Hosts, Labels and Inventory

CMDBsyncer works with three types of data: Hosts, Labels, and Inventory.

Hosts

A host is any kind of device or object. It is identified by its hostname, bound to a source account, and carries Labels and Inventory data.

Hosts can have different object types — for example host, application, contact, group, or cmk_site. The object type controls which rules and exports apply to it.

Labels and Inventory

Labels and Inventory are both key:value pairs. They can be used in all rules, rewritten, and filtered. The difference lies in how they are managed.

Labels are imported and fully controlled by the import plugin. When the source changes or removes a label, the Syncer reflects that change.

Inventory data can come from multiple sources simultaneously. Each source identifies its keys with a namespace prefix on the attribute name.

Example:

csv__ipaddress: 127.0.0.1
csv__alias: Test Server
srctest__service_name: Test Service

Here, the csv plugin controls all keys starting with csv__, and the srctest plugin controls its own namespace. This prevents conflicts when multiple sources provide data for the same host.

Account Options for Inventorize

Every module provides an inventorize endpoint that enriches host data with additional attributes. The behavior is configured via the account settings.

Option	Description
inventorize_key	Namespace prefix used for all attribute names from this source
inventorize_match_by_domain	If enabled, matches inventory data by domain name (not available in all modules)
inventorize_match_attribute	Restrict inventory to hosts that have a specific attribute value. Example: application=dns only adds inventory data to hosts where application contains dns
inventorize_collect_by_key	If an attribute on the host contains the name of another host, that other host receives the attribute added to its inventory (numerated), containing the originating hostname
inventorize_rewrite_collect_by_key	Rewrite the collect_by_key value using a Jinja template before using it as a lookup key

CMDB Mode

CMDBsyncer can also act as a lightweight CMDB itself — without requiring an external source system. In this mode, you create and maintain objects and hosts directly in the UI, assign them to templates, and manage custom fields.

See Use as CMDB for full documentation on CMDB mode, templates, and the cmdb_match automatic assignment feature.