ISM 7.4.0.2 - Is it possible to distribute profiles by IP instead of hostname?

For RHEL platform:

1) On the ISM host, cd to <ITM_HOME>/config.

2) Make a backup copy of the is.ini file.
 
3) Use an ASCII text editor like vi to edit the is.ini file. Update the following variables in the is.ini file. If necessary, add the CTIRA_SYSTEM_NAME variable. Be sure to include the :IS string following the IP address in the CTIRA_HOSTNAME variable.
 
CTIRA_HOSTNAME=<ISM_Host_IP_Address>:IS
CTIRA_SYSTEM_NAME=<ISM_Host_IP_Address>

Example. Use the actual IP address for the local ISM agent host.

#CTIRA_HOSTNAME=$RUNNINGHOSTNAME$:IS   
CTIRA_HOSTNAME=9.102.56.188:IS
CTIRA_SYSTEM_NAME=9.102.56.188
 
4) Restart the ISM agent. After agent restart, values from <ITM_HOME>/config/is.ini are automatically reflected in the <ITM_HOME>/config/is.config file.
 
5) Restart TEMS and TEPS and open portal client. See that the IP address for the agent host is reflected in TEP navigator. Also verify that the IP address is reflected in 'tacmd listSystems' command output.
 
6) Deploy the profiles to the ISM agent host and see the test results in TEP.
 
Also see notes for deploying profiles and troubleshooting the appearance of the ISM agent in the TEP Navigator tree under Windows deployment.

Clearing Offline Entries

Consider using the 'tacmd cleanMS' command to clear offline entries. This approach prevents offline components from displaying in 'tacmd listSystems' command output and in the ITM GUI. These offline components are not deleted. Their status is simply hidden. The components will display again if or when they come back online.

After you have used the 'tacmd cleanMS' command, the ISM config GUI will only display agents by IP address in the 'Available Systems' and Deployed Systems' columns.

The ITM 6.3 Command Reference includes the following warning about using the 'tacmd cleanMS' command in large-scale environments:

Note: In large-scale environments with significant numbers of nodes registered (for
example, 10-20 thousand), using the tacmd cleanMS command or removing a node
through the TEPS console can take several seconds to complete. If the -a option is
used with the tacmd cleanMS command, and there are many offline nodes, the
tacmd cleanMS command might take a long time to complete (that is, hours).

Here is a sample session. Begin by logging onto your hub TEMS. The session is Windows centric, but the commands are the same on Unix/Linux systems.

1) Log onto the TEMS as the sysadmin user.

C:\IBM\ITM\BIN>tacmd login -s <tems-ip-address> -u sysadmin -p <sysadmin-password>
Validating user...
KUIC00007I: User sysadmin logged into server on https://<tems-ip-address>:3661.

2) List the active and offline ISM agents.

C:\IBM\ITM\BIN>tacmd listSystems -t is
Managed System Name Product Code Version    Status
SURBASE1:IS        IS          07.40.02.03 N
9.46.66.92:IS      IS          07.40.02.03 Y

3) List the offline components (ISM and other types of agents) that would be cleared.

C:\IBM\ITM\BIN>tacmd cleanMS -p
(Command displays list of offline entries that are eligible to be cleared.)
...

4) Clear all of the off-line components.

C:\IBM\ITM\BIN>tacmd cleanMS -a
(Command displays list of offline entries that have been cleared.)
...

5) Display the status of online ISM agents. Notice that offline ISM agents that were identified by hostname are omitted.

C:\IBM\ITM\BIN>tacmd listSystems -t is
Managed System Name Product Code Version    Status
9.46.66.92:IS      IS          07.40.02.03 Y

Log Filenames

The .LG0 log and the kisagent log were opened at the same time. Why is the .LG0 log identified by IP address, but the kisagent log is identified by the hostname?

9_46_66_92_IS.LG0
SURBASE1_is_kisagent_5e7cf410-01.log

The following entries are present in the C:\IBM\ITM\TMAITM6\kisenv file for the kisagent's .log filename and the .inv filename:

KBB_RAS1_LOG=C:\IBM\ITM\TMAITM6\logs\$(computername)_is_kisagent_$(sysutcstart)-.log
INVENTORY=C:\IBM\ITM\TMAITM6\logs\$(computername)_is_kisagent.inv COUNT=03 LIMIT=5 PRESERVE=1 MAXFILES=9

The kisagent log file is not using values from CTIRA variables. The computer name, which is the agent’s actual hostname, is getting used to generate the name of log files. Consequently, the kisagent log and .inv files are getting generated with the hostname as the filename instead of IP Address.