Version

Argent Omega 2.2A-2410-B and above

Date

Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Summary

There are scenarios where multiple CMDB-X entries refer to the same server or device, known as redundant nodes

This is most common when migrating servers from Argent Advanced Technology

This KBI explains how to remove these redundant CMDB-X entries from Argent Omega

Technical Background

There are scenarios where redundant entries may be created in Argent Omega CMDB-X. Some of these scenarios include the following:

1. In Argent Advanced Technology, CMDB-X supports configuring only one SQL Server instance per server. If multiple SQL Server instances are hosted on a single Windows server, users must create separate CMDB-X entries for each instance, all pointing to the same machine. When these records are migrated to Argent Omega, duplicate CMDB-X entries are generated
2. Like the SQL Server instances in scenario #1, when multiple databases are hosted on a single Oracle server, redundant CMDB-X entries are generated during the migration from Argent Advanced Technology.
3. In Argent Advanced Technology, when scanning VMware or Active Directory, the entry name of a virtual machine is the VM name, which is not necessarily the same as the Windows machine name. Argent Advanced Technology uses the NETBIOS property to reference the Windows operating system. This results in at least two entries: one for the NETBIOS name and one for the VM name, even though they refer to the same machine.
   When migrating to Argent Omega, two identical entries are created.
4. The same server is configured with its name for server monitoring and its IP address for SLA monitoring, which is common in the Argent Advanced Technology environment.
5. One CMDB-X entry uses the machine name, while another uses the fully qualified domain name (FQDN). For example, the machine ‘PANA91’ is the same as ‘PANA91.a.local’. Using both in CMDB-X results in the waste of one server license

Argent Omega is packaged with a command-line utility named ArgentOmegaCLI.exe, which also includes functionality to remove redundant CMDB-X entries. It performs the following tasks:

1. Discover Redundant CMDB-X Entries.
2. Simulation of Removing Redundant CMDB-X Entries, ensuring no database updates occur.
3. Removing all discovered redundancies.
4. Combining groups of CMDB-X entries that are explicitly specified.

Note: Removing redundant nodes means combining or merging duplicate servers into one. After merging, the monitoring groups that use any of these entries will be updated accordingly.
To use ArgentOmegaCLI.exe, open a command prompt with administrative privileges and navigate to the Argent Omega installation directory, which is typically located at ‘C:\Argent\ArgentOmega’.

Discover Redundant CMDB-X Entries

Use the following command syntax to scan CMDB-X and list the redundant entries:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /list [/include_ip] [/csv:xxxx] /Argent_Password:xxxxxx

Use the /include_ip option to perform the scan based on IP address.

By default, the scan uses the NETBIOS name.

The /csv option exports the list of redundant entries to a CSV file.

Argent_Password is the Administrative Protection Password configured in ‘Generator Settings’ screen:

Example 1:

Command to scan the redundant entries based on NETBIOS name:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /list /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Example 2:

Command to scan the redundant entries based on IP Address:
ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /list /include_ip /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Example 3:

Command to export the redundant entries to CSV file:
ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /list /csv:”c:\redundant.csv” /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

The logs for the command operations can be found in the file ArgentOmegaCLI_Log.txt, generated in the LOGS folder:

Simulate Removing Redundant CMDB-X Entries

Use the following command syntax to simulate the removal of redundant CMDB-X Entries:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /simulate [/include_ip] [/windows|/unix] /Argent_Password:xxxxxx

It uses the same logic for redundant discovery to identify all redundant machines. It then simulates the removal of redundant CMDB-X entries and updates the Monitoring Groups accordingly.

Use the /include_ip option to perform the operation based on IP address.

Use the /windows or /linux option to specify the type of nodes on which the operation should take place. By default, it uses Windows machines.

Example 1:

Command for simulating the removal of redundant Windows machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /simulate /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Example 2:

Command for simulating the removal of redundant Windows machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /simulate /linux /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Removing All Discovered Redundancies

Use the following command syntax to remove the redundant CMDB-X Entries:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge [/include_ip] [/windows|/unix] /Argent_Password:xxxxxx

It uses the same logic for redundant discovery to identify all redundant machines, then removes the redundant CMDB-X entries and updates the Monitoring Groups accordingly

Use the /include_ip option to perform the operation based on IP address.

Use the /windows or /linux option to specify the type of nodes on which the operation should take place. By default, it uses Windows machines.

Example 1:

Command to remove the redundant Windows machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Example 2:

Command to remove the redundant Linux or Unix machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge /linux /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Note: Pay extra attention when combining SQL Server or Oracle servers. Ensure that instances are accumulated, not overwritten, after the merging

Combining groups of CMDB-X entries that are explicitly specified

Use the following command syntax to combine a group of machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge /nodes:xxxx /Argent_Password:xxxxxx

The user can specify a group of machines to combine. The /nodes parameter can accept a comma-separated string or an @file pointing to an external file

The user can specify a group of machines to combine. The /nodes parameter can accept a comma-separated string or an @file pointing to an external file.

Example 1:

Command to combine a group of comma-separated machines:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge /nodes:REDHAT72_1,REDHAT72_2,REDHAT72_3 /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Example 2:

Command to combine a group of machines specified in a file:

ArgentOmegaCLI /cmdbx /redundant /merge /nodes:@”c:\test\Duplicate_Nodes.txt” /Argent_Password:”Argent Omega”

Resolution

Upgrade to Argent Omega 2.2A-2410-B or above