How does Contrast distinguish a new server?

Question

How does Contrast distinguish a new Server entry and can this be configured or customized?

Answer

Each Server entry represents a running Contrast agent. A new unique Server entry is created in the Contrast UI if one of 3 attributes differs:

• Server name (designated "Hostname" in the UI) - by default, the hostname of the server

• Server type (currently not visible in the UI) - the type of container hosting your application

• Server path (designated "Directory" in the UI) - the path from which the agent process is running

You can see the values each of these (except the server type) takes by hovering over a server name in the UI:

Each of these attributes can be set to a string of your choice by applying configuration changes to the Contrast agent. This can be useful if one or more of these attributes are dynamic and change each time the application is started with the agent - for example, if running on Kubernetes, the server name will change with each restart of a pod.

The corresponding properties to configure each attribute can be found in our documentation here: 

• Server Settings