How does Reftab prevent duplicate assets?

Reftab is designed to safely synchronize endpoint-managed devices without creating duplicate assets or overwriting incorrect records. To accomplish this, Reftab uses a combination of Serial Number and integration specific identifiers to uniquely match devices to existing assets.

This approach allows customers to enable endpoint integrations after assets already exist in Reftab, without requiring a cleanup.

We’ll cover the following:

• How asset matching works
• Why serial number is required
• Required fields by integration

How asset matching works

When an endpoint integration syncs a device, Reftab attempts to locate an existing asset using:

1. Serial Number
2. Integration specific unique identifier, where applicable.

If a single, unambiguous match is found, the existing asset is updated.

If multiple assets appear to match, or if required identifying fields are missing, Reftab will skip the device rather than risk creating duplicates or updating the wrong asset.

Why serial number is required

Serial Number provides a consistent, hardware-level identifier that remains stable across most device lifecycle events.

However, serial numbers alone are sometimes:

• Missing
• Non-unique
• Placeholder values (for example, generic BIOS strings)

For this reason, many endpoint integrations also require a secondary identifier (such as Azure AD Device ID for Intune or Jamfid for Jamf) to guarantee uniqueness.

Required fields by integration

If assets already exist in you Reftab account, these fields must exist and be populated on assets to ensure accurate matching when enabling and syncing from an integration.

Learn more about our endpoint management integrations

Microsoft Intune
Kandji
Jamf
Reftab Agent
NinjaOne
Mosyle
Meraki
Lansweeper

Have questions, or need assistance? Please reach out to help@reftab.com