Managing External Inventory Connections

You can view and manage all the external inventory connections from the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections).

The connections are categorized into two groups based on the type and origin of the data source:

• Cloud Connections: This group is for connectors that natively integrate with public cloud platforms, such as AWS. The connections listed on the Cloud Connections tab collect inventory data from your cloud provider accounts.
• 3rd Party Inventory: This group is for connectors that integrate with third-party inventory or discovery tools, such as Microsoft Endpoint Configuration Manager, Tanium, Jamf Pro, Microsoft Intune, and others. The connections listed on the 3rd Party Inventory tab allow you to bring in inventory and configuration data from third-party systems, whether they are cloud-based or on-premises.

See the following topics for details about how to view and manage external inventory connections:

• Viewing External Inventory Connection Status
• Viewing External Inventory Connection Details
• Disabling or Disconnecting External Inventory Connections
• Enabling or Reconnecting External Inventory Connections
• Deleting External Inventory Connections
• Exploring Connectors 

Viewing External Inventory Connection Status

To view information about external inventory connections, go to the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections), and click the Cloud Connections or 3rd Party Inventory tab.

The Connections and 3rd Party Inventory tabs list the following properties of connections. Some of these properties are visible by default whereas others are available through the column chooser.

Column

Description

Beacon

Name of the inventory beacon where the import runs.

Beacon Status

Displays whether the inventory beacon is active or not.

Connection Status

Determines how the data from this connection is processed:

• Enabled—The connection is turned on, and any fresh data available from this connection is included in the future imports and subsequent license consumption calculations.
• Disabled—No new data is imported from this connection. However, existing data from prior imports through this connection are maintained in the database, and still affect the calculations.
• Deleted—No new data is imported from this connection and any inventory data imported exclusively through that connection (and not duplicated in any other source) has been removed from the operations databases.

Devices / Users

Number of users or devices that the connection is bringing in before normalization.

Last Import

Date of the last import from this connection. This can be a successful or failed import.

Name

The name of the connection.

Type

The type of the data source declared when the connection was created.

Viewing External Inventory Connection Details

You can view the details of a connection.

To view details of a connection:

1. Go to the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections), and click the Cloud Connections or 3rd Party Inventory tab.
2. Do one of the following:
• Click the connection name to open the Details view of that connection.
• Click the three-dot menu button in the connection row and select View Details. The Details tab opens, displaying the details of the connection.

Disabling or Disconnecting External Inventory Connections

You can disable or disconnect an external inventory connection, so that no new data will be imported from this connection in the future imports. However, existing data from prior imports through this connection are maintained in the database.

Note:You can disable 3rd party inventory connections and disconnect cloud connections.

To disable or disconnect a connection:

1. Go to the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections), and click the Cloud Connections or 3rd Party Inventory tab.
2. Do one of the following:
• Click the three-dot menu button in the connection row and select Disable or Disconnect.
• Click the connection name to open the Details view of that connection, and click Disable or Disconnect in the upper-right corner of the page.

Note:If the connection type is Jamf, ServiceNow, or FNMS, the Disable button does not appear on the Details view of that connection.

In either scenario, the Disable Connection or Disconnect Connection dialog box opens, asking you to confirm if you want to disable the connection.

3. Click Disable or Disconnect. The connection is disabled.

Enabling or Reconnecting External Inventory Connections

You can enable or reconnect a disabled or disconnected external inventory connection, so that any fresh data available from this connection will be included in the future imports.

Note:You can enable 3rd party inventory connections and reconnect cloud connections.

To enable or reconnect a connection:

1. Go to the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections), and click the Cloud Connections or 3rd Party Inventory tab.
2. Do one of the following:
• Click the three-dot menu button in the connection row and select Enable or Connect.
• Click the connection name to open the Details view of that connection, and click Enable or Connect in theupper-right corner of the page.

Note:If the connection type is Jamf, ServiceNow, or FNMS, the Enable button does not appear on the Details view of that connection.

In either scenario, the Enable Connection or Connect Connection dialog box opens, asking you to confirm if you want to enable the connection.

3. Click Enable or Connect. The connection is enabled.

Deleting External Inventory Connections

If you delete a connection, all the associated data will no longer be available. The deletion action cannot be undone.

Note:Consider the following:

• To be able to delete external inventory connections, you need the explicit permission granted in IAM.
• You cannot delete a Jamf, ServiceNow, FNMS, or Microsoft Intune connection.

To delete a connection:

1. Go to the External Inventory Connections page (Data Collection > Common Inventory Tasks > External Inventory Connections), and click the Cloud Connections or 3rd Party Inventory tab.
2. Click the connection name to open the Details view of that connection.
3. Click Delete in the upper-right corner of the page. The Delete Connection dialog box opens, asking you to confirm if you want to delete the connection.

Tip:If you are deleting an AWS connection, you need to confirm that you have removed the stack in the AWS CloudFormation console. For more details, see Deleting an AWS Connection.

4. Confirm to delete.