IT Asset Naming Conventions

17 January 2011
4 minute read
Best practice

IT Asset Naming Conventions

17 January 2011
4 minute read

(This article was updated on the 13 May 2025.)

The asset naming conventions of the early 2010s were designed for static, on-premises IT infrastructures. Today, organisations operate in highly dynamic environments with widespread remote work, extensive cloud adoption, and increasingly ephemeral workloads driven by containerisation and automation.

This formal guide presents a modern framework for naming IT assets that addresses these hybrid realities.

Enabling Remote and Hybrid Work

Modern IT infrastructures must support employees working remotely, in the office, or a combination of both. In addition, organisations increasingly rely on a workforce made up of both permanent employees and contractors. Naming conventions should account for both access mode (remote, office, hybrid) and role type (employee or contractor) to enable targeted policy enforcement, security monitoring, and inventory reporting.

  • Example: ONP-RMT-EMP-WKS-3421 — An on-premises workstation primarily used by a remote permanent employee.
  • Example: ONP-OFF-CTR-WKS-R1-3421 — A workstation assigned to a contractor working on-site in the London office.
  • Example: CLD-HYB-EMP-VDI-WEU-8192 — A cloud-hosted virtual desktop accessed in a hybrid pattern by a permanent employee.

Standardising Cloud-Native Resource Names

Cloud resources can span multiple regions, accounts, and platforms. A standardised naming convention ensures consistency and clarity for cost management, security auditing, and operational oversight.

  • Example: CLD-HYB-APP-WEU-0132 — A cloud-based application deployed in Western Europe.
  • Example: CLD-RMT-DB-USE2-983A — A cloud-hosted database in the US East 2 region.

Accommodating Containers and Ephemeral Resources

Ephemeral workloads—such as containers, serverless functions, and short-lived VMs—require naming practices that support traceability. These names should be designed to remain meaningful even after the asset has been deprovisioned.

  • Example: CNT-HYB-API-PAY-V1-X9A3D — A container instance running the payment API.

Reinforcing Policies and Automation

A robust naming convention supports policy enforcement and automation across environments. It can be enforced through IaC tools, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud policy engines to ensure consistent compliance.

Integrating Privacy, Security, and Compliance

Asset names should avoid revealing sensitive or identifiable information. Names should never include usernames, business functions, or cloud provider names. If wishing to tag by provider name (e.g. AWS, Azure), create public obfuscated location codes and map internally.

  • Risky Example: AWS-London-Finance-DB-JaneSmith
  • Recommended Example: CLD-OFF-DB-R1-FIN-02F8

Obfuscating Location Identifiers: Pros and Cons

While using readable location codes can help operational teams, they can also expose your infrastructure layout. Obfuscation helps reduce risk.

  • Pros: Easier troubleshooting and compliance segmentation.
  • Cons: Increased external exposure and risk of targeted attacks.

Recommendation: Use codes like R1, R2 and maintain a private mapping internally.

Internal Location Code Mapping Table Example

Obfuscated Code Actual Location Region/Time Zone Notes
R1 London, UK Europe/London Primary EU datacenter
R2 New York City, USA America/New_York Core East Coast site
R3 Sydney, Australia Australia/Sydney Asia-Pacific users
R4 Frankfurt, Germany Europe/Berlin GDPR-compliant infrastructure
Z1 Tokyo, Japan Asia/Tokyo Low-latency APAC workloads
Z2 São Paulo, Brazil America/Sao_Paulo South American presence
X1 Internal VPN Zone N/A Not location-specific
X2 Global CDN / Edge Nodes Multiple Used for caching proxies
C1 Azure As per location code (e.g. USW1) Workload running in the Azure US West 1 datacenter

 

Appendix: Real-World Asset Name Examples

Asset Name Description
CLD-RMT-EMP-WKS-R2-983F Cloud-managed workstation for remote employee based in R2 (New York)
ONP-OFF-CTR-WKS-R1-0023 On-premises desktop for contractor in R1 (London)
CLD-HYB-EMP-APP-R4-44D8 Cloud app accessed by hybrid-mode employees in R4 (Frankfurt)
CNT-HYB-SYS-API-Z1-V1F2 System-owned container API in Z1 (Tokyo), hybrid accessibility
ONP-OFF-SYS-DC-R1-0001 On-prem domain controller in London
CLD-RMT-EMP-VDI-R3-A7E1 Virtual desktop for remote employee in Sydney
CLD-HYB-EMP-DB-R2-5C9B Cloud database accessed by hybrid employee base in New York
CLD-OFF-EMP-WEB-X2-DF19 Web server on global edge (X2), accessed from office networks
CLD-RMT-CTR-WKS-X1-AB43 Contractor’s remote laptop via VPN zone (X1)
CNT-RMT-SYS-JOB-Z2-31F8 Remote job-running container in São Paulo (Z2), used by backend service

About AJ Witt

A former IT Asset Manager, AJ is Industry Analyst for The ITAM Review. He's interested in hearing from end users of ITAM tools and also vendors. He enjoys writing about the SaaS Management market, practical aspects of ITAM operations, and the strategy of major software publishers. You can connect via email (aj.witt@itassetmanagement.net) or LinkedIn. AJ is based in the New Forest where he enjoys cycling, walking, spending time with his family, and keeping chickens

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