Rename APEs?

Option #1 - Rename the node caption the CNAME.  Simple, effective, but not terribly scalable.

Option #2 - Add the CNAME as the reverse zone lookup for that IP address and Orion will automatically pick that up when the node is added.

Option #2 - Add the CNAME as a custom property. Easier to import en masse then changing the node caption, but probably doesn't appear everywhere you would want it to

Option #3 - Rename the actual device to match the CNAME. Probably going to require a lot of rebooting.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. The only option that would require more changes like re-running the Configuration Wizard, is option #4.

RFackrell,

Couple different ways to handle this one. 

I like to use the Real Name of the device in the Caption or Node Name, but this can always be changed or modified to suite your needs.  This would also me more manual labor. 

I use Custom Properties to identify my servers function. 

C1_DeviceType = Server, Layer 2 Switch, Firewall, etc.

C2_OS = 2012, 2012, RHEL, IOS, JUNOS, etc

C3_ServerFunction = Solarwinds, DHCP, DNS, AD, ApplicationX, etc.

This ways it is easier for me to call out SQL Queries by column and variable.

Hope this helps,

Eric

I like to have the CNAME reverse lookup in DNS so it's automatically picked up by Orion.  Like aLTeReGo says renaming the node caption would also work.  Another thing I like to do is actually name devices with a naming standard that makes it easier to automatically select nodes for groups.  It's nice to have your groups automatically add members for you so whenever you add a node it's automatically is added to the correct group.

I think this may be what ecklerwr1 is referring to,  I use a DNS alias in addition to the actual hostname of my servers so if the server has a DNS name such as w0983eapps0221 I also assign an alias of 'Orion'

to that name so you can use that name. You can also use http://orion/ to get to the server via the web, ping Orion, or RDP to it. In this manner you can assign friendly names to all of your machines.

Also worth mentioning that this is a great use-case for digging into the Orion SDK. You can have a job that does the comparison and updates nodes where there's a mismatch. I also prefer to leave the caption as-is, and have a separate custom property that gets updated by this process, but you can do either-or.

<soapbox>

Over the course of my time as a monitoring engineer, one of the true-isms I've found is that device name is a Fool's Errand. They will NEVER be standardized across the company. They will NEVER be as meaningful as you need. If there ever comes a point when every single device matches the naming standard, you can bet $1 and a bottle of fine scotch that:

A) you're going to find a hidden cache of devices that someone has been hiding

B) the "new shiny" (cloud, business process improvement, parents in a buyout, etc) are going to find a reason why that name pattern is bad, and their name pattern is good, and you'll have to change everything. Again.

Upshot: names are nice. If you need a specific name, put it somewhere that doesn't affect the rest of the company. Names are never the be-all-end-all. Combine name with other properties (customer or not) - machine type, location, owner group, criticality, etc - to create meaningful groupings that you can use in a variety of ways: reports, alerts, and so on.

</soapbox>