Removing Statically Configured Node Name Via SDK (Python)

Hi,

I've noticed over the years that different administrators have different procedures for adding nodes into our SolarWinds environment. The correct way is to add in the nodes IP address and SNMP polls the node for it's configured hostname. Some administrators have been manually putting in the name, which remains the name in SolarWinds regardless if the hostname changes on the device.

I've discovered that for these nodes which an admin had statically configured a hostname for, by going into Edit Nodes and completely clearing out the hostname and saving, then correct and accurate node name populates.

I have spent some time creating a Python script to try to do this same thing, but it seems like when I use

swis.update(uri, Caption=' ')

the nodename literally become ' ' and it isn't until rediscovering and polling the node about 20 seconds later that the correct node name.

I was curious if anyone had ran into a similar issue, or if there are any thoughts on how to better accomplish this goal of wiping any and all statically configured hostnames from SolarWinds.

Thanks!

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Neaum

Hi,

I not sure if it's exaclty what your looking for but what I'm doing is a SWQL to get the hostname with DNS(I'm using ansible but you can use python in your case):

    - name: Run SWQL query to get DNS (be patient...)
      uri:
        url: "https://{{ solarwinds_host }}:17774/SolarWinds/InformationService/v3/Json/Query"
        method: POST
        user: "{{ solarwinds_user }}"
        password: "{{ solarwinds_password }}"
        force_basic_auth: yes
        validate_certs: no
        body_format: json
        body:
          query: "SELECT DNS FROM Orion.Nodes WHERE NodeID = @id"
          parameters:
            id: "{{ your_node_id }}"
      register: swql_result
      until: swql_result.json.results[0].DNS is defined and swql_result.json.results[0].DNS | length > 0
      retries: 20     # nb max of tries
      delay: 10        # time (sec) between tries

After you can update your caption with the result as you showed

k_barton

Unfortunately, DNS is not accurate 100% of the time either.

What I've noticed is that in the web GUI if I was to edit a node leave the name blank and save, the name automatically gets updated to the sysname (polled via SNMP). I'd really like a way to figure out how to do this programmatically considering we have over 100+ nodes with inaccurate names that were manually typed in.

getlex23

I’ve run into a similar situation in SolarWinds where some admins manually entered hostnames instead of letting SNMP discovery populate them, and like you, I found that clearing the name through Edit Nodes allows the correct hostname to appear after a rediscovery cycle. When automating this with Python, it’s expected that the field first shows as blank (literally ' ') before the next poll updates it, so building in a short delay or triggering a rediscovery immediately after clearing the hostname should solve the issue. It’s a bit like checking AW menu prices—they might look blank at first until you refresh the page or query the right data source, then the accurate and up-to-date values come through.