Device Name vs Identity. What is the difference between the two?

[FlatEarthisNotImpossible]

When I install Resilio Sync on my devices, it always asks for the Device Name and the Identity.  I assumed that this was a method to identify the device and the Identity was a method to identify the user. 

But, what's strange is that when I install Resilio Sync on my second device, it will ask the same thing.  The Device Name and Identity.  You can input a different Identity for the second device or you can put in the same name.

So, if Device #1 has its own Device Name and Identity and Device #2 has its own Device Name and Identity, what is the purpose of the Identity?  You can make them the same or different.  It doesn't seem to matter.  What is the point of it?  Why not just create one Identity to log into the "sync" account or don't even use an Identity at all?

This really puzzled me about Resilio Sync.

[Andy+]

I think the developer has considered that the administrator knows what names or labels are used. Of course, it gets complicated when content is shared between internal and unknown exteral devices and two identical names happen to come into connection with it.

In this respect, it would be a feature request for me that the software also generates a unique key from the input, e.g. from computer names and the entered identity name or something like that.

[FlatEarthisNotImpossible]

I'll be really honest with you.  I did not understand one thing you said from sentence #1.  I must be really computer illiterate. 

Let me try to break your sentences down.  The administrator is me, right?  So, I think you meant in the 1st sentence, the programmers at Resilio Sync has considered that I know which names and labels are used for each device.  Then, in the 2nd sentence, you said things get complicated when synced devices are between something internal on my network like my home computer and an unknown device that is located at another home or office.  Hmm...why would I sync my home computer to an unknown device somewhere outside my home?  Why would it get complicated if two identically named devices becomes synced?  Couldn't you display the IP address next to the device or have the IP address blink open like an InfoTip?  Couldn't you just do that?

Your last sentence was hardest for me.  What is the "input" and doesn't a unique key already get generated?

I still don't understand why we need Identities and why they can't be changed later....

I've always found Resilio Sync so hard to understand.

[Andy+]

First of all, what I did is just a guess. Well, I suspect that the developers of course didn't just think in terms of keys and bits or bytes, but also humanly. We as humans recognize names and things like that. And that's how it is for me here with Resilio.

Then when I say an administrator recognizes any names in the local network, I assume that an administrator knows his network and what he is doing.

When I say that external connections cannot be fully monitored, I mean that when I distribute a peer key, surely I know who I am distributing it to, but not what names or computer IDs are associated with them when connections are made based on the distributed keys.

[CDay225]

Would it be possible to get a few examples of Identity vs Device Name?  And maybe a comparison to another common software?  For example, is your Identity like your Username in Discord or Skype?

For instance, is my Resilio Sync Identity (what is asked for first on each new install) just a "username"?  Am I basically just signing-in with a username, which is linked to my Resilio Sync license (free, Pro, family, business, etc...)?  Or is it different from a username?

When I install Resilio Sync on my home PC, my office PC, and on my laptop (assuming that I am the ONLY person using these devices), should I use the EXACT same Identity for each installation?  Identity: "Andy", for example.

Or should each Identity look more like "Andy-homePC", "Andy-officePC", and "AndyLaptop"?

Or should it look like this instead:  Indentity: Andy and each device named separately somewhere later in the install process or by updating a setting after the install is complete: homePC, officePC, and Laptop?

Because I plan to use Resilio Sync with another person later on, I when I look at the peers connected to my shared folders, I would like to be able to clearly see which users and which of each user's devices are connecting.  I'm just unclear on what to input and where to achieve this in a clear way.

I wish the Resilio Sync installer program would include language to either clarify the above or use terms more similar to other common software.  Examples would also be SUPER helpful.  Especially since the installer warns you to choose your Identity carefully because it can't be changed later.