Configuring sources

Sources define how Asset gets data. By default, the source data in Asset comes from Tanium, populated from saved questions that are scheduled on a configurable basis. You can augment Asset inventory data with external data from an SQL Server database or data pushed to Asset by API Gateway using an Import API source. By importing data that is typically not available on an endpoint into the Asset data store, you can enable filtering and reporting on information such as department, cost center, building, and location.

Configure the Tanium source

The Tanium source is configured by default, and you cannot delete the Tanium source.

  1. From the Asset menu, go to Inventory Management > Sources.
  2. For the Tanium source, click Edit .
  3. Configure the log level settings for the Asset import process.
  4. Configure the schedule. The schedule determines how often asset data is imported from the Tanium live data into the asset database. This database provides data for offline assets. You can create a standard interval or a Cron schedule. For example, you might create one of the following intervals based on your environment size:
    • Less than 50,000 devices: every 1-2 hours.
    • Less than 250,000 devices: every 4 hours.
    • Greater than 500,000 devices: contact Tanium Support to configure the import schedule. For more information, see Contact Tanium Support.

    For more information about the Cron syntax, see Reference: Cron syntax.

  5. Click Update to save your changes.

What to do next

Add attributes from Tanium sensors into Asset. See Configuring attributes.

Enable custom sources

Enable custom sources in the Asset settings.

  1. From the Asset Overview page, click Settings .
  2. On the Advanced tab, select to enable Custom Sources.
  3. Click Save.

On the Sources page, AWS, Azure, Google Chromebooks, Google Cloud, Intune and Import API are now available as options in the Create Source dropdown menu.

On the Sources page, Import API is now available as an option in the Create Source dropdown menu.

Create a database source

Enrich Asset inventory data with information from an external database. For example, you might have a database that has department or location information that you want to associate with the computers you are already tracking in Asset. To import this data, map columns from your SQL database to the Asset database.

When the data import runs, each row of your import table is evaluated against the data that is already in Asset. For example, if you create a mapping for your computer ID in the import table, that ID gets matched to the Computer ID column in Asset. If a match is found, the attributes that you configure to get imported from your source table are inserted into Asset. If you map an import column that has duplicate values in the table, only the last value is stored in Asset after the load has completed.

If you use column types (like nchar) that pad values with spaces, your identity mappings on the database source might not work correctly. For example, a computer name like win1 might come through as win1       (with six spaces after it). These values do not match a value win1 in Asset.

  1. From the Asset menu, go to Inventory Management > Sources > Create Database Source.
  2. Configure source settings. Enter a name for the data source and the server name.
  3. (Optional) If your database server has Transport Layer Security (TLS) configured, select Use TLS and click Verify Certificate. To establish trust on first use (TOFU), review the certificate details and click Verify.
    For more information about enabling TLS on SQL Server, see Microsoft SQL Docs: Enable Encrypted Connections to the Database Engine.
  4. Enter the user name and password for the database connection.
  5. Choose the database and schema. Click Get Schemas. Asset connects to the database and gets the database and schema information.
  6. Configure source mappings. Source mappings uniquely identify the assets in your source data, and define how the columns in your source table relate to the Asset database. For an attribute to be available as a reference for mapping, it must only return a single row of value. You can add multiple source mappings from your database source. All the mappings must match for the data to be imported into the Asset database.
    1. Click Add Mapping. Choose a source table.
    2. Create identification rules. The columns associated with the selected source table are loaded into the Source Columns field.
    3. Choose a destination attribute. Choose a column in the Asset database. You can create multiple identification rules as necessary.
  7. Configure the import schedule. The schedule determines how often asset data is imported from the external database into the asset database. You can create a standard interval or a Cron schedule.

    For more information about the Cron syntax, see Reference: Cron syntax.

  8. Click Create.

If you want to modify the source, go to Inventory Management > Sources. Click Edit . You must enter the credentials for your SQL server again before you can modify the source mappings.

A maximum of 20,000 asset updates are performed for each 100 database source records during the load process. You might need to run an import several times to update all of the data.

What to do next

Add the attributes from your import table into Asset. See Configuring attributes.

Create an Import API source

When you create an Import API source, data is pushed to Asset using the Tanium API Gateway, rather than Asset periodically pulling data from a source. For more information on API Gateway, see API Gateway User Guide: Overview.

Before you begin

Enable custom sources in the Asset settings. For detailed steps, see Enable custom sources.

Create the Import API source

  1. From the Asset menu, click Inventory Management > Sources.
  2. Click Create Source > Import API.
  3. Specify a Name for the source.
  4. Set the Log Level.
  5. In the code editor in the Field Mappings section, specify how you want to map data in the Import API source to Asset data. In these mappings, the source corresponds to the field that you provided in your JSON data and the destination corresponds to a field in the Asset database.

    A default mapping is provided as an example, but you must update that mapping to correspond to your environment. For more information about customizing the mapping, see Reference: Import API source field mappings.

  6. Click Create to save your changes.

    If you added any attributes in the field mappings that do not currently exist in the Asset database, you are prompted to confirm them before the attributes are automatically created in the database.

Example workflow

The following example represents a typical workflow using an Import API source:

  1. Enable custom sources in Asset. For more information, see Enable custom sources.
  2. Create an Import API source in Asset.
  3. Pass the JSON data with the assets that you want to push to Asset using an API Gateway mutation request. For more information, see Reference: API Gateway examples for Asset.
  4. Verify the results by checking Asset to confirm that the assets are available. For more information, see Building reports.

Disable sources

Data imports for a source run on a configured schedule by default. You can disable this schedule to resolve issues, or run the import manually.

  1. From the Asset menu, go to Inventory Management > Schedules.
  2. Hover over the import schedule for the source that you want to disable and click Edit .
  3. Clear the Run this connection on a defined schedule setting. Click Update.
  4. If you want to manually run an import, go to the Inventory Management > Schedules page. Hover over the import schedule and click Run Now.