Models, vendors, and discovery mappings

Separate the product from the individual asset

A model describes a product shared by multiple pieces of equipment. An asset describes an individual item, including its serial and recorded location. The vendor catalog identifies the manufacturer associated with a model. Correcting a product record is therefore a different decision from replacing a device or moving an asset.

Discovery reports the product wording a device supplies. That wording may differ from the catalog name because of punctuation, a shortened family name, or a hardware suffix. Cenovel can suggest a match, but an operator must still confirm the actual equipment before adding it. A familiar name alone does not prove the port layout or installed options.

Prepare the catalog

Component categories have a deliberate exception: a discovered part can remain without a known manufacturer. This preserves uncertainty instead of assigning the switch vendor to an unrelated optic. Component models also receive the required component workflow fields. Treat an unknown manufacturer as an evidence gap to investigate, not as a reason to invent one.

A vendor used by a model cannot simply be deleted. Models used by assets or closets are also protected from deletion, including checks for records that may later be restored. Correct the affected relationships deliberately; deleting catalog entries is not a way to erase equipment history.

1. Open the model and vendor catalog pages available to your role. If editing controls are unavailable, ask an administrator to check the relevant page permissions instead of creating a substitute record elsewhere.
2. Create or verify the vendor first. Keep its name clear and use the available support website, support phone, website, and notes fields for information operators will need later.
3. Create the model with an exact, recognizable name and appropriate category. Ordinary equipment models require a vendor and category. Record the product or part number separately when it is known.
4. Review the model’s other available fields, including its custom fields, serial requirement, lifecycle information, and price where used. Do not enter a guessed part number just to make discovery match.
5. For network equipment, open Model diagrams and check the physical layout. Confirm that the selected product, front or rear face, member, socket types, and port numbering correspond to the actual hardware.

Review a discovered model assignment

Automatic name matching tolerates case and punctuation differences. An exact spelling is preferred where several normalized names exist. For duplicate catalog names, the resolver prefers the record already used by the estate, with a stable fallback for unused duplicates. This selection does not establish that duplicate products are interchangeable; review their category, part number, and hardware before consolidating anything.

Near-name candidates are suggestions, not automatic assignments. For example, a reported family name may be close to a catalog product with a longer suffix. Verify whether the suffix describes the same hardware or a different power, port, or airflow variant. A model absent from the catalog should not be filed under a merely similar product.

1. In Found devices, open Add for an identified device. Read the reported vendor and model, collection time, source, and any partial-evidence warning.
2. Review the proposed catalog match. The explanation distinguishes a reported-name match from a previously reviewed vendor/product rule. If there is no exact match, choose the model that agrees with the physical device.
3. Inspect the diagram and interface-to-socket review. Where no physical interface list is available, port coverage and positions have not been verified. Do not interpret a blank review as a successful comparison.
4. Confirm the exact model before adding. Changing the selected model clears the previous confirmation. If another person changes that model while you are reviewing it, reopen the review so the decision uses the current diagram.

Use the existing reusable matching rule

The Add review can offer “Remember” when the selected model is one of the supported near-name candidates and the discovered device reports a vendor. This records a reusable association between that vendor, the reported product wording, and the chosen catalog model. It applies to future finds; existing asset assignments are unchanged.

The remembered choice is intentionally limited. It does not replace an exact catalog match, does not create a rule when the vendor is unknown, and does not accept an arbitrary unrelated model as a standing match. If the same vendor/product already points to another model, review that conflict rather than repeatedly submitting a different choice.

In Model diagrams, open “Saved versions, affected equipment and matching rules” to inspect rules for the selected model. An authorized administrator can remove a rule after confirmation. Removing it preserves current device assignments and makes future unmatched finds require another decision. Reload before retrying if the rule changed while the panel was open.

Build and review a diagram from discovery

Model diagram discovery reads one scoped device to gather diagram evidence. It does not add that device to inventory. The operation requires equipment-page edit access and administrator authority, alongside a usable credential and the correct site scope.

The result provides reported interface names as a starting point. Review partial or truncated results, excluded logical interfaces, unsupported names, and the selected stack member. One model diagram describes one physical member. Junos port zero is translated to the diagram’s internal first position; compare the displayed mapping with the device rather than renumbering the source list by guesswork.

The history panel shows the latest 30 saved versions and up to 25 active equipment records using the model. Use that affected-equipment list to understand the reach of a shared diagram edit. A saved historical version is a review aid, not an instruction to overwrite the current layout without checking it.

1. Choose the face and device member, then inspect or enter the interface names.
2. Correct unsupported or duplicate mappings and supply missing physical ports when the evidence is incomplete.
3. Choose socket rows and the default socket type, confirm that the ports belong to the selected model, and build a draft.
4. Review the draft before Save diagram. Loading a historical version changes the draft only; saving updates the shared model used by its equipment.

Treat component identity separately

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