pany name and details to protect the guilty): gadnslax1mai750901. What the heck does that mean? Is it relevant? Can I tell what the system is from the hostname? More importantly, can you? In a training session for the network containing these wacky hostnames, one of the students asked what the hostnames meant. No one could answer without looking up the document describing the hostname layout. Hostnames should not require research! Here's the breakdown of the offending name: gadnslax1mai750901 gad - The name of the company (GAD Technology) ns - Network services Naming Conventions for Devices lax - Los Angeles 1 - It's the first, um, thing in Los Angeles mai - Main Street 7509 - The device is a Cisco 7509 01 - It's the first 7509 in this location The purpose of a hostname is to identify a device. Hostnames should be easy to re- member. When a hostname is harder to remember than an IP address, using one is counterproductive. When a hostname is coupled with a domain name to make a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), the resulting string should be obvious and simple. swl.gad.net (http:// 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 location 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 hostname. You don't need to in