How to configure the beacon to use a different name or alias than its host name

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Summary

If you need to use a DNS alias, IP address or even just a name that is different than the one in AD in order to get a beacon working on the network then this article explains how to configure the networkName.

Question

I need to use a DNS alias or IP address for my inventory beacon to be contacted by agents over the network; how do I do this?

Answer

Follow these steps to override what the FlexNet Inventory Beacon would advertise to the Agents what its name is:

1. Open the file BeaconEngine.config on your Beacon Server with a text editor. This is typically located in C:\Program Files (x86)\Flexera Software\Inventory Beacon\DotNet\conf.
2. Modify the networkName property to use the alias or IP (which by default will use the server's current hostname if networkName is blank).
3. Once the change is saved, restart the FlexNet Beacon Engine service and IIS (if the beacon uses IIS for web service) in order for the change to take effect.

For example, the modified parameter may look like this:

networkName="MyServer.MyDomain.com" />

Note: If changing the above parameter has no effect, edit the relevant beacon from the Web UI and then save the configuration to force a policy change.

Additional Information

This networkName property is documented in the online help of FNMS (by clicking the top-right '?' icon) under:
Inventory Beacons -> Inventory Beacons Reference -> Adjusting the web server on the Inventory Beacon