Operational Defect Database
BugZero updated this defect 67 days ago.
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VMware | 374521
Watch4net APG 5: Device is renamed and now shows up as two different devices in Watch4net APG 5 data repository
Last update date:
3/22/2024
Affected products:
Smart Assurance - Watch4net/M&R
Affected releases:
No affected releases provided.
Fixed releases:
No fixed releases provided.
Description:
Symptoms
How to reconcile/merge Watch4net APG 5 report after a device name is changedDevice is renamed and now shows up as two different devices in Watch4net APG 5 data repositoryOne device shows up as two different devices in Watch4net APG 5 data repository after the device name is changed
Cause
Possible cause scenario: IP 10.10.20.1 is a switch with an SNMP name HHH_SWITCH1 Now it has a new name DC.S-CISCO.HHH_SWITCH1 Since Smarts keeps the name of what it first discovered, APG again has to delete the object and re-discover it. In this scenario, you need to redirect the old APG data repository to the 'new container' DC.MSFC2.HHH_SWITCH1. Watch4net APG 5 retrieves the objects (Routers, Switches, Hosts and so on) from Smarts InCharge domain using the DisplayName parameter of the object to uniquely identified the variables that will be created for this device. For example, this is the variable that was created in APG database to identify the ifInOctets of the FastEthernet0 interface of our router named W4N-PC-RTR1 in Smarts: 122, 'IF-W4N-PC-RTR1-FastEthernet0-Fa0-ifInOctetsRate', 'icpm' If we changed the name of our router from W4N-PC-RTR1 to w4n-pc-rtr1.emcwatch4net.com for example, this will be considered as a brand new entity in APG database model. In the APG inventory report, we will now see a new node named w4n-pc-rtr1.emcwatch4net.com. The W4N-PC-RTR1 report will display the historic data before the renaming occurred and the most recent data will be shown under w4n-pc-rtr1.watch4net.com report. Smarts does not keep historical data, so you can simply delete it from the view and rediscover you network. However, APG has to maintain some persistent data for coherence. APG must have a way to uniquely identify the equipment and the name is what is used by APG. Also, the APG index is case sensitive, so if you change a hostname case, it will not be considered as the same host. For example, APG will not treat a device named NJRTR01 as the same device as njrtr01. Changes in IP addresses do not impact the APG data. There are no known limitations at this level. In other words, if you change frequently a router IP address, the corresponding report will still be able to correctly display the values associated with this type of equipment (Availability, Memory, CPU).
Resolution
If you encounter this issue in your environment, EMC Customer Support Services (CSS) for Watch4net makes the following suggestions: Manually create your APG reports (performance and inventory) and use a filter on them. For example, you could create a report named DC.MSFC2.HHH_CORE2 and apply this filter device='% HHH_CORE2%'). This would be time-consuming work in an environment with a large number of reports to create, but the APG database will be left untouched. Modify the properties stored in APG database. *** Warning *** You must understand that modifying the data directly in the database is not a simple task. This operation can cause damage to your environment and should be studied carefully before going further, probably in consultation with EMC CSS for Watch4net. In brief, the operation to do is update the old device entries with the new ones. For example, we must update every device=='HHH_CORE2' entries with the new ones device=='DC.MSF2.HHH_CORE2'. If you require this assistance from EMC Watch4net CSS, contact the EMC Customer Support Center to open a Service Request (SR), and reference this solution ID in your SR. Backup the database and then flush the historical data from the production database, and use the backup database when you want to view historical data. *** Warning *** Your inventory view will be valid (and up-to-date), but you will not be able to see historic data easily as it saved in the backup database. Again, if you require assistance from EMC Watch4net CSS to do this, contact the EMC Customer Support Center to open an SR, and reference this solution ID in your SR. One of the above steps will need to be done every time a major device rename occurs.
