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Question

Naming Convention

  • December 23, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 14 views

JtheMac
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Do you have a naming convention for Smart Groups and Static Groups in Jamf as well as for iPhones and iPads?

3 replies

thebrucecarter
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We are trying to establish such documentation features.  We have a fair amount of technical debt to deal with resulting from having too many administrators.  The root cause of that has been addressed, so it is not getting any worse, but we have a good deal of work to do to clean it all up.


Chubs
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  • Jamf Heroes
  • December 23, 2025

Welp, since blueprints we realized that we need to have a prefix delineation to ALL of our groups.

So right now we’re prefixing things with “iOS |” or “macOS |”  and if the smart group has additional feature sets like department or something strange, we just bar it in the middle.  

E.g.:
iOS | Production Updates
macOS | Kiosk | Limited Internet
iOS | Holiday Shoppe
iOS | WiFi | CustomWiFiHere

While it’s messy, it gets the job done.  I need to write up a standards doc on functions and reasons I suppose...
 


AJPinto
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  • Legendary Contributor
  • December 24, 2025

For Hardware: I keep it simple: use the Serial Number as the device name.  I dont like to allow users to set their own device names, or to use any PII in device names. Keep everything uniform and clean.

  • The device serial number is unique, and easily identifiable by a tech or a user.

  • It's laser-etched on the device, so you don't need physical service tags.

For Groups (Smart and Static): Since Jamf lacks native group categorization for reasons beyond me, I follow a strict Category : Description : Purpose convention to keep the sidebar readable.

  • Format: [Category]: [Quick Blurb] - [Optional Identifier]

  • Examples:

    • Reporting: OS Version Compliance - Violation (Tells me exactly why it's an audit)

    • Hardware: Field Services - Inventory (Identifies the department and use case)

    • Software: Xcode - Current (Clarifies this is for the latest stable version)

This ensures that any tech can understand exactly what a group is doing at a quick glance without having to audit the criteria.