Best Way to Remove Stale Devices in SolarWinds SEM?

saviola77

I've been tasked with cleaning up old devices in SolarWinds SEM. Over the past two years, there have been numerous network changes—many devices have been removed, and many new ones have been added. I’d appreciate guidance on the best way to identify and remove stale devices from the system.

kellytice

SEM 2024.2 introduced a new feature for License Recycling that may help you here:
https://documentation.solarwinds.com/en/success_center/sem/content/admin_guide/recycle-licenses.htm

My understanding is that it isn't trying to go remove the SEM agent from those devices - it is just recognizing that they haven't sent data in for a long time (as you define it) and will free up the license and remove the node from the console.  If you later wanted to start one of those nodes sending again, you'd have to reinstall the SEM agent software on it.

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Description (from that link above):
License recycling allows you to collect and reuse your subscription or perpetual SEM licenses from monitored nodes that have not sent an event to the SEM manager within a specified amount of time.

This feature helps you minimize your IT software expenses by maximizing your Universal (SEM) and Workstation Edition (SWE) license pools. Using License recycling, you can repurpose your SEM licenses to collect log data, monitor event traffic, and view historical events from only active non-agent devices and workstations in your deployment.
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