Linking assets and devices in FNMS priority?

[bleepie]

Hello I have a question regarding the linking of assets in the "All Assets" view and the devices in "All Inventory". In FNMS, more than 90% of the time assets and devices are automatically linked because they both have the same serial number. Sometimes however, they are not automatically linked, even though they have the same serial number.

When I go to Discovery & Inventory -> Inventory -> Inventory without Assets I find myself a list of all devices that are not linked to its asset. In this view there is a field called "Recommened Asset Link" and in there I see the correct suggested asset. So it seems FNMS is capable of identifying the correct asset that belongs to the device, but it just doesn't automatically link them.

I know I can manually accept the link so that they are linked, but I am wondering what the cause could be as to why it doesn't link automatically. Does anyone know why? Thanks.

[adrian_ritz1 · Accepted solution]

Hello,

This is normal Flexera behavior. If you check the help:

https://docs.flexera.com/FlexNetManagerSuite2024R1/EN/WebHelp/index.html#topics/Asset-Props-General-Tab.html

Linked inventory

The software or hardware inventory record that belongs to this asset. An asset is linked to the appropriate inventory record when: The linking of assets is controlled from a business adapter. The asset is created first, and the inventory is collected thereafter. The existing asset is linked to the appropriate incoming inventory record based on matching serial numbers. Note, however, that if there are duplicate serial numbers, either on existing unattached asset records or in the incoming stream of inventory devices, the duplicates cannot be resolved, and in this case the linking of asset with inventory device cannot happen automatically. You will need to intervene manually to resolve the duplicate serial numbers. The asset record is created manually from an existing inventory record from the Inventory Without Assets page. Note: If the inventory record is created before the asset record, FlexNet Manager Suite will recommend a link based on the matching serial number, but the linking needs to be done manually. Use the search fly-down to identify the inventory record to associate with this asset. For details, see To Use a Fly-Down.

[bleepie]

Hello Adrian. Thanks for sharing this information. I have one example of an asset that existed months before the device gathered its information. The device gathered its information but the asset and device were not linked. They both have the same exact serial number. When we go to "Inventory without assets" the device has a recommended asset link with the asset mentioned. So it should automatically link, but it doesn't. Do you have any idea why such thing could happen?

Please note when I look up the serial number in both "All Assets" and "All Inventory" there are no duplicates. However, we do remove duplicates so there could have been a posibility that there were duplicates in the past. Could a duplicate from the past have been a reason as to why it is not automatically linked?