Watch4net APG 5 retrieves the objects (Routers, Switches, Hosts and so on) from Smarts InCharge domain using the DisplayName parameter of the object to uniquely identified the variables that will be created for this device. For example, this is the variable that was created in APG database to identify the ifInOctets of the FastEthernet0 interface of our router named W4N-PC-RTR1 in Smarts:
122, 'IF-W4N-PC-RTR1-FastEthernet0-Fa0-ifInOctetsRate', 'icpm'
If we changed the name of our router from W4N-PC-RTR1 to w4n-pc-rtr1.emcwatch4net.com for example, this will be considered as a brand new entity in APG database model.
In the APG inventory report, we will now see a new node named w4n-pc-rtr1.emcwatch4net.com. The W4N-PC-RTR1 report will display the historic data before the renaming occurred and the most recent data will be shown under w4n-pc-rtr1.watch4net.com report.
Smarts does not keep historical data, so you can simply delete it from the view and rediscover you network. However, APG has to maintain some persistent data for coherence. APG must have a way to uniquely identify the equipment and the name is what is used by APG. Also, the APG index is case sensitive, so if you change a hostname case, it will not be considered as the same host. For example, APG will not treat a device named NJRTR01 as the same device as njrtr01.
Changes in IP addresses do not impact the APG data. There are no known limitations at this level. In other words, if you change frequently a router IP address, the corresponding report will still be able to correctly display the values associated with this type of equipment (Availability, Memory, CPU).
One of the above steps will need to be done every time a major device rename occurs.