Locations
Locations represent shared sites or addresses. Devices assigned to the same Location use its name, coordinates and geographic data on maps and in location views. Building, floor, room, rack and position belong to each device separately.
Open Locations to browse sites, then select a Location to view its devices, settings and matching rules. Administrators (user level 10) can manage Locations, formats and assignments. Other users can view Locations containing devices they are permitted to see.
Locations and sysLocation
SNMP sysLocation is the location text reported by a device. Observium retains
that text separately from the shared Location assignment. A device sysLocation
override supplies replacement text when configured.
For example, these devices can share one Location, 123 Main St, Austin TX,
while retaining different rack positions:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
Renaming the shared Location does not change the devices' sysLocation text.
Existing filters and association rules using device.location continue to
match that text. Use device.location_id for group and alert associations that
should follow the shared Location, including through a rename or merge.
How devices are assigned
Observium resolves a device's Location during its system poll:
- Apply any sysLocation override and configured legacy location rewrites.
- Try enabled formats in priority order to extract the address and placement fields. If none matches, use the location text as the address.
- Use a manual Location assignment when one is set on the device.
- Otherwise, use the first enabled matching location rule.
- If no rule matches, find or create a Location using the address. An empty address resolves to Unknown.
Manual placement overrides are applied to the parsed building, floor, room, rack and position independently of the Location assignment.
The device's Location edit page shows its assignment and Resolved by explanation. When a rule matches, it also shows the rule and the field tested.
Manual assignments and Unknown
Use Add Location on the Locations page to create a site before assigning devices. On a device's Location edit page, enable its manual Location assignment and select the site. The Location's Devices view also provides Assign Devices for bulk assignment.
A manual assignment takes precedence over matching rules and stays in place across polls. Clearing it returns the device to automatic resolution; it does not necessarily move the device to Unknown.
Unknown is the fallback for devices with an empty resolved address. It is not a geographic site and cannot be used as either the source or target of a merge. To place its devices, assign them manually to a legitimate Location, set their sysLocation, or add a suitable rule, such as one matching a known hostname prefix.
Each placement field can also be overridden individually. An enabled override with an empty value intentionally clears that field. Disabling the override restores the value extracted from sysLocation.
Structured formats
The Formats tab controls how sysLocation is split into an address and device placement. Formats describe the text structure; rules select the destination Location. Lower numeric priorities run first, and the first matching format wins.
The built-in key/value format is enabled by default:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
Use an address followed by at least one placement field. Fields may appear in any order, and their keys are case-insensitive:
| Field | Accepted keys |
|---|---|
| Building | Building, Bldg, Bld |
| Floor | Floor, Flr, Fl |
| Room | Room, Rm, R |
| Rack | Rack, Rk |
| Position | Position, Pos, U |
Unknown keys, duplicate fields, empty values and malformed segments reject this format. Observium then tries the remaining enabled formats.
The legacy format is also enabled by default, ahead of the key/value format:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
This extracts rack R7, room 301 and building Building A. The remaining
address becomes the Location. A trailing Rack ..., Position ... preset is
available but disabled by default.
Custom formats use PCRE regular expressions with a named location or address
capture. Optional captures are building, floor, room, rack and position.
For example:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
This parses Paris DC; Cabinet A12 into Location Paris DC and rack A12.
Matching rules
Open a Location's Rules view to add patterns assigning devices to it. Choose whether to match the parsed location text or the Observium device hostname. For example, a hostname rule on the London Location could be:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
Enabled rules are evaluated globally in ascending numeric priority, then by
rule ID. The first match wins. Use explicit priorities when patterns overlap.
Patterns include their delimiters and modifiers; add i when a custom rule
should ignore case.
Rename and merge create exact aliases at priority 0, ahead of ordinary rules
using the default priority 100. Newly generated aliases ignore capitalization.
Aliases saved by older versions may still be case-sensitive; inspect their
patterns in the Rules view if variants stop matching.
Preview and apply assignments
After changing formats or rules, open the global Assignments tab to preview the effect on existing devices. The preview counts assignment and placement changes and lists up to the first 100 affected devices. Placement-only changes can show the same current and resolved Location.
Confirm Apply Changes to resolve all devices immediately and refresh location-based group and alert memberships. Manual assignments and placement overrides remain in effect. Applying uses the current configuration and device data, so revisit the preview if either has changed. Without applying, devices are resolved during their subsequent system polls.
Rename and merge
Rename a Location in Settings. Its identity and device links remain intact, and an alias for the old name keeps matching devices on later polls.
To consolidate duplicate sites, open the source Location's Merge view, select the Location to keep, and review the impact before confirming.
A merge moves devices, matching rules and manual assignments to the target. It retargets saved Location references in groups, alert associations and dashboard scopes, then refreshes location-based group and alert memberships. The source name becomes an alias for the target.
The target's name and geographic data are retained. The source Location is deleted and its geographic data is discarded. Review the target's coordinates before merging. Unknown cannot be merged.
Geolocation and maps
Geocoding resolves the shared Location address into coordinates and geographic fields. All devices assigned to that Location share those values. Changing a device's rack or room does not require a separate geographic lookup.
On the Location's Settings view:
- Enable Manual and enter latitude/longitude or place the map marker to set shared coordinates.
- Review API used, Last updated and Last update status when a lookup fails or returns an unexpected result.
- Enable Reset geolocation and save to clear stored geographic data and manual coordinates. With geocoding enabled, a subsequent device poll can resolve the address again.
Renaming a Location keeps its existing geodata unless it is reset. If the address changes to a different physical site, reset geolocation or set the correct manual coordinates as part of the edit.
Coordinates embedded in the resolved Location address also support reverse geocoding, for example:
| Text Only | |
|---|---|
With geocoding enabled, manual or embedded coordinates can be used to look up country, state and city. Locations without usable coordinates are not given a fabricated geographic position from the default map coordinates.
See Geocoding Configuration for provider settings, and Dashboard Widget Defaults for map presentation settings.