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About Devices

About Devices

Aug 25, 2025

A device is a unique responding IP-based entity or single logical object found during the discovery scan.

A device can be a:

  • Desktop

  • Laptop

  • Server

  • Switch

  • Router

  • Firewall

  • Gateway

  • Printer

  • Fax

  • Scanner

  • Piece of specialized equipment

  • Virtual Environment (for example, a VMware host or Guest).

To determine unique objects on the network, the discovery scan uses evidence such as:

  • MAC address

  • IP address

  • DNS records

  • NetBIOS or SNMP names 

About Windows 10 Devices

Important

Using the Use random hardware addresses option with Windows 10 devices connected to a wireless network may result in devices being re-enumerated each time they reconnect to the network. Duplication of devices may cause billing concerns.

It is highly recommended that you turn off the Use random hardware addresses option.

How device names are determined

Although Onsite Manager and Device Manager gather identity information from multiple sources, Barracuda RMM chooses one name for each device. This display name is used in Service Center and all reports.

The name evidence that has been collected at the highest priority in the following table is used.

Priority

Evidence

Description

Priority

Evidence

Description

1

(Highest) Alias

Configurable by Service Center users and recommended as a best practice. Use a naming convention that provides at-a-glance information to your technicians, or friendly names that help clients identify devices by role or user in reports.

2

Computer Name

The name returned by WMI. Windows displays this name on the Computer Name tab of the System Properties.

3

SNMP 

The name returned by SNMP from the OID sysName.0.

4

NetBIOS 

The 15-character name resolved by a Windows Internet Name Server (WINS) server or the LMHOSTS file. It is often the same as the Computer Name but truncated.

5

DNS 

The name returned by the Domain Name System (DNS) server or the HOSTS file. All DNS names are returned and used for display purposes. The names used are separated by commas. If a device has conflicting DNS records in the forward and reverse lookup zones, the conflicting DNS names are not submitted for use in the device identity algorithm.

6

(Lowest) IP Address

The address that responded to the network scan is used as the device name when no other information is available.

You can still assign an alias to identify the device more easily, but it is recommended that you enable either a management protocol (WMI, SNMP or DNS) to establish a discovered name before overriding with an alias.

 If a subsequent network scan is able to collect higher priority name evidence than prior scans, the display name changes. The device record remains the same if there was actual identity information present before the change. For example, if the MAC addresses for the device were known. However, if the device record was only based on a responding IP address, a new record is created once identity information is collected.

Hover your pointer over a device name in device lists to see complete device name information currently available.

What you can do

You can:

  • View lists of devices

  • View details about a device

  • Customize devices by:

    • Adding alias names

    • Inventory tags

    • Location information

    • Custom warranty details

    • End-of-life date

    • Production date

    • Notes

  • Change the way service plans, services, and policies are applied to a device

  • Delete down devices manually or automatically

  • Purge stale IP addresses from a device

  • Search for a device

Contact Us
Barracuda Campus
Barracuda Support