How the linking and creating automation is performed

When enabled, an asset-CI reconciliation task provided with the product automatically links authorized assets with their respective authorized CIs, and creates new ones when needed. It runs periodically to process records, perform authorized asset and CI matching and linking, and, if the creation feature is enabled, create authorized assets and CIs, called generics, to link to whenever a desired match cannot be found and linked.

During the asset-CI linking, no one asset-CI comparison method can assure that every authorized asset and CI with the same corresponding IT resource will be matched. Matching them, assuming that both the authorized asset and CI are available to be matched, is determined by performing multiple comparisons using either the discovered data of deployed assets and actual CIs (in particular, an integration identifier), or by using authorized data (such as a serial number) specified in the reconciliation task's link rules.

The default asset-CI reconciliation task, CCILinkAssetsAndCIs, does the asset-to-CI linking. The reconciliation task performs its automated tasks in the following order:

Step 1. Discovered-data matching and linking

First, the asset-CI reconciliation task performs a background operation to try and match authorized assets to authorized CIs by their universal identifier, a DIS GUID, which is imported, discovered data. The GUID value for an asset and CI that represent the same IT resource will match. After the DIS GUID check, successful matches are linked.

Step 2. Attribute matching and linking

Next, the reconciliation task processes its link rules. It can use the sample link rule, CCIAssetCISerialNum, if you include it, to match authorized assets and CIs by their serial number. The CCIAssetCIDISGuid link rule can match an asset and CI by using discovered data, matching assets and CIs by theirintegration identifier.

If you added your own customized link rules that use one or more other attributes to identify matches, the reconciliation task will try to find and match assets and CIs that uniquely have those attributes and their values in common.

After processing all the link rules, successful matches are linked.

Step 3. Generic asset and CI creation

Last and optionally, the asset-CI reconciliation task creates any generic assets or CIs needed to link any unmatched CIs and assets from the previous steps.

Additional details about each of these steps follow.