How to change the default IS name

[saleem_malik]

can any one explain how can i change the default IS server name.
which is present in the top right corner.

[John_Carter4 (John Carter)]

This name is provided by the server on which webMethods is running. You would have to change the hostname via the operating system.
regards,

[Venkata_Kasi_Viswanath_Mugada1 (Kasi Mugada)]

If you mean the “default” part of it, then you can use the IS Instance Manager to create a new IS instance. You will have to delete the “default” instance after taking a backup of any packages, configuration, etc., and create a new one with a different name -

1. About IS Instances (link)
2. Script Commands (link)
3. If you open the aforesaid links, there are more pages on the left side panel, that explain more

KM

[saleem_malik]

Hello @John_Carter4 .

Thanks for the response.
I have changed the hostname via the operating system as you have suggested, and it got changed too.
But, there were some issues because of that. like

1. in JDBC POOLS, while testing Pool Alias Definitions they were getting failed.

2. in Adapter >> webMethods Adapter for JDBC , here the connections we created
   were not getting enabaled.
   

   

i am attaching a pic to see that IS server name is changed compared to before.
but JDBC pools connection is getting failed.

If there is any other method to change the IS server name without affecting any dependencies, please share.

Regrds,

[saleem_malik]

Hello @Venkata_Kasi_Viswanath_Mugada1 .

Thanks for your response.
But i am not looking to create a new instance, i just want to change the name of the current default instance that i am using.

As @John_Carter4 suggested in the previous response, IS name got changed but those changes are causing other issues like failing of JDBC POOL connection & not being able to enable connection in the Adapter >> webMethods Adapter for JDBC.

for getting clear understanding please check the 2 pic i attached.

If you know any method o change the IS server name without affecting any dependencies, please share.

Regrds,

[Venkata_Kasi_Viswanath_Mugada1 (Kasi Mugada)]

It’s a hostname change, so if your databases are running on the same machine, then they will be impacted -

1. Update your database configuration and restart it if needed (link)
2. Update the database hostname under JDBC Pools
3. Restart the IS

A screenshot of your “WEBMUSER_IS” JDBC Pool configuration will help check if the above is the case.

KM

[Holger_von_Thomsen]

Hi,

remember that, when default gets changed to something else this will break automatic application of fixes to the active instances. Only the base repository sued to create new instannces (and the “default” instance if existing) will be updated automatically by UpdateManager.
All other instances will require an update action of the is_instance script.

Changing the hostname by OS can cause network issues esp. when they are part of a companies managed network.
You might lose network access for this host when it gets disconnected from Domain controller due to mismatching hostname.
You can check these data with “ipconfig /all” for Windows or “ifconfig -a” for Unix.

Regards,
Holger

[Nagendra_Prasad]

Hi @saleem_malik
While the other answers cover in detail about how this could be achieved and what the side effects are, I would like to know why you need to change the default IS server name, Is this needed to easily identify an IS or is there any other purpose?
based on that , maybe there is another way to achieve this.

-NP

[saleem_malik]

Hello @Nagendra_Prasad

i just started learning webMethods by installing free trail version into my laptop, where i do my practice and learn concepts.

recently for the company i work for they gave me Developer environment access by creating a user for me.

while working a requirement came along like we need to change the IS server name to proper convention. For example think like current server name is XYZ, we have have change it to ABC.

Instead of directly making changed to DEV environment i am trying it in my local system where i am using free trail version. if it works fine here i will try implementing that in DEV environment.

so i was looking for ways to change it.

by googling i found a way in the link i am providing below. but that method did not work.

Adding Custom Name to the Integration Server and showing it on IS Admin page

[John_Carter4 (John Carter)]

@Nagendra_Prasad, well it is useful to be able to refer to a server with a sensible name, ofter host names can be unintelligible and difficult to distinguish production from development environments. @saleem_malik my apologies for not pointing out that you changing the host name can have major impacts Also I would add that in many cases it isn’t possible to rename a server in this way.

In the past it would have been super easy to customise the HTML page directly, however now that we have adopted angular it is not possible. You could try modifying the css file styles.0ba5e6fcf6773fb937b5.css and change the nabber background color to make it easier to distinguish test from prod etc.

The only thing I can think of that is relatively easy to do is to edit the localisation files to do something like the following

To do that edit the file
<SAG_HOME>/IntegrationServer/instances/default/packages/WmADMIN/pub/assets/i18n/masthead/en.json

Then edit the value for “masthead.monitoring”

regards,
John.

[Nagendra_Prasad]

Agreed, though I have seen color coding in the past to distinguish among dev, QA, and other environments , dev has a green background , QA has yellow etc. Even that needed modifications to some files on the filesystem.
Probably better to let users use a different server name as opposed to modifying the hostname with no other side effects really.

-NP

[engin_arlak (Engin SARLAK)]

@saleem_malik

while working a requirement came along like we need to change the IS server name to proper convention. For example think like current server name is XYZ, we have have change it to ABC.

This requirement doesn’t sound right. Also what you have just experienced is a typical XY problem.

When naming servers the typical approach is first to name them and then install everything, not the other way around. In a typical environment these names are set by System Admins, not by individuals/server owners etc. A typical scenario will have a load balancer hence your connections will pass through a VIP and an F5 server. Which normally you shouldn’t have direct access unless System/F5 Admins and webMethods admins are the same people.

Changing instance name on the other hand, (which involves deleting the default instance, or not installing it at the beginning.) will usually cause more harm then good unless your server has multiple Integration Server Instances. It is usually not recommend changing the default instance, as others noted you will need to patch your environment manually if you change it.

I would ask for a confirmation for the requirement first. You may have misunderstood the requirement. Even if its true, you hardly ever need to do it at all. I would ask the reason behind it to understand the exact requirement. Sometimes client asks for something illogical. Its your job to tell them (nicely) that they are not making any sense.

Hope this helps.

[Holger_von_Thomsen]

Hi,

why not using Built-In extended parameter (documented in IS Administrators Guide), which can be configured via Settings → Extended Settings in IS Admin UI?

watt.net.localhost
Sets the host name of the machine from which you are using the Integration Server.
There is no default.
In some instances, such as when the Integration Server needs to identify itself to
other Integration Servers, the IP address of the machine hosting Integration Server
is required. In this case, Integration Server performs a reverse DNS lookup on the
specified host name and supplies the IP address of the machine in place of the
loopback address (127.0.0.1 in IPv4 or ::1 in IPv6), which is sometimes returned by
java.net.InetAddress.getLocalHost() in place of the actual IP address. In many cases, the
loopback address is not sufficient and Integration Server needs the actual address. This
most commonly occurs when the IP address of the host is acquired dynamically from a
DHCP server, or when the host has more than one network interface card.
In most cases, you can resolve the IP address by modifying the C:\Windows
\system32\drivers\etc file (in Windows) or the etc/hosts or the etc/nsswitch.conf files
(in Linux and Unix). When you cannot modify these files, or if modifying them does not
correct the problem, set watt.net.localhost.

Important: If you change the settng of this parameter, you must restart Integration
Server for the changes to take effect.

Regards,
Holger

[John_Carter4 (John Carter)]

Hi @Holger_von_Thomsen ,
I thought of the same thing, but unfortunately that doesn’t change the name used in the masthead
That attribute is to ensure that auditing will submit retries via the indicated host and not the one from the instance itself, this is important in a cluster.
regards,
John.

[Holger_von_Thomsen]

Hi John,

unfortunately, I am not able to verify this as we have just retired our webMethods based project due to various reasons.

But I am pretty sure that we have used it in our (non-clustered) environment successfully while scheduled tasks and resubmitting still used the technical default value internally, combined with the primary port of the IS.

This value should be set very early after installing the instance, so that all values in the audit database can refer it when possible. When this is set later on you might need to check the database with a DB client tool and update the affected columns.

Regards,
Holger