Can I change the form of the hostname the client gets registered under?

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Q: Can I change the form of the hostname the client gets registered under?

A: An out-of-the-box setup will cause auto-registered hosts to have fully qualified hostnames within GroundWork Monitor. This form was chosen to provide the least chance of ambiguity in large installations, especially those that serve multiple domains that might otherwise have hostname collisions. But it is not a requirement of operation. The client tries to determine its own hostname using standard heuristics, and it sends that hostname to the server as part of the auto-registration request. The server may or may not accept that hostname as-is, but in any case, the server's decision is final. There are two controls, and possibly other settings, to play with.

• On the client side, you can set the Forced_Hostname option in the config/gdma_auto.conf file. See GDMA Advanced.

  With auto-registration in play, this option in the gdma_auto.conf file really only affects the name passed to the server by the client during its auto-registration attempt. Afterward, the value of this option dynamically saved by the client in the gdma_override.conf file will rule. The Use_Long_Hostname option will have no practical effect when auto-registration is in effect. The client always attempts to send a fully-qualified hostname to the server as part of an auto-registration attempt, to give the server the best chance of accurately identifying the client.

• On the server side, you can adjust the hostname_qualification option in the config/register_agent.properties file, to globally select long or short names, or to pass the decision to your own custom logic.

  If the hostname is being determined by the <hardcoded_hostnames> section of the config/register_agent.properties file, that will be the place you will need to change it.

• In the extreme, if you need some kind of specialized hostname determination that is not covered by the options above, you can modify the logic by which the server chooses the client hostname. You might do this, for instance, if you want to use unqualified hostnames for most of your machines, and fully qualified hostnames only for machines on particular subnets. The client sends multiple attributes to the server as part of an auto-registration request: the type of agent making the request (e.g., GDMA), its own hostname (as best it knows it), its IP address, its MAC address, and the generic type of operating system running on the host. Custom logic can use any or all of these attributes to make a final determination of the client hostname. To implement custom server logic in this area, you will need to:
  • Copy the foundation/scripts/AutoRegistration.pm file into some sibling file of your own name (e.g., AcmeCorporationAutoReg.pm).
  • Change the package declaration in your file to reflect that name:
    
    

    package AcmeCorporationAutoReg;

  • Change the logic in the soft_recode_host_attributes() and/or hard_recode_host_attributes() routines as you need.
  • Edit the documentation in the file at the end of your own version of this package to reflect your logic changes.
  • Change the customer_network_package option in the config/register_agent.properties file to name your package instead of the AutoRegistration package.
    
    

    customer_network_package = "AcmeCorporationAutoReg"

  • This last step will put your package into play.

    GroundWork Monitor will overwrite the AutoRegistration.pm file in future releases, which is part of why you are advised to change the filename and package name if you change the content. You should be aware that both client-side GDMA and the server-side scripting always lowercase whatever hostname they use, to provide consistency in the face of potential confusion. This behavior is not configurable, as it just causes too much headache to loosen up on this convention.