Assigning custom node property to all nodes in a group?

All,

I'm not sure if this is possible, but if it is, it would be great!

I have dynamically created groups, and for some of these groups, I want to assign a custom property to any new node that gets 'filtered' into the group.

for example, I have a group called "Core Routers" , that has some dynamic filters that allow devices to be added to the group. I want to also assign a custom node property to all the nodes in the group, like an "Application Group" property called "autoticket" that I can use to generate automated incident tickets to our ticketing tool.

I don't want to have to remember to add the Custom Property to the node, every time a node or group of nodes gets discovered, I want that property to be automatically assigned if the node gets dynamically assigned to that group. I hope that makes sense.

Maybe there is a way to use the API to assign a custom property to nodes, and I have to export the group members nightly or something like that...

Looking for any suggestions to automate the process of custom property assignment based on group membership.

thanks,

Steve Turcotte

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Accepted answers

All comments

dgsmith80

What are the rules of your Dynamic Query to add the Nodes to the Group in the first instance? It may be we can re-create those rules as an alert which will then update the Node CP.

sturk22

David,

the dynamic queries are simple system name filters (SystemName begins with , SystemName contains) Orion object is Node.

Since we have a standard naming convention this allows us to group nodes by location and device type (router/firewall/switch/accessPoint)

I'm not understanding the 'alert to setting custom property' path your going down, but am very interested in that possibility

thanks

SteveT

sturk22

Is there an option to use the SolarWinds API to script an automatic setting of the node custom property based on the nodes inclusion in a group?

Maybe exporting the group members, and then running an API setting to set the specific node custom property I need, and schedule that nightly?

I opened a case with support but was basically told that it was not possible to use the web console to accomplish this as I had hoped.

Any suggestions?

natetech

I use SolarWinds alerts to look at new devices or installed software.

Look here

Alert Engine Automation - Automatic Custom Property Assignment

sturk22

This looks really promising. I'll dig into it, and test, and report back.

Thanks so much for the pointer.

SteveT

wluther

sturk22 For this, you will likely benefit most from using the Orion SDK/API.

GitHub - solarwinds/OrionSDK: SDK for the SolarWinds Orion platform, including tools, documentation, and samples in Powe…

There are many possible ways to accomplish your goal. In regards to using the alerting functionality, that can definitely do exactly what you want from within the GUI. The biggest drawback of using an alert is the lack of scalability. Being that alerts do not really have a dynamic, or if/then, way to function, you may find yourself quickly building out numerous different alerts to provision the various groups with appropriate data. I say this, as I have gone through this EXACT same experience over the past couple of years. Using the SDK is really the only viable option here, at least once you start needing/building more than 1 or 2 alerts.

You can, however, build an alert to trigger the SDK/API to build out what you need. Here is an example of how I used a handful of custom properties to trigger an alert, which in turn, fired off a PowerShell script to build graphs on a specific view via the API. Granted, you are not asking to build graphs... However, I think this example could easily be converted to your needs.

Using PowerShell To Automatically Provision A Series Of Graphs Per View

Also, if you have not already, take a look in the SDK section of Thwack. There are numerous examples of how to accomplish many different tasks.

Orion SDK

Let us know how it goes, and if you still need assistance.

Thank you,

-Will