bleepie asked a question.
Hello, we have a business adapter fetching assets from our ITSM tool and stores them into the "All Assets" view in FNMS. Sometimes we have multiple records of assets with the same name but with different other variables such as serial number. The most recent one imported has the status of installed while all the others have the status of disposed. We have an issue where sometimes assets that are disposed are linked to an inventory device causing that device to show op on the "Ingored Inventory" view. We want the most recent asset and the one with the status of installed to be linked to its device.
Now, I was wondering if we can solve this by somehow merging assets that have the same name, or maybe deleting the ones that are disposed so that only the newest one that has the status of installed is linked to its device and thus shows up in the "All Inventory" view rather then the "Ignored Inventory" view.
Is this possible?
Hello,
the management of hardware assets in a separate discipline ^^ Especially the topic of duplicates is a big challenge.
Basically, the question is from which source the hardware assets originate (e.g. CMDB). The duplicates can actually only already exist in the source or there is a faulty matching in the (business) adapter, which leads to the duplicates. This is where the first check should take place.
It is of course possible to remove obsolete hardware asset entries from the system. This is possible with a corresponding SQL query embedded in the (Business) Adapter, e.g. as a custom query or an SQL Agent job. What is to be deleted is freely definable.
With regard to matching, the standard mechanism of Flexera FNMS attempts to find the correct inventory entry for the hardware asset entry via the serial number. (see here: https://docs.flexera.com/FlexNetManagerSuite2024R2/EN/BusnAdap/index.html#mgsbi/topics/FAQ-CustomAssetDeviceLinks.html)
However, this behavior can be adjusted. Either directly in the corresponding step in the (Business) Adapter or via SQL Query.
If you need help with this topic, feel free to contact us ;)
Good Luck!
There is no concept in the system of "merging" asset records. Each record is unique and has its own lifecycle.
In a situation like you describe where you have ended up with records which seem to be conceptually duplicates (i.e. representing the same actual real-world asset) then you might want to consider deleting the old/unwanted/duplicate asset records (and reviewing the CMDB source data to see if the quality of data in there can be cleaned up to avoid similar problems in the future).
In this case, it sounds as if you are using the 'name' of the Asset for linking the Asset to an Inventory.
Flexera FNMS will use the serial number of the Asset and of the Inventory for linking. The name of the asset does not matter for linking. Or to rephrase it: The serial number is the unique identifier for an asset and must be unique.
You could link your inventory to assets having a different serial number manually, and also automate this linking using a SQL script.
However, as a best practice:
Yes, unique serial number for each Asset is the way to go. Ensure the system of record (CMDB) keeps Serial Numbers unique and has an accurate lifecycle status