Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 05:31:52 von n0yii

I'm setting up a router at home and it asks for the "ROUTER NAME".
What do most of you use for your wireless router's name?
Why would it matter at all?
Does it matter to my ISP?
Are there rules and regulations for router names?
Why can't I just leave it blank?

Sorry for all the questions - but what logic do YOU use for naming your
home wireless router?

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 05:48:04 von flamer

On May 24, 3:31 pm, "Mike S." wrote:
> I'm setting up a router at home and it asks for the "ROUTER NAME".
> What do most of you use for your wireless router's name?
> Why would it matter at all?
> Does it matter to my ISP?
> Are there rules and regulations for router names?
> Why can't I just leave it blank?
>
> Sorry for all the questions - but what logic do YOU use for naming your
> home wireless router?

the router name is a bit more important for wireless devices, it will
be listed in available wireless networks so choosing an appropriate
name makes it easier to find the correct network to connect to. Also
if your running dns then you can typing 'ping routername' rather than
ping 192.168.1.1 - you can also do this with your hosts file if you
dont have dns.

My servers and network devices are all named after greek gods, some
people arent as creative and may opt for simple names such as 'gw-
router', 'mainswitch' etc.

you can't leave it blank, in general networking terms it could be
nameless without any issues, however the software on the device wont
allow it to not have a name.

Flamer.

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 06:18:17 von n0yii

On 23 May 2007 20:48:04 -0700, flamer die.spam@hotmail.com wrote:
> the router name is a bit more important for wireless devices, it will
> be listed in available wireless networks so choosing an appropriate
> name makes it easier to find the correct network to connect to.

Are you confusing the SSID with the ROUTER NAME?
Or am I?
The router setup asks for an SSID and a ROUTER NAME.
I understand why they ask for an SSID (I named mine "Mikey") but why does
the wireless home router need a router NAME?

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 06:47:24 von flamer

On May 24, 4:18 pm, "Mike S." wrote:
> On 23 May 2007 20:48:04 -0700, flamer die.s...@hotmail.com wrote:
>
> > the router name is a bit more important for wireless devices, it will
> > be listed in available wireless networks so choosing an appropriate
> > name makes it easier to find the correct network to connect to.
>
> Are you confusing the SSID with the ROUTER NAME?
> Or am I?
> The router setup asks for an SSID and a ROUTER NAME.
> I understand why they ask for an SSID (I named mine "Mikey") but why does
> the wireless home router need a router NAME?

ah right, usually these two values are set the same.

Flamer.

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 16:32:48 von Chris H

Use whatever you like. It doesn't matter.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP/Tablet PC
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
http://forums.mobilepcworld.net
Associate Expert
Expert Zone - www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

"Mike S." wrote in message
news:pI75i.2268$C96.1624@newssvr23.news.prodigy.net...
> I'm setting up a router at home and it asks for the "ROUTER NAME".
> What do most of you use for your wireless router's name?
> Why would it matter at all?
> Does it matter to my ISP?
> Are there rules and regulations for router names?
> Why can't I just leave it blank?
>
> Sorry for all the questions - but what logic do YOU use for naming your
> home wireless router?

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 16:42:23 von n0yii

On Thu, 24 May 2007 07:32:48 -0700, Chris H wrote:
> Use whatever you like. It doesn't matter.

That's my whole question to you experts.

If it doesn't matter what the router NAME is, then why does the Linksys
router setup REQUIRE a router name to be entered?

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 16:46:06 von Burkhard Ott

Am Thu, 24 May 2007 14:42:23 +0000 schrieb Mike S.:

> If it doesn't matter what the router NAME is, then why does the Linksys
> router setup REQUIRE a router name to be entered?

OK, you need to call him sausage or crabpot.
You also could google for man hostname.

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 24.05.2007 18:04:00 von Jeff Liebermann

"Mike S." hath wroth:

>On Thu, 24 May 2007 07:32:48 -0700, Chris H wrote:
>> Use whatever you like. It doesn't matter.
>
>That's my whole question to you experts.
>
>If it doesn't matter what the router NAME is, then why does the Linksys
>router setup REQUIRE a router name to be entered?

Easy. It's like kids. They can function just as well without a name.
You can also change their name at any time without serious damage.
However, if you try to manage your kids without a name for very long,
you will eventually run into a situation where a name is required. [1]

Also, think of the alternative. Would you prefer to identify your
kids or routers by numbers? Yech. It also begs the question, why
would you want to run your kids or router without a name? Is this
some form of security by obscurity? I usually put in something to
identify the device, location, or customer for logging and never have
left it blank. It's handy on reports.

I came in late in this discussion. What model Linksys, hardware
version, and firmware release are you talking about?

Looking at a typical router, in this case the WRT54G v8 at:

The "router name" field is there in all WAN configurations. If I
blank it out, it complains that there has to be a name. Yep, you're
correct.

My best guess(tm) is that a "router name" is necessary to identify the
router in syslog, SNMP, or logs. The logging routine probably blew up
if the field were left blank, so it became a requirement. It might
also show up as a NETBIOS name if the router has a built in Windoze
print server. (Just a guess).



[1] It was customary in societies with high infant mortality rates, to
not name the kids until they were sure to survive. That was usually
several years into childhood. Perhaps we should do the same with
cheap commodity routers that have a similar high infant mortality
problem?

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 25.05.2007 01:20:50 von david

>
>
> [1] It was customary in societies with high infant mortality rates, to
> not name the kids until they were sure to survive. That was usually
> several years into childhood. Perhaps we should do the same with
> cheap commodity routers that have a similar high infant mortality
> problem?
>

Gosh my router would have to be named "old fart"

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 25.05.2007 01:57:10 von Jeff Liebermann

David hath wroth:

>> [1] It was customary in societies with high infant mortality rates, to
>> not name the kids until they were sure to survive. That was usually
>> several years into childhood. Perhaps we should do the same with
>> cheap commodity routers that have a similar high infant mortality
>> problem?

>Gosh my router would have to be named "old fart"

Your router has tubes, condensers, Leyden jars, a Jacobs Ladder, and
is powered by a dynamotor?

There are three things wrong with your router name.

1. It has a space in the name. This very bad as many utilities still
get confused by the imbedded IFS. I suggest "old_fart" instead.

2. In boating, renaming a vessel is considered an invitation to
disaster. Same with routers. You should not rename your router or
your will surely be visited by crashes, component failures, lightning
hits, exploits, or firmware upgrades. If you had named your router in
its infancy, you would not have considered "old_fart" as a suitable
name for a young router. Therefore, I deduce that you've changed the
name and the router will soon be visited by divine retribution.

3. The name "old_fart" is severely lacking in imagination. Network
host and device naming has been the subject of many usenet discussions
and at least one RFC. I won't go there. Suffice to suggest that you
should consider a more creative naming scheme. For example, Apple
names their conference rooms after cartoon characters. I was naming
my printers after former Soviet premiers. My servers were named after
the 7 deadly sins, but I soon ran out and had to invent some new sins.
Lately, I've switched to puns and intentional mis-spellings, which has
caused no end of syntactic distress. Bad idea. If you're going to
rename your router, I strongly suggest you follow the proper nautical
ritual (or invent your own):



--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Re: Router Setup - What do YOU use for your router"s name? Why?

am 07.10.2007 07:27:42 von Meso

On Thu, 24 May 2007 16:57:10 -0700, Jeff Liebermann
wrote:

>David hath wroth:
>
>>> [1] It was customary in societies with high infant mortality rates, to
>>> not name the kids until they were sure to survive. That was usually
>>> several years into childhood. Perhaps we should do the same with
>>> cheap commodity routers that have a similar high infant mortality
>>> problem?
>
>>Gosh my router would have to be named "old fart"
>
And it communicates via spark gap transmission.... or styrofoam cups
and string for better security.
>Your router has tubes, condensers, Leyden jars, a Jacobs Ladder, and
>is powered by a dynamotor?
>
>There are three things wrong with your router name.
>
>1. It has a space in the name. This very bad as many utilities still
>get confused by the imbedded IFS. I suggest "old_fart" instead.
>
>2. In boating, renaming a vessel is considered an invitation to
>disaster. Same with routers. You should not rename your router or
>your will surely be visited by crashes, component failures, lightning
>hits, exploits, or firmware upgrades. If you had named your router in
>its infancy, you would not have considered "old_fart" as a suitable
>name for a young router. Therefore, I deduce that you've changed the
>name and the router will soon be visited by divine retribution.
>
>3. The name "old_fart" is severely lacking in imagination. Network
>host and device naming has been the subject of many usenet discussions
>and at least one RFC. I won't go there. Suffice to suggest that you
>should consider a more creative naming scheme. For example, Apple
>names their conference rooms after cartoon characters. I was naming
>my printers after former Soviet premiers. My servers were named after
>the 7 deadly sins, but I soon ran out and had to invent some new sins.
>Lately, I've switched to puns and intentional mis-spellings, which has
>caused no end of syntactic distress. Bad idea. If you're going to
>rename your router, I strongly suggest you follow the proper nautical
>ritual (or invent your own):
>