Server appears as IP address in Ssytem Overview

[Rob Bertram]

Through a series of updates some of the servers in HP SIM have new IP addresses, and are now appearing a the IP address rather than that name in System Overview.

The big drawback is that alerts now don't contain the server name, but use the IP address instead, so it's much less clear which machine is sending the alert until the actually sign on.

How can I rename these server records so that they show name instead?

[Paul Adams_6 · Accepted solution]

To manually change the System Name:

* Click on the IP Address to open the System Page.

* Click on the "Tools & Links" tab.

* In the "HP Systems Insight Manager Pages" column

* Click "Edit System Properties"

* Edit "Identification - Preferred system name:" (replace IP with system name)

* Click "Okay" to save

This not the most desirable way so I hope someone knows the actual fix for your issue.

[Ferry Steenvoorde]

There's an even better way.

I guess your HPSIM server queries a DNS-server for name resolution.

Most times, you would need DNS to find the correct IP-address when you enter a servername (or any other type of host).

HPSIM on the other hand PINGs some IP-ranges, and wants to find the correct servernames. This is called Reverse DNS Lookup.

HPSIM uses reverse DNS lookups for finding the correct name that belongs to an IP-address. So on your DNS-server, you just have to enter all servernames as Pointer records in your Reverse Lookup Zones (see attachment).
Reverse Lookup Zones are not created automatically. You have to create them manually.
At entering any new Host record in DNS, also create a Pointer Record. For existing Host records that do not have a Pointer Record, create one in the correct Reverse Lookup Zone.

Next time HPSIM runs a discovery, it changes all server identifications to the names it finds in the Reverse Lookup Zones instead of using the IP-addresses. This saves you a lot of clicking around in HPSIM.