Azure Service Graph Connector. VM Name is different than the OS Name

[StasyF]

We have VMs in Azure that after they are created and in CMDB with the Virtual Machine Instance CI and the Windows Server CI with the same name, the OS Name (Server name) is being renamed.  This is causing dueling sources in IRE as any Discovery or agent-based tools (like SCCM SGC) are flipping the Windows Server name to the discovered name and then Azure SGC flips it back. This is also creating duplicate CIs.  We looked in the Azure SGC payload but we do not see where Azure SGC provides an OS name. It seems to assume the VM name is always the same as OS name.  Has anyone else experienced this and a way to circumvent?  Advanced IRE Rules?

[tinkAnsh]

Hi StasyF,

Azure SGC treats the Azure VM resource name as authoritative for the OS name field on the Windows Server CI, while Discovery/SCCM report the actual OS hostname. When they differ, IRE keeps overwriting because there’s no reconciliation priority set for that attribute.

Fix: Use CI Reconciliation Rules to set data source precedence on the name field

1. Go to CMDB Reconciliation > Reconciliation Definitions (cmdb_reconcile_definition).

2. Create/edit a rule for the cmdb_ci_win_server class, targeting the name attribute.

3. Set explicit precedence order for data sources — e.g., rank SCCM/Discovery above Azure SGC for the name field specifically. This tells IRE “when multiple sources disagree on this attribute, the higher-priority source wins” instead of last-write-wins (which is what’s causing the flip-flopping).

4. You can scope this by CI class + attribute, so it only affects name, not other fields Azure SGC legitimately owns.

Second piece — stop duplicate CIs

Check your Identification Rule for Windows Server (cmdb_identifier/cmdb_identity_rule). If it’s using name as part of the independent/dependent identifier combo (rather than serial number, correlation ID, or a more stable key), a name mismatch between sources will cause IRE to treat it as a different CI and create a duplicate instead of reconciling. Switch identification to rely on something Azure-stable (e.g., Azure VM resource ID / correlation ID, or serial number) rather than hostname.

Thanks,

Anshul