
The Rpi3 and Orange Pi 5 I use for small compute tasks, a printer server, random fucking around, etc are TINY-BRICK-1 and TINY-BRICK-2, respectively.
The random ATX server board that I used to use before the motherboard died was FlatBoard, because it didn’t have a case, just a small steel backframe I welded up for it.
I name my machines after planets in the Dune universe.
My laptop’s hostname is
xontros-gatos(which in Greek means fat cat)I like to have different naming schemes for different device classes.
Desktop computers: Greek gods
Laptops: Elements of the periodic table
Cloud servers: Norse gods
Home servers: Planets of the solar system
Raspberry Pis: Greek titansI use famous computer scientists. Torvalds, Kernighan, Ritchie, Woz (for the MacBook). My most recent one was bought in Hampton VA, so I named it kjohnson after Katherine Johnson (as seen in the movie Hidden Figures, she used to work at the NASA facility in Hampton).
I think it’s a good system, and I don’t think I’ll ever run out!
Previously by color/occupation.
Red Desktop, Music Workstation.
Been thinking themes more recently though. WolvesDen for my server, thinking of expanding on that some.
I once named a load of servers for a helicopter company in the UK with elements. The cluster nodes were copper, silicon, etc. The cluster itself was called iron. The volumes were labelled fe_function.
It worked - it was easy to read and the bits that implied “cluster” were grouped appropriately. All the other servers had random elemental names unless they were associated in some way, in which case the group would be used. The engineers (real engineers with oil or distressingly nasty lubricants in their veins) loved it - it made sense, without being too quirky. It was very legible.
When those systems were hoicked out and replaced, the usual nonsense was applied: 2 char country code + 2 char site code etc etc ad nauseam. Followed by my absolute pet hate: 01. Oh so you might need 99 domain controllers? Yes you might, but not on one site.
Let’s face it, it is mostly AD admins who don’t get hostnames. I blame MS - their docs and blogs strive to be … authoritative or at least look so. An entire generation (possibly two) of sysadmins have been sold up the river by MS and their wankery.
I completely agree with the “01” problem, it should be “001”.
Single digit is great but then one service needs more than ten, or you keep rolling them over into new ones (one of our production server is 13 because it’s the thirteen generation). But then I want all the numbers of have consistent patterns, so if one has two digits, they all have to have it.
But I’m not allowed to name servers anymore.
All ~60,000 servers are given 32-bit UUID’s, plus a 3 word CNAME from 3 unique and distinct lists of nouns. i.e. a server would have an A record of 1b30fafd-0a28-4999-b51f-bfa2b8af68e5 and a CNAME of tiger-ball-hill. A few servers that I often SSH into will be given friendly cnames like “bastion1” or “ansible” or something like that.
