Synchronizing asset data

Your current asset data may reside in a variety of resources that are external to Asset Lifecycle Manager. These may include databases, Excel spreadsheets, CSV files, Advanced Shipping Notification (ASN) files provided by equipment manufacturers, or other sources. To create a baseline of useful data for your ALM asset repository, and to dynamically update the repository, you can import and update asset data from a variety of sources. The ALM synchronization wizard lets you leverage your important asset data regardless of where it originates by enabling you to import and reconcile it against your ALM database.

The ALM Synchronization wizard makes it easy to import and update data from the following sources: 

• CSV files
• ODBC-compliant databases and spreadsheets
• Avocent® Management Platform
• Active Directory
• LDMS queries
• VMWare vSphere™ hosts

There are three basic steps to synchronizing data:

1. Create packages that define how data will be imported. See Synchronization wizard for detailed instructions.
2. Run the packages to perform the import or update. See Running, modifying, and deleting synchronization packages for detailed instructions.
3. Review any pending inserts or pending updates created by the synchronization packages. See Pending synchronization inserts and updates for detailed instructions.

You can view the status of any synchronization package that has been run, along with detailed log information. See Synchronization status for details.