Bug #15852
open
Alias Nesting Only Shows IP and Network Alias Types On Initial Creation
0%
Description
Hopefully the title makes some sense, but I will give this as much context as I can.
Firstly, according to the documentation, you should be able to nest network and host aliases inside each other, i.e. you should be able to nest a host alias inside a new network alias. This isn't exactly the case though, or at least not w/ how the GUI behaves.
I've got a test environment setup (confirmed this across both CE and Plus, fully updated) with 2 aliases for testing, one is a host alias with a single host, the other is a network alias with two /32 IPs and one /24 network.
If I go and create a new alias with the type selected as either Host or Network, then search for aliases in the entries at the bottom, I can see both of the 2 aliases I created. This is how things are described in the documentation.
However, once I save the alias, if I go back to editing the alias, only the parent aliases' type shows up in the search for the entries at the bottom.
To be as clear as possible, I created a 3rd alias saved as a Network type alias, if I go back to editing that alias, only the network type alias shows up (whereas before I saved it, both types showed up). The inverse is true if the parent alias was a Host type alias (network aliases show up during creation but not during editing).
Forgive me if I am missing something intentional here, but this seems really confusing to me. Also brings up the question, should Network and Host aliases be able to contain each other at all?
Updated by Jordan G 3 months ago
From my interpretation of your description and based on preliminary testing, it seems what you're stating is possible it's just that the field does not auto-populate with either host or network aliases when you begin typing in the new line entry field. The only aliases that populate are of the same variety as the one you are currently editing, ie hosts only show other host aliases and no network-type aliases, networks only network aliases but no host-type aliases. It appears if you format and capitalize the alias exactly as it appears in the new host or network field (when editing), it can be saved and applied but there is no predictive input for alias types other than the kind you are editing. This is different than creating a new alias as a new alias auto-populates all alias types not just the one selected in the drop down. If you agree with my explanation, we might call this confirmed but need to see if it's expected behavior
Updated by Ethan Word 3 months ago
Jordan G wrote in #note-2:
it appears this functionality is by design and to prevent things like port aliases being nested in a host or network alias. Typing an alias in anyways, despite it not auto-populating, is not confirmed working and should not be assumed functional unless tested.
I'll do some more testing with this shortly to see what I can figure out.
I know the documentation says you can nest network and host aliases together, so something should change so they do auto-populate, assuming that manually typing them does indeed work. Otherwise then there's more work to be done, or documentation changes needed.