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Missing "ifAlias" property in Generic Cisco Device Extension (Entity Framework)

SEPESP
Visitor
Hi,

I am using the Generic Cisco Device extension and I need to use the interface alias (ifAlias) as a placeholder in Automatic Tagging rules.

Support mentioned that if.alias is already an attribute, but after checking the API v2 (/entities/{id}), the property is clearly missing from the "properties" object. The only available properties are: detectedName, macAddress, and networkInterfaceSpeed.

Because it is not a formal property, I cannot use it as a placeholder (it shows as "Unknown").

Request:
Please update the Generic Cisco Device extension to properly map the SNMP OID 1.3.6.1.2.1.31.1.1.1.18 (ifAlias) as a first-class Entity Property. This is essential for:

  1. Using {Entity:Property:ifAlias} in Automatic Tagging.
  2. Filtering interfaces in DQL/Dashboards by their description.
  3. Improving management zone assignment in large scale networks.
2 REPLIES 2

alvaro_sanchez
Dynatrace Helper
Dynatrace Helper

Hello,

From the fields you're seeing in the API response, that is not the interface created by the Generic Cisco Extension (which are CUSTOM_DEVICE type entities), but a OneAgent-discovered host NIC (NETWORK_INTERFACE type). We only retrieve basic information from those.

From extension-discovered interfaces, you should see other properties (ifAdminStatus, ifOperStatus, ifSpeed, mtu...). It is true that ifAlias is not one of these, and we could add it as it's being extracted already, but please clarify that we are indeed referring to interfaces extracted by extensions.

Mind as well that as we are moving towards Smartscape nodes as entities, rule-based tags will no longer be supported, and we will move to a model of defining tags at deployment time + segments as management zone replacement.

Regards,
Álvaro

Hello,
Thank you for the detailed clarification.

You are completely right. I was looking at NETWORK_INTERFACE
 entities from OneAgent instead of the CUSTOM_DEVICE entities generated by the Cisco extension. I appreciate you pointing that out.


To clarify:
Yes, I am referring strictly to the interfaces extracted by the Generic Cisco Device extension.

Since you mentioned that ifAlias is already being extracted, it would be extremely helpful if you could expose it as a first-class property for these extension-discovered entities. Even with the architecture shifts ahead, having this visibility in the short term is highly valuable for our current workflows.

Regarding the transition to the new Smartscape model, the deprecation of rule-based tags, and the shift from Management Zones to Segments: could you share any documentation, roadmap timelines, or best practices on how we should prepare our configuration for this new model?

Thanks again for your support

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