Hi all
I'm working to import a few elements via CSV as I'm testing the possibility of performing a huge change of driver from an old deprecated one to the new one.
The new one uses the SNMP and SSH connection, and I have a problem that when I try to import an element via a CSV file that declares the SSH connection (it's marked as a secondary connection), the SSH information is not fetched correctly, and the element goes into an "error" state.
If I try to create a new element with the new driver, export as CSV, change only the IP, remove the element ID, and import the CSV, the SSH information isn't fetched correctly anyway.
Could be that I need to create a specific columns to import information about the SSH connection? ora secondary connection anyway?
Hi Marco,
If I'm getting your question right, I think this is not a bug but it's a known behavior of how DataMiner's CSV format handles elements with multiple connections.
Root cause: tab-separated values inside a single cell
The CSV column headers like "Polling IP Address", "Port Type", "Polling IP Port", etc. support multiple values within the same cell, separated by a tab character, one value per connection (primary first, secondary after).
So for an element with SNMP (primary) + SSH (secondary), the "Polling IP Address" cell actually looks like this in the raw file:
"10.34.4.53 10.34.4.53"
...and "Port Type":
"ip ip"
...and *"Polling IP Port"* (161 for SNMP, 80 for SSH):
"161 80"
That tab character is invisible in Excel. When you open the CSV in Excel and change the IP, Excel replaces the entire cell with just the first IP, silently dropping the SSH IP. Even if you export a freshly created element and re-import it, Excel will have already destroyed the secondary connection data the moment you saved it.
How to safely edit the CSV
Use Notepad++ instead of Excel, and enable View > Show Symbol > Show All Characters. You'll see the tab characters clearly (shown as `→`), and you can update both values.
Make sure to do this for every port-related column: Polling IP, Port Type, Port Number, Polling IP Port, Protocol Type, Timeout, Retries, etc.
Practical tip for large migrations
If you're migrating a large number of elements, consider an Automation script to create the elements programmatically, it gives you full control over each connection and avoids the CSV editing pitfall entirely. The CSV approach works but requires careful handling of those tab-separated fields.
Hope this helps!
Hi Marco,
If you are unable to make further progress, please contact us at support@dataminer.services. My colleagues will open a support ticket and guide you through providing the additional information and symptoms required for further investigation.
Hi!
Thanks for the reply, I didn't mean that I found a bug, just not clear for me how it works
Anyway I follow was suggested, but I see the CSV exported use "comma" as delimter and if I try to use a tab the value inside a cell begin moved to the next cell
Anyway now I almost address all the information, the only one I'm not able to assigne correclty is the IP address for the SSH connection, if I put a double value in this column "Polling IP Address/Device IP Address/Gateway IP Address" both goes on SNMP address instead