le. sw1.gad.net is a simple and obvious FQDN that describes the first switch in the gad network provider domain. I like hostnames that describe one thing-the function of the device. WAN-Router is an excellent hostname. For companies that have multiple locations, adding the loca- tion to the hostname (e.g., LAX-WAN-Router) is useful. Equipment is usually deployed in pairs, in which case it's also a good idea to number the device (e.g., LAX-WAN-Router-1). In my opinion, though, that name is too long. The fact that the device is a router is irrelevant to its function; LAX-WAN-1 will suffice. If you want to use DNS hierarchies, wan-1.lax.domain.com works nicely as well. Every company has unique needs. If you work at an ISP, you may have devices at the premises of many customers. In this case, including the customer name is beneficial (e.g., GAD-WAN-1). You should resist the urge to document your network with the Chapter 33: Designing Networks hostname. You don't need to include the serial number of the device in the host- name, either (yes, I've really seen this). Of course, everyone has their own opinions on hostnames, but my advice is to keep them as simple as possible. That being said, Lauren is not a good name for a router either. It's a pretty name, but it doesn't give any indication of the router's function! Once I have my hostnames figured out, I prepend interface names to the hostnames for DNS. For example, Serial 0/0/0:1 on LAX-WAN-1 would have the DNS host- name of s0-0-0-1-lax-wan-1 (because DNS can only use hyphens, I replace each slash and colon with a hyphen). This makes traceroutes very readable because each node and IP interface within the node is clearly labeled: [gad]$ traceroute switch9.mydomain.com traceroute to switch9.mydomain.com (10.10.10.10), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 s0-0.router1.mydomain.com 9.854 ms 10.978 ms 11.368 ms f0-1.switch2.mydomain.com 2 2.340 ms 1.475 ms 1.138 ms 3 g0-0-12.switch9.mydomain.com 1.844 ms 1.430 ms 1.833 ms Network Designs I can't tell you how you should design 