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# Configure Inventory Manager adapter

> Guide for configuring the Inventory Manager adapter.

This guide walks you through creating and instantiating the Inventory Manager adapter in Itential Platform. The Inventory Manager adapter enables Device Broker integration, allowing Configuration Manager and command templates to access inventory devices. For more information, see [Device Broker support](./device-broker-support).

## Create the Inventory Manager adapter

To create the adapter:

Navigate to **Admin Essentials**.

Click the **plus (+)** icon in the top toolbar of the Admin Essentials application to open the **Create** dialog.

Select **Adapter** from the dropdown menu, enter the desired name of the adapter (we recommend `inventory-manager-adapter`) and select **InventoryManager** as the type, and then click **Save**.

(Optional) Edit the adapter's configuration file to control which inventories are exposed to Device Broker and how device names are formatted. By default, all inventories are exposed and device name prefixing is enabled. For more information, see [Adapter configuration file](#adapter-configuration-file).

Select **Status** from the left-side navigation menu and navigate to the **Adapters** tab.

Find your new Inventory Manager adapter in the list and click the play button to start the adapter connectivity.

### Adapter configuration file

The adapter configuration file controls two key behaviors:

* Which inventories are exposed to Device Broker
* How device names are formatted

#### Inventory selection

The `inventories` property controls which inventories Device Broker can access.

**Default configuration (all inventories):**

```json
{
  "inventories": "all"
}
```

This default setting exposes all inventories to Device Broker. Configuration Manager and command templates can access devices from any inventory.

**Selective inventory exposure:**

```json
{
  "inventories": ["prod-routers", "prod-switches"]
}
```

Use this configuration when you want to limit Device Broker access to specific inventories. Only devices in the listed inventories will be available to Configuration Manager and command templates.

When to use selective inventory exposure:

* Restricting access to production inventories during testing
* Limiting Configuration Manager scope to specific device types
* Managing performance by reducing the number of devices Device Broker queries

#### Device naming prefix

The `prepend_inventory_name` property controls how device names appear in Device Broker.

**Default configuration (with prefix):**

```json
{
  "prepend_inventory_name": true
}
```

With this default setting, device names include the inventory name as a prefix: `inventory-name::node-name`.

This prevents name collisions when multiple inventories contain nodes with the same name. It also makes it clear which inventory a device belongs to when working in Configuration Manager or command templates.

**Without prefix:**

```json
{
  "prepend_inventory_name": false
}
```

With this setting, device names appear as just the node name without the inventory prefix.

When `prepend_inventory_name` is false and multiple inventories contain nodes with the same name, Device Broker returns the first matching node it finds. This can lead to unexpected behavior if you're not carefully managing node names across inventories.

We recommend leaving `prepend_inventory_name` set to true (default) unless you have a specific reason to disable it, especially if you're running Gateway 4 and Inventory Manager in parallel.

## Next steps: Create your first inventory

After installation and configuration, you're ready to create your first inventory. Create inventories using the Inventory Manager tasks in workflows or by calling the API directly.

For detailed instructions on creating and populating inventories, see [Create and populate inventories](./create-and-populate-inventories).