Rule 9 - Standard Location Determination Rules for Assets Discovered by the Traditional Lansweeper Scanner and replicated from On-Prem SQL to Lansweeper Cloud

Rule Synopsis

These are the rule/s that control how CI Sync deduce the Location value of a given Lansweeper Asset using several standard data elements within Lansweeper.

Rule Details and Default

• By default, CI Sync does not persist any form of Location against each CMDB CI record.

Override Options

Context

Customers may consider overriding the default rules so that CI Sync does set a Location against the target CI record.

CI Sync supports several standard Lansweeper data elements to deduce the Asset location.  See the page details below for the standard override options.

If the standard Lansweeper data elements are not suitable, Syncfish can implement Custom Asset Location Determination rules (See Rule 4 – Custom Asset Location Determination Rules).

Options

1. This Data Sync Rule can be overridden so that CI Sync does persist an automatically determined Location against each CMDB CI record.  The persisted value with be a sys_id reference between the CI record and the corresponding record in the cmn_location table.

If customers enable the above override (so CI Sync persists a determined location value) there are three Lansweeper location data elements that can be selected for use by CI Sync to determine the location of each Asset/CI:

1. Standard CI Sync Location Rule Override 1: Lansweeper IP Locations and IP Location attribute.

2. Standard CI Sync Location Rule Override 2: Asset Locations (relationship based locations)

3. Standard CI Sync Location Rule Override 3: Custom Location (or manual Asset Location) attribute.

See Additional Information below on how Lansweeper implements the above options and the operation of CI Sync’s Standard Location Determination rules.

Overriding via Connection Settings

Customers can perform the override using a “Connection Setting” via the CI Sync User Interface (i.e. customers can perform the overrides themselves). Additional information for this is available via the following documentation:

1. For a general overview of CI Sync Connection Settings please read Understanding the use of CI Sync Connection Settings.

2. For the specific CI Sync Connection Setting/s related to the rule described on this page please read Location Data Handling for Lansweeper Cloud

For documentation on all CI Sync Connection Settings please visit the page tree Connection Setting Guides.

Additional Information

Standard Location Rule Override 1: Lansweeper IP Locations and IP Location Attribute

Firstly, Lansweeper context

• IP Locations (i.e. the master list of IP Locations) are replicated from Lansweeper On-Prem to Lansweeper Cloud.

• IP Locations (i.e. the master list of IP Locations) can be viewed in Lansweeper Cloud under the Inventory menu.

• The IP Location of each individual asset is replicated from Lansweeper On-Prem to Lansweeper Cloud. The IP Location of each asset is shown on the asset form in Lansweeper Cloud (see below).

Next, How CI Sync handles Lansweeper IP Locations

• CI Sync reads the IP Location value associated with each Lansweeper Cloud asset. 

• CI Sync attempts to match the IP Location value against an existing record in the cmn_location using the cmn_location.name attribute.

  • If CI Sync matches an incoming IP Location value to a record in the cmn_location table, CI Sync sets a foreign key reference between the location attribute on the CI record itself and the matching record in cmn_location table.

  • If CI Sync does not match an incoming IP Location value against the cmn_location table, then CI Sync will do one of the following:

    • Either insert/create a new cmn_location record (and set a foreign key reference between the CI and the newly created location record)

    • Or, not insert/create a new cmn_location record (and obviously not set a foreign key reference, so the location attribute on the CI will be nul).

  • Note 1: The above behaviour (to insert/create new cmn_locations records or not) is controlled by Rule 8 - Automatic Creation of new Location Master Data Records in ServiceNow for Lansweeper On-Prem.

  • Note 2: If there are multiple IP Locations in Lansweeper with the same name (such as two subnets in an IP Location), then these will be set in ServiceNow to the same cmn_location value (i.e. CI Sync does not create duplicate locations with the same name).

Standard Location Rule Override 2: Asset Locations (relationship based locations)

Firstly, Lansweeper context

• In Lansweeper On-Prem this is sometimes referred to as a “Map or Blueprint Location” (which is a feature that allows customers to represent assets on a diagram).

• In both Lansweeper On-Prem and Lansweeper Cloud the “Asset Location” records are treated as an Asset (i.e. an “asset” record is created in Lansweeper to represent a physical “Location”.

• See the screen shot below from Lansweeper Cloud showing “Locations” as a type of “asset”.

• In both Lansweeper On-Prem and Lansweeper Cloud, the assocation of Assets to Locations is treated as a relationship.

• Both Asset Locations and the Asset to Location relationship records are replicated from Lansweeper On-Prem to Lansweeper Cloud.

• The Asset Location of each asset is shown on the asset form down in the Relationships section within Lansweeper Cloud (see below).

 Next, How CI Sync handles Lansweeper Asset Locations (relationship based locations)

• CI Sync reads the Asset Location value from the relationship that has been set in Lansweeper Cloud (using the technique noted above).

• CI Sync attempts to match the Asset Location value against an existing record in the cmn_location using the cmn_location.name attribute.

  • If CI Sync matches an incoming Asset Location value to a record in the cmn_location table, CI Sync sets a foreign key reference between the location attribute on the CI record itself and the matching record in cmn_location table.

  • If CI Sync does not match an incoming Asset Location value against the cmn_location table, then CI Sync will do one of the following:

    • Either insert/create a new cmn_location record (and set a foreign key reference between the CI and the newly created location record)

    • Or, not insert/create a new cmn_location record (and obviously not set a foreign key reference, so the location attribute on the CI will be nul).

  • Note 1: The above behaviour (to insert/create new cmn_locations records or not) is controlled by Rule 8 - Automatic Creation of new Location Master Data Records in ServiceNow for Lansweeper On-Prem.

Standard Location Rule Override 3: Custom Location (or manual Asset Location) attribute

Firstly, Lansweeper context

1. Lansweeper On-Prem includes an out-of-the-box Asset Location attribute. In Lansweeper this is often referred to as a “Custom Location”.

2. This Location attribute is only automatically filled when found through SNMP scanning for network devices. 

3. In all other circumstances the field maintained manually. As the Location attribute is free text it requires customers to maintain the integrity of this data.

4. Lanswepeer Cloud includes an out-of-the box also the Asset Location attribute. This too is manually maintained in Lansweeper Cloud. Or, if you replicating your Lansweeper On-Prem to Lansweeper Cloud, the Asset Location attribute is populated with the replicated On-Prem data.

5. This Custom/Manual Location attribute is shown on the asset form in Lansweeper Cloud (see below).

 Next, How CI Sync handles the Lansweeper Custom Location (or manual Asset Location) attribute

• CI Sync reads the Custom Location attribute value associated with each Lansweeper Cloud asset. 

• CI Sync attempts to match the Custom Location value against an existing record in the cmn_location using the cmn_location.name attribute.

  • If CI Sync matches an incoming Custom Location value to a record in the cmn_location table, CI Sync sets a foreign key reference between the location attribute on the CI record itself and the matching record in cmn_location table.

  • If CI Sync does not match an incoming Custom Location value against the cmn_location table, then CI Sync will do one of the following:

    • Either insert/create a new cmn_location record (and set a foreign key reference between the CI and the newly created location record)

    • Or, not insert/create a new cmn_location record (and obviously not set a foreign key reference, so the location attribute on the CI will be nul).

  • Note 1: The above behaviour (to insert/create new cmn_locations records or not) is controlled by Rule 8 - Automatic Creation of new Location Master Data Records in ServiceNow for Lansweeper On-Prem.

Related Rules

• Rule 8 - Automatic Creation of new Location Master Data Records in ServiceNow for Lansweeper On-Prem

• Rule 9a - Standard Location Determination Rules for Assets Discovered by Lansweeper Network Discovery and stored in Lansweeper Cloud

• Rule 4 – Custom Asset Location Determination Rules

Support Model for Rule Overrides

Question: Can overrides be performed by customers without a Syncfish Extended Implementation and Support Plan?

Answer: Yes (via self-service in the CI Sync UI)

Question: Which Syncfish Extended Implementation and Support Plan is required to obtain overrides of this rule

Answer: Either a Bronze Plan, Silver Plan or Gold Plan (for customers wanting Syncfish assistance to perform overrides of this rule)