Asset Lifecycle Management

The Asset Lifecycle Management feature enables automatic detection and management of stale assets, ensuring inventory stays current and providing users with control over asset lifecycle decisions.

Overview

Asset Lifecycle Management allows tenants to:

  • Automatically detect assets that haven't been seen recently
  • Configure thresholds for stale asset warnings and archiving
  • Review stale assets in a dedicated management modal
  • Rescan assets to verify if they're still alive
  • Soft delete assets (remove from active inventory, preserve for reporting)
  • Hard delete assets (permanent removal, admin-only)
  • Configure lifecycle policies per tenant

Workflow

1. Automatic Stale Detection

A background job runs daily (configurable) to detect stale assets:

  • Queries all assets where last_seen_at exceeds configured thresholds
  • Updates stale_status to warning or archived based on policy
  • Sends notifications if enabled

Default Thresholds:

  • Warning: 30 days since last_seen_at
  • Archived: 60 days since last_seen_at

These defaults apply to every tenant, including one that has never opened Settings and saved a lifecycle policy — you do not have to configure anything to get stale detection. Saving a policy overrides the defaults; clearing Auto Archive Enabled opts a tenant out of archiving entirely, and that opt-out is honoured.

2. Review Stale Assets

UI: Navigate to Assets → Stale Assets

API: GET /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/stale

The stale assets modal displays:

  • Hostname, IP address, port
  • Stale status (warning/archived)
  • Days since last seen
  • Last seen timestamp

Filtering:

  • Filter by status: All, Warning, Archived
  • Pagination support

3. Manage Stale Assets

Users can take the following actions on selected assets:

Rescan Assets

UI: Select assets → Click "Rescan Selected"

API: POST /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/stale/rescan

Creates a discovery job targeting the selected assets to verify if they're still alive:

  • If found: Updates last_seen_at and clears stale_status
  • If not found: Keeps stale_status, notifies user

Archive Assets

UI: Select assets → Click "Archive Selected"

API: POST /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/stale/archive

Archives selected assets without removing them from inventory:

  • Moves assets from warning to archived status
  • Assets remain visible with an "Archived" badge
  • Use this as an intermediate step before removal when you want to flag assets as inactive but retain them for reference
  • Requires assets.manage permission

Remove from Inventory (Soft Delete)

UI: Select assets → Click "Remove from Inventory"

API: DELETE /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/:id

Soft deletes assets by setting deleted_at:

  • Assets are removed from active inventory
  • Assets are preserved for reporting and historical data
  • Can be restored if needed

Permanently Delete (Hard Delete)

UI: Select assets → Click "Permanently Delete" (admin-only)

API: DELETE /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/:id/hard

Permanently deletes assets from the database:

  • Requires assets.hard_delete permission (admin-only)
  • Cannot be undone
  • Removes asset and associated crypto configurations

4. Configure Lifecycle Policy

UI: Navigate to Organization Settings → Asset Lifecycle

API:

  • GET /api/v1/inventory-service/lifecycle/policy – Get current policy
  • PUT /api/v1/inventory-service/lifecycle/policy – Update policy

Policy Settings:

  • Stale Warning Days: Days before marking as warning (default: 30)
  • Stale Archived Days: Days before auto-archiving (default: 60)
  • Auto Archive Enabled: Automatically archive stale assets (default: true)
  • Notifications Enabled: Send notifications for stale assets (default: true)
  • Revalidation Schedule: Configure automatic re-validation (future enhancement)

Stale Status Visibility in the Asset Table

Assets with a stale status display inline badges in the Status column of the asset management table:

  • Stale Xd (yellow badge, ⚠ icon) — Asset has stale_status: warning. The Xd shows days since last seen (e.g., "Stale 32d").
  • Archived (orange badge) — Asset has stale_status: archived.

These badges appear alongside the normal asset status (monitoring, pending approval, etc.) so you can identify stale assets without opening the Stale Assets modal.

Asset Status Flow

monitoring → (30 days) → warning → (60 days) → archived (automatic)
                              ↓
                     Archive Selected (manual)
                              ↓
                           archived
                              ↓
                    Remove from Inventory (soft delete)
                              ↓
                          deleted_at set
                              ↓
               Permanently Delete (hard delete, admin-only)

Status Values:

  • monitoring – Active asset being monitored
  • warning – Asset hasn't been seen in X days (configurable)
  • archived – Asset hasn't been seen in Y days (configurable, Y > X)
  • deleted_at set – Soft deleted, preserved for reporting
  • Hard deleted – Permanently removed from database

Re-validation

Re-validation uses the existing discovery infrastructure:

  • Creates discovery jobs targeting existing assets
  • Extracts IP addresses/hostnames from asset inventory
  • Uses same discovery job system as new asset discovery
  • Results update last_seen_at and clear stale_status if found

API: POST /api/v1/inventory-service/assets/revalidate

Permissions

  • View Stale Assets: assets.read or assets.manage
  • Rescan Assets: assets.manage
  • Archive Assets: assets.manage
  • Soft Delete: assets.delete or assets.manage
  • Hard Delete: assets.hard_delete (admin-only: billing_admin, tenant_admin)

Notifications

When enabled, notifications are sent for:

  • Assets becoming stale (warning status)
  • Assets being auto-archived
  • Re-validation completion (if assets still not found)

Configuration: Organization Settings → Asset Lifecycle → Notifications Enabled

Best Practices

  1. Set Appropriate Thresholds: Adjust warning/archived days based on your network characteristics
  2. Regular Re-validation: Periodically rescan stale assets before removing them
  3. Review Before Deleting: Always review stale assets before permanent deletion
  4. Use Soft Delete First: Prefer soft delete to preserve historical data
  5. Monitor Notifications: Enable notifications to stay informed about stale assets

Limitations

  • Maximum 1000 assets per revalidation job
  • Background job runs daily (configurable via STALE_ASSET_DETECTION_INTERVAL)
  • Hard delete requires admin permissions
  • Re-validation uses existing discovery infrastructure (subject to discovery job limits)

Troubleshooting

Assets Not Being Detected as Stale

  • Verify lifecycle policy exists for tenant
  • Check auto_archive_enabled is true
  • Verify last_seen_at timestamps are accurate
  • Check background job is running (inventory-service logs)

Re-validation Not Finding Assets

  • Verify assets are still on the network
  • Check discovery job status
  • Verify IP addresses/hostnames are correct
  • Check network connectivity

Hard Delete Fails

  • Verify user has assets.hard_delete permission
  • Check user role is billing_admin or tenant_admin
  • Verify asset exists and belongs to tenant