Unique and readable ID for each computer.

Question

I need to do some tests, and make DB out of the testing result. After I'm done with that, I send the DB to server to merge it into some host DB.

For that purpose, I want to have a UNIQUE ID for each computer that I run on. I thought about the GUID, but I'd like to avoid that option if possible. I prefer to have something that I can read to identify some info out of the name other than just numbers like this one GUID: 00000129dbe9a9f6b3650d67000a00000028008c.

Do you have any idea how to make unique id for this kind of case?

Answer 1

It sounds like your app runs in a client/server relationship. You could have the server assign a sequential number (from a server-controlled sequence) to each client, and then have the client remember this number as its ID. If the server has no control over the IDs and the clients identify themselves, you could try making hashes of IP addresses and machine names and MAC addresses, but IP addresses, machine names, and MAC addresses are not garanteed to be static (I'm pretty sure I've heard it's possible to change MAC addresses but it's not done often).