On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:43:25 +0100 Tim Chown tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk wrote:
We since ensured the names resolved, and NAV figured this out, with new data being linked to the devices by name, rather than the 'IP name'.
The problem seems to be though that the 'IP name' causes some problems when searching on data, e.g. a search based on the new name won't match against the old 'IP name'.
Is there a neat way to fix this? e.g. perhaps to simply remove all records for the 'IP name' devices?
You didn't specify what you mean by "data" and searching said "data", but I will assume you are referring to the Machine Tracker.
CAM and ARP data are basically stored as logs in the database and used by the Machine Tracker. Since a CAM/ARP entry in NAV is a historic record, it retains historic names of the originating devices.
When you search for a sysname in Machine Tracker, it searches for records matching that exact/partial name.
We do however store a reference to the IP device record of the originating device with each CAM/ARP entry. As long as an IP device stays registered in NAV, any name changes can be inferred from its recorded CAM/ARP data. Once the IP device is removed from NAV, the historic CAM/ARP data remains, but can no longer be used to infer name changes over time for that particular device.
So, in short, we could actually add a feature to the Machine Tracker to find CAM/ARP entries recorded under other names than the one used in the search form. You're welcome to add this as a wishlist priority item at https://bugs.launchpad.net/nav if it sounds like something you would want.