Adding devices manually

Normally, devices are added to OTbase automatically by OTbase Discovery imports. However, there are situations when this is just not possible and you want to create devices manually. Examples are:

• A device cannot be discovered because it is on an isolated network that cannot be routed into, and installation of an OTbase Discovery instance is not feasible (for example, because there are no PCs in that subnet, or the network is in an unmanned remote location).
• A device cannot be discovered because it is not connected to an Ethernet network, or one of the fieldbus networks that OTbase discovers. Think of standalone devices, or devices that are connected with other OT devices via serial point-to-point.

In such a situation you can enter device details by foregoing OTbase Discovery.

Adding a device to the device inventory using the Add function

In order to manually add a device to the inventory from scratch, click the "Add" button. This brings up the Add Device dialog where you can enter all asset details manually.

When you are done with your data input, click "Save". You can always add additional details later by selecting the device and clicking "Edit".

Adding a device to the inventory using the Clone function

One that you have an initial inventory, chances are that a device similar to the one that you intend to add  already exists. In this case you can take advantage of the Clone function, which clones an existing device and lets you change only the differences. This relieves you from a lot of typing!

In order to use the clone function, first select the device you want to clone, then press the "Clone" button.

When you are done with your edits, click on "Save" to save the device data.

Adding devices via the REST API

If you cannot discover some devices automatically, manual entry is by far the least desirable way to add your devices to the device inventory. In situations where you do already have asset data in some digital format, you will most likely be able to import this data via the REST API.

The most common example would be Excel spreadsheets. If you have asset data stored in Excel, this data can be imported to OTbase pretty easily. The way to make it happen is to write a small Python script that reads the Excel table (or any other digital data source), maybe does some necessary data formatting, and sends the output to OTbase Inventory. This process is highly simplified by the OTbase Python SDK.