After a subnet or addressing change, a device may appear more than once in inventory or continue to display an outdated IP address. This can occur when the original device was offline during discovery or when Auvik re-associates the device’s IP address differently.
Symptoms
You may notice:
- A device appears more than once in inventory
- A device displays an incorrect or outdated IP address
- Monitoring appears split between two device records
- The original device record remains after the device was moved or renumbered
Why This Happens
After a subnet or addressing change, Auvik may retain the original device record if the device was offline during discovery. Auvik may also associate the device’s new IP address differently, which can result in a stale record or duplicate entry.
How to Resolve Duplicate Devices
1. Identify the authoritative device record
Compare the device records and identify the entry with the:
- Current management IP address
- Correct MAC address
- Expected hostname
- Active polling status
- Most recent discovery or polling information
The authoritative record should represent the device that is currently active and being monitored.
2. Confirm the other record is stale
Before removing a device record, confirm that it is not an active device or replacement device.
Compare:
- IP address
- MAC address
- Hostname
- Serial number, if available
- Last-seen or last-poll time
- Current monitoring status
Do not remove a record until you have confirmed that it is stale. Removing the wrong record can interrupt monitoring and affect historical data.
3. Remove the stale device record
After confirming which record is current:
- Unmanage or delete the stale device record.
- If deletion is blocked because the record has associated interfaces or dependent objects, resolve those associations first.
- Confirm that the authoritative device record remains managed.
Device management and deletion may require appropriate Auvik permissions.
4. Run discovery again
After removing the stale record:
- Open the affected site.
- Run a discovery scan.
- Allow the discovery and polling cycle to complete.
- Confirm that the remaining device record displays the correct IP address and monitoring status.
5. Verify monitoring and historical data
After discovery completes, confirm that:
- The correct device record is being polled.
- The monitored IP address is current.
- Interfaces and related objects are associated with the correct device.
- Alerts and performance data are updating as expected.
- No additional duplicate record is created.
Preventing Duplicate Records After Planned Network Changes
Before or immediately after a planned subnet or IP address change:
- Document the expected IP-to-MAC assignments.
- Use DHCP reservations or stable static mappings for monitored devices.
- Run a manual discovery scan after the change.
- Avoid overlapping discovery networks or scopes.
- Confirm that only the intended Collector is discovering the affected subnet.
- Verify that the device’s management IP is reachable from the assigned Collector.
If the Issue Continues
Collect the following information before contacting Support:
- Device name and current IP address
- Previous IP address, if known
- MAC address and serial number, if available
- Screenshots of the duplicate records
- Site and Collector assigned to the device
- Approximate time the subnet or IP change occurred
- Discovery or polling timestamps showing when the duplicate appeared
Network addressing, DHCP reservations, discovery scopes, Collector assignments, device management status, and device deletion may require assistance from a network or Auvik administrator.