Managing Remote Devices

[rclark0]

I currently have a large list of "Remote Devices" whos last inventory date was in 2018. Does FNMS scrub these records at any point?

[mfranz · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Afaik there is not automated removal by default.

The quickest way would be to gather all the DeviceIDs (e.g. older than X days) into a temp table #DiscoveredDevice and then run this stored procedure to have them removed:

EXEC DiscoveredDeviceRemoveBatch

 Best regards,

Markward

[rclark0]

Since this is not removed by any sort of automated process, do you know if there is value in keeping these records?

[mfranz]

There is usually no direct value connected to license compliance. I guess most companies would just discard the data.

However, depending on how the data was gathered and how ITAM processes are, some companies might still find the data useful to identify gaps in their inventory, etc.

[ChrisG]

@mfranz earlier comments about the DiscoveredDeviceRemoveBatch procedure is helpful if the particular records you are trying to remove are in the DiscoveredDevice table in the database.

It may also be that the records you are looking at here are a different type of record, such as an inventory device record that has been imported from some source. Generally inventory device records will be deleted in FlexNet once they are deleted/removed from the original inventory source, so it may help to look at data aging practices in the inventory source system.

The following semi-related discussion thread may have some more useful pointers (especially if the devices you are looking at have had inventory gathered using the FlexNet inventory agent): Deleting old inventory records.

[RobertH]

Remote Devices are not necessarily discovered devices.  Mine are resulting from the Office 365 Integration and do not appear as a Discovered Device.

[tbesse]

Hello,

I recommend a read of this section of the Online Help for an understanding of remote devices, how they come to live and what we use them for:
https://helpnet.flexerasoftware.com/fnms/EN/WebHelp/index.html#topics/Vir-Remote_Devices.html

Best regards
Thorsten