In the first part of 2004, Tufts University planned and implemented a new naming methodology to be used across all network devices and interfaces. During the planning discussions, the group came up with several interesting guidelines and methodologies for creating an extensible, comprehensible, and self-documenting network naming scheme. We have since changed over to the new naming scheme, and have already seen productivity benefits.

Topics to be covered in the talk include a summary of the problem, methodology, results, and lessons learned.

About the Presenter
Matthew F. Ringel is currently a Senior Network Engineer for Tufts University. His group is responsible for the care and feeding of all network devices over several campuses, as well as network design and planning. In the past, he has worked at Akamai Technologies as a network engineer, and at Navisite as the systems manager for its NOC. One of Matthew's current interests in the networking realm is the theory of network operations, and the analysis of best current operational practices as they fit into a larger theoretical model. He graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University in the City of New York.