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Version: 11.1

Duplicate Device Merge

Merging duplicate devices is useful when re-creating a complete network in a new location, such as when migrating from on-premises to the cloud or another data center. With this feature, you can substitute the newer device for the existing one in the pair in your inventory, or prevent the duplicate from appearing in the first place. This way, you will be able to preserve existing Resolve Insights data like applications.

This method for device merging requires that you create the duplicating devices with at least one device property that fully matches the original device, like the IP address. The more matching device properties you have, the better.

How It Works​

The Duplicate Device Merge feature would work for any newly discovered device that meets the matching criteria.

A prerequisite of the merge process is that you already have devices discovered in Insights and they might be part of one or more applications. They might also be pushed to your CMDB system.

  1. Create device merge rules to determine how you will match the duplicating devices with the original and what action should be taken over the old device.
  2. Test each rule. The rule will be executed over the existing inventory and will list the devices matching the rule criteria. The actual merge will happen during the discovery process. If the Old Device column shows multiple entries for a single entry in New Device, the merge rule will not be triggered for these devices.
  3. Enable the rules you tested.
  4. Create a network discovery for the new devices and ensure that are visible in your inventory.
    The merge rule will be automatically triggered upon successful discovery of a device that matches the merge criteria and if the rule is enabled. The newly discovered device will replace the old one, and the specified merge action will be applied on the old device during the network discovery process.
    The last step of the merge process is to update your CMDB with the newly discovered devices and update the status of the old devices.
    note
    • For network and storage devices, the merge rule will be applied immediately when the new device is discovered.
    • For a compute device that is not included in any application, the merge rule will be applied immediately when the new device is discovered.
    • For a compute device that is part of an application, the merge rule will be applied when the service flows for the newly discovered devices are collected and replaced in all affected applications.
  5. Create a service flow discovery for the newly discovered devices.
    note

    If the merge action for the old devices is Keep, you would need to stop the service flow discovery for them, so that the merge process can replace the flows in the applications with the newly discovered ones.

  6. Wait 2 hours for the merge process to automatically replace the devices in the applications.

Create a Device Merge Rule​

You can only create a single device merge rule for every device type. The rule consists of the device fields that must match between the new and the old device to warrant a device substitution and a merge action that will be triggered for the old device.

Take these steps to create a device merge rule:

  1. Navigate to Organization Settings > Duplicate Device Merge.
  2. Click Add Rule.
  3. Enter the Name of the merger rule.
  4. Select the Category of the device type drop-down list.
  5. Select the Merge Action of the actions drop-down list for the old device. You can choose to
    • Keep the old device in the inventory as active until you manually decomission it.
    • Delete the old device by keeping it into the inventory list, but with DELETED status.
    • Hide the old device from the inventory.
  6. Select the merge Rule Fields that must match between the devices to be considered as duplicates. Click a field name in the list to add it. You can add multiple fields, one at a time.
  7. Click Create.

The rule is disabled on creation. You need to first test and enable it to apply it.

Test a Device Merge Rule​

With testing, you can verify your rule before enabling it. Testing returns different results depending on the migration approach you are taking. See How It Works to learn what results to expect.

Testing is a required step. You can't enable a rule unless you have tested it first.

caution

Devices with multiple duplicates will not be merged.

Take these steps to test a device substitution rule:

  1. Navigate to Organization Settings > Duplicate Device Merge.
  2. Choose the duplicate device merge rule that you want to test and click on the Test Rule icon under the Actions column.
  3. Click the Test button at the bottom to test the rule.
  4. Verify the matches as explained in How It Works.

Enable a Device Merge Rule​

By enabling a rule, you effectively give the green light to the device pairs it matches to merge. You can enable a rule only after first testing it.

The device merge will happen the next time that discovery runs and re-discovers the new device of the pair.

caution

Device merging is irreversible.

Before enabling a rule, ensure that the rule testing returns the results that you expect.

If you merge a pair of devices by mistake, you can not rever the changes!

Take these steps to enable a device substitution rule:

  1. Navigate to Organization Settings > Duplicate Device Merge.
  2. Choose the duplicate device merge rule that you want to enable and click on the Test Rule icon under the Actions column.
  3. Click the Test button at the bottom to test the rule.
  4. Verify the matches as explained in How It Works.
  5. Click Enable under the State field of the rule.
  6. Confirm that you acknowledge the risks of enabling the duplicate device merge rule.
  7. Click Save
tip

It is recommended to disable the rule as soon as all devices it is responsible for are substituted. This will help prevent possible false positives caused by newly discovered devices in the future.

note

Duplicates could temporarily appear in the inventory while the new discovery and merging are running.

Edit a Device Merge Rule​

If testing returns non-strict matches, editing the rule will allow you to refine it to get better results.

note

Editing an enabled rule will bring it back to the disabled state.

Take these steps to edit a device merge rule:

  1. Navigate to Organization Settings > Duplicate Device Merge.
  2. Choose the duplicate device merge rule that you want to edit and click on the Edit (pencil) icon under the Actions column.
  3. Make your changes:
    • To change the name of the rule, replace the text in Name.
    • The Device Type cannot be changed. Delete the rule and create a new one if you want it to be for a different device type.
    • Change the Merge Action for the old device.
    • To remove an existing entry in Merge Rule Fields, click the X icon on the tag.
    • To add an entry in Merge Rule Fields, click in the white space inside the box and click a list entry.
  4. Click Save.

Disable or Delete a Device Merge Rule​

OOnce the new devices are migrated and merged into the Insights system, the device merge rule can be disabled or deleted to prevent further merging of unwanted devices. The rule remains enabled and is applied to every new discovered device until you manually disable or delete the rule.

Take these steps to disable or delete a device merge rule:

  1. Navigate to Organization Settings > Duplicate Device Merge.
  2. Choose the duplicate device merge rule that you want to disable or delete.
  3. Click on the Delete icon under the Actions column to delete the rule or click on the Test Rule icon under the Actions column, select the Disabled state of the rule from the toggle, and save the changes.