Identification and reconciliation along with asset entries

[nayanthara]

When an entry is made in the Asset table, there is an out of box business rule that creates a corresponding entry in the CMDB. Does this business rule also invoke the identification and reconciliation engine? If not, how can we make sure the entries/updates from the inventory goes through the identification and reconciliation process?

[Paul Coste2]

I have a similar question.   In my scenario, I plan on importing Assets and would like to do these in a way that is as out-of-box as possible, using Model Categories configured as you describe.   But the history is that we have an existing CMDB that was populated without verification, without model categories set up correctly.   These were imported from another CMDB that was considered authoritative, and these CIs were used by Changes and Incidents.   Now I would like the new Assets that I am importing to merge gracefully with the existing CIs and keep the links to Tasks. Since these CIs already say that validation is not required (due to the state of the Model Category when they were created) I am not given the opportunity to Merge them.   So if I let the Asset create the CI, then it would seem to me that the only way for me to know whether the CI should be created would be to use Identification and Reconciliation.  

Is there an ability to reset the validation required on CIs?   Is there a way to cause the Asset to CI synchronization to utilize the identification and reconciliation engine?   Do you have a model that shows these different use cases and how they can all be utilized together in a scenario where there are existing CIs that were created without validation?

[Community Alums]

Hi Paul,

When you brought in the CIs from the existing CMDB, were Asset records created automatically? They should have been created if the Model Categories were already identified. If so, then you should be able to merge (coalesce) on some value in these existing Assets so you do not need to worry about new CIs being created.

Ben

[Paul Coste2]

Are there asset records?   Sometimes.   If the categories were configured to create assets, then yes we have them.   In some cases the categories were configured incorrectly, so there are no asset records.   In some cases the asset record exists, but the identifying links between the asset system and the config system were missing, so we have CIs where the only identifying field is the host name.   So it would be fine to coalesce on the asset identifier in cases where it already exists, but in cases where it does not, we will end up with a new asset/CI pair for a CI that already exists.