Import Property Drop-Down List from Excel Workbook

Question

Hi all,

I'm trying to create a custom property that has a drop down list of all server storage closets that once selected would recognize the building that it's located in as well. I got the building drop-down list made but that was after manually adding 178 values to the drop down list.

Now for the closet list I have ~700 records, so manually adding them would take an eternity. Is there a way to import a list from excel and have it come up for the drop-down list? I tried the 'Import Values' button but am sort of stumped on this part:

What made sense to me was that the Closet column would import to 'Closet' & then the OID would match to the proeperty 'Building' thus making a logical connection but I do not see it in the Orion Database Column list. What could be done to make this work out, if possible?

Any help is appreciated, thanks!

mesverrum · Accepted Answer

In the past when I have had to deal with this the workaround I used was kind of a mess but it gets the job done, way faster than typing in 700 values by hand.

Create the custom property you want to populate the drop drown for, but don't restrict the values yet.

Grab a list of as many IP addresses as you need for your closets from the solarwinds db, and paste them into the excel file alongside the list of possible values because the import requires you to match the property to existing nodes.

Import these values to the random nodes, when you run the import it will assign these wrong closets to all the IP addresses you gave

Now go back to the custom property and set it to be a drop down.  When you do that it will populate the drop down choices with every existing value.

Now you can go back and wipe out all the incorrect closets that you imported and begin the fun filled process of correctly populating the closet on all your nodes.

-Marc Netterfield

Loop1 Systems: SolarWinds Training and Professional Services

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