Auto name computer

[Kevin79]

I have 15 different offices. Can I have OSD automatically name computers differently for each office (based on OU or something)? I want the naming to be sequential per location and automatic. Is this possible?

 

For example:

Detroit

• Det-pc001
• Det-pc002
• Det-pc003
• etc

Chicago

• Chi-pc001
• Chi-pc002
• Chi-pc003
• etc

Is this possible to do?

[Peter van der Woude]

Yes, that's possible, but it will require (a lot) custom scripting. You need to find out the location and you need to find out the number that it has to use.

[Kevin79]

I was afraid of that. There isn't a way to store names in a database and have it pick the next available or anything? Is there any tutorial I can look at to script it?

[Peter33]

You can achive this without heavy scripting, just by using MDT and MDT Database.

Check out this http://deploymentresearch.com/Research/Post/305/Generate-computer-names-in-MDT-2012-2013-based-on-prefix-and-a-sequence-number

You can add the Location part also by using the MDT Database as backend and the default gateway as trigger option.

[Kevin79]

Would it be able to do multiple naming schemes and base it on the OU selected during the HTA?

[Peter33]

Of course, you can do almost anything with MDTs customsetting.ini.

The question is, why would you want to do that.

We are using only the serial number as computer name for a long time now. I think that's the most reliable way of unique naming. This way don't have to rename a computer when you are moving it to a different OU.

[Kevin79]

How would I do it with the database since I can only have one database?

 

We want to do it because it will help the Help Desk know where a computer is located and computers rarely move from one city to another.