Cloned Windows server with same hostname

How to set up monitoring for a cloned Windows server with the same host name or UUID?

One of the many reasons for a server monitor not showing up on the Site24x7 dashboard even after successful installation of the agent is due to having the same host name for multiple servers. This calls for a way to distinguish the cloned servers since it is mandatory to have a unique host name for every server.

The following list the possible cases:
  • More then one server is created using the same image (AMI) in Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • In a virtual machine (VM), a server monitoring agent is installed and the VM is cloned along with the installed service

Let us explain the solution with one of the above scenarios:
In AWS, three servers have the same host name because it was created using the same Amazon Machine Image (AMI). In this case, the first server will be added, but the second and third servers will get mapped to the same monitor, because of the same host name. To resolve this, please follow the below steps for the other two servers:
  1. Go to Run > regedit.exe
  2. Navigate to the below key:
    For 64-bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\ManageEngine\Site24x7WindowsAgent\Monitoring\ MonitoringAgentKey
    For 32-bit:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ManageEngine\Site24x7WindowsAgent\Monitoring\ MonitoringAgentKey
  3. Change the above registry key value to "SITE24X7NEW" and click 'OK'
  4. After performing the above change, open Windows services and restart the 'Site24x7 Windows Agent' service
  5. Wait for a few minutes
  6. Perform the above steps for all the server monitors having with the same host name