Where does System Name, System Description, and Hostname come from and how are they updated?

Products

• CA Infrastructure Management
• CA Performance Management - Usage and Administration
• DX NetOps

Issue/Introduction

Where does System Name, System Description, and Hostname come from and how are they kept up to date?

Environment

Release : 3.7

Component : IM Reporting / Admin / Configuration

Resolution

System Name/System Description almost always comes from the MIB-II OIDs sysName and sysDescr.

This is for devices using the System Statistics Vendor Certification under the System Metric Family.

This is the vast majority of devices.

Some devices may not support theses OIDS so they use other OIDS such as:

Devices that use "Checkpoint System Statistics" for the System Metric Family use:

System Name: fwFilterName
System Description: fwProdName + ":" + fwFilterName

Devices that use the Cisco Meraki System Statistics  VC:

System Name: sysDescr
System Description: sysDescr 

The system name/system description would be updated during Inventory discovery

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/it-operations-management/performance-management/3-7/building/discovery/discovery-profiles.

Hostname comes from DNS and is updated within 48 hours when changed:

https://techdocs.broadcom.com/content/broadcom/techdocs/us/en/ca-enterprise-software/it-operations-management/performance-management/3-7/building/manage-devices/manage-hostname-changes.html