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Single assets/nodes with multiple IP addresses or DNS hostnames

I would like to be able to add a physical or virtual device that has multiple IP addresses or DNS hostnames as a single asset/node in SAM.  We do not want to have four or more entries for the same physical or virtual server.

Examples:
A physical server that has two IP addresses for normal network connectivity and one address for iLO.
A physical server such as Avaya Aura System Platform that has one physical interface, but has four unique dns names and IP addresses.

  • These could be defined as custom properties but there's no way programmatically to gather forward zone DNS entries for a server without managing the DNS server with something like IPAM. E.G. names that point to IP. Orion uses reverse zone lookup for converting the IP address to the name, but that only works for A records. To my knowledge there is no technical way to query all DNS name types (A,C, MX, PTR, SRV, etc.) for a given IP address. The only way to do that is with a product like IPAM that understands all DNS entries in the environment as a whole.

  • We have the problem where people are using DNS a lot more.

    I have several servers that have multiple DNS records, when someone calls saying that can't connect to server \\MyBestApp\Share\uat ??? the developer will type into the Solarwinds search and the server name but then can't find it, so we then have to do an nslookup to find it.

    Can we not have multiple entry's in the Nodes Details area, under DNS?

    i.e. server1.UKOffice.com; MyBestApp.ukoffice.com; Solarwinds.ukoffice.com

  • For nodes that have multiple IP addresses (secondary addressing/multiple physical IP'd interfaces/etc) you should see the "All IP Addresses on" resource on the "Node Details" view.

    All IP Addresses Resource.png

    If you have multiple DNS records you're trying to keep track of for the same node then this is likely a better use case for our IP Address Manager.

    Since the iLO is a separate entity operating independently from the host OS on the physical server this would still likely need to me managed separately, though as suggest these nodes could be grouped together for easier management. I will say the SAM 6.0, currently in beta, includes asset Inventory management of which our of band management card such as the iLO and DRACs are included. If you want to monitor status (availability/response time/throughput/etc.) you would still need to manage it as a separate node.

  • Thanks for the information.  I did see that method is available, but it still requires multiple node entries for a single box.  It also increases the amount of groups and dependencies that would need to be administered.  I think having the ability to manually add an interface by IP or DNS name to an existing node would be ideal.

  • One way to approach this today is by defining a group, and then adding each of those interfaces or identities to the group. Within the group you can define how you want the state to rollup, one fail=group fail; all fail=group fail; or something in between.

    More information on defining and configuring groups is available in the chapter "Managing Groups and Dependencies" in the SAM Administrator Guide.