Datto RMM Device Management

Datto RMM Device Management

Overview

Devices are the core managed entities in Datto RMM. Each device represents an endpoint with the Datto agent installed - workstations, servers, ESXi hosts, or network devices. This skill covers device identification, status monitoring, user-defined fields, and common device operations.

Key Concepts

Device Identifiers

Every device has multiple identifiers:

Identifier	Type	Description	Example
deviceUid	string	Globally unique identifier	d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0d1e-2f3a-4b5c6d7e8f9a
deviceId	integer	Legacy numeric ID	123456
hostname	string	Computer name	ACME-DC01
intIpAddress	string	Internal IP address	192.168.1.100
extIpAddress	string	External/public IP	203.0.113.50
macAddresses	array	Network interface MACs	["00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E"]

Device Types

Type	Description	Typical Use
Desktop	Workstation/PC	End-user computers
Laptop	Portable workstation	Mobile workers
Server	Windows/Linux server	Infrastructure
ESXi Host	VMware hypervisor	Virtualization
Network Device	Router/switch/firewall	SNMP-monitored
Printer	Network printer	Print infrastructure

Device Status

Status	Description	Business Impact
online	Agent checking in	Normal operation
offline	No agent communication	May require attention
rebooting	Restart in progress	Temporary state
unknown	Status undetermined	Check connectivity

Field Reference

Core Device Fields

interface Device {
  // Identifiers
  uid: string;                    // Unique device ID
  deviceId: number;               // Legacy numeric ID
  hostname: string;               // Computer name
  description: string;            // Custom description

  // Site Association
  siteUid: string;                // Parent site UID
  siteName: string;               // Site display name

  // Type and Status
  deviceType: DeviceType;         // Desktop, Laptop, Server, etc.
  deviceClass: string;            // device, esxihost, printer, etc.
  status: DeviceStatus;           // online, offline, rebooting

  // Network
  intIpAddress: string;           // Internal IP
  extIpAddress: string;           // External IP
  macAddresses: string[];         // MAC addresses

  // Operating System
  operatingSystem: string;        // "Windows 11 Pro"
  osType: string;                 // "Windows", "macOS", "Linux"
  osVersion: string;              // "10.0.22631"
  osSerialNumber: string;         // Windows product key

  // Hardware
  manufacturer: string;           // "Dell Inc."
  model: string;                  // "OptiPlex 7090"
  serialNumber: string;           // Hardware serial

  // Agent Info
  agentVersion: string;           // "2.5.0.1234"
  agentPlatform: string;          // Platform agent was installed from

  // Timestamps (Unix milliseconds)
  lastSeen: number;               // Last agent check-in
  lastReboot: number;             // Last system restart
  createdAt: number;              // When device was added
  warrantyExpiry: number;         // Warranty end date

  // User-Defined Fields
  udf1: string;                   // Custom field 1
  udf2: string;                   // Custom field 2
  // ... up to udf30

  // Counts
  openAlertCount: number;         // Active alerts
  patchStatus: PatchStatus;       // Patch compliance
}

type DeviceType = 'Desktop' | 'Laptop' | 'Server' | 'ESXi Host' | 'Network Device' | 'Printer';
type DeviceStatus = 'online' | 'offline' | 'rebooting' | 'unknown';

User-Defined Fields (UDF)

Datto RMM provides 30 custom fields per device:

Field	Type	Max Length	Description
udf1 - udf30	string	255 chars	Custom data fields

Common UDF Uses:

• udf1: Asset tag
• udf2: Department
• udf3: Primary user
• udf4: Location/floor
• udf5: Purchase date
• udf6: Lease expiration

API Patterns

List All Devices

GET /api/v2/devices?max=250
Authorization: Bearer {token}

Response:

{
  "devices": [
    {
      "uid": "d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0d1e-2f3a-4b5c6d7e8f9a",
      "hostname": "ACME-DC01",
      "siteUid": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
      "siteName": "Acme Corporation",
      "deviceType": "Server",
      "status": "online",
      "intIpAddress": "192.168.1.10",
      "operatingSystem": "Windows Server 2022 Standard",
      "lastSeen": 1707991200000,
      "openAlertCount": 2
    }
  ],
  "pageDetails": {
    "count": 250,
    "nextPageUrl": "/api/v2/devices?max=250&page=abc123"
  }
}

Get Single Device

GET /api/v2/device/{deviceUid}
Authorization: Bearer {token}

Response:

{
  "uid": "d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0d1e-2f3a-4b5c6d7e8f9a",
  "hostname": "ACME-DC01",
  "description": "Primary Domain Controller",
  "siteUid": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890",
  "siteName": "Acme Corporation",
  "deviceType": "Server",
  "deviceClass": "device",
  "status": "online",
  "intIpAddress": "192.168.1.10",
  "extIpAddress": "203.0.113.50",
  "macAddresses": ["00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E"],
  "operatingSystem": "Windows Server 2022 Standard",
  "osVersion": "10.0.20348",
  "manufacturer": "Dell Inc.",
  "model": "PowerEdge R640",
  "serialNumber": "ABC1234567",
  "agentVersion": "2.5.0.1234",
  "lastSeen": 1707991200000,
  "lastReboot": 1707800000000,
  "createdAt": 1680000000000,
  "warrantyExpiry": 1750000000000,
  "udf1": "ASSET-00123",
  "udf2": "IT Infrastructure",
  "udf3": "John Admin",
  "openAlertCount": 2,
  "patchStatus": {
    "patchesApproved": 5,
    "patchesPending": 2,
    "patchesFailed": 0
  }
}

Get Devices by Site

GET /api/v2/site/{siteUid}/devices?max=250
Authorization: Bearer {token}

Update Device

POST /api/v2/device/{deviceUid}
Authorization: Bearer {token}
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "description": "Updated description",
  "udf1": "NEW-ASSET-TAG",
  "udf2": "Finance Department"
}

Delete Device

DELETE /api/v2/device/{deviceUid}
Authorization: Bearer {token}

Note: Deleting a device removes it from Datto RMM but does not uninstall the agent.

Workflows

Device Lookup by Hostname

async function findDeviceByHostname(client, hostname) {
  // Fetch all devices (with pagination)
  const allDevices = [];
  let url = '/api/v2/devices?max=250';

  while (url) {
    const response = await client.request(url);
    allDevices.push(...response.devices);
    url = response.pageDetails?.nextPageUrl;
  }

  // Search case-insensitive
  const matches = allDevices.filter(d =>
    d.hostname.toLowerCase().includes(hostname.toLowerCase())
  );

  if (matches.length === 0) {
    return { found: false, suggestions: [] };
  }

  if (matches.length === 1) {
    return { found: true, device: matches[0] };
  }

  return {
    found: false,
    ambiguous: true,
    suggestions: matches.map(d => ({
      hostname: d.hostname,
      uid: d.uid,
      site: d.siteName
    }))
  };
}

Device Lookup by IP Address

async function findDeviceByIP(client, ipAddress) {
  const allDevices = await fetchAllDevices(client);

  const device = allDevices.find(d =>
    d.intIpAddress === ipAddress || d.extIpAddress === ipAddress
  );

  return device || null;
}

Device Lookup by MAC Address

async function findDeviceByMAC(client, macAddress) {
  const normalizedMAC = macAddress.toUpperCase().replace(/[:-]/g, ':');
  const allDevices = await fetchAllDevices(client);

  const device = allDevices.find(d =>
    d.macAddresses?.some(mac =>
      mac.toUpperCase().replace(/[:-]/g, ':') === normalizedMAC
    )
  );

  return device || null;
}

Offline Device Report

async function getOfflineDevices(client, options = {}) {
  const {
    siteUid,
    offlineThresholdMinutes = 30
  } = options;

  const url = siteUid
    ? `/api/v2/site/${siteUid}/devices?max=250`
    : '/api/v2/devices?max=250';

  const allDevices = await fetchAllPaginated(client, url);
  const now = Date.now();
  const threshold = offlineThresholdMinutes * 60 * 1000;

  return allDevices.filter(device => {
    if (device.status === 'offline') return true;
    if (!device.lastSeen) return true;

    // Check if last seen exceeds threshold
    return (now - device.lastSeen) > threshold;
  }).map(device => ({
    hostname: device.hostname,
    uid: device.uid,
    site: device.siteName,
    lastSeen: new Date(device.lastSeen).toISOString(),
    offlineMinutes: Math.floor((now - device.lastSeen) / 60000)
  }));
}

Bulk UDF Update

async function bulkUpdateUDF(client, updates) {
  // updates: [{ deviceUid, udf1, udf2, ... }, ...]

  const results = [];

  for (const update of updates) {
    try {
      const { deviceUid, ...fields } = update;
      await client.request(`/api/v2/device/${deviceUid}`, {
        method: 'POST',
        body: JSON.stringify(fields)
      });
      results.push({ deviceUid, success: true });
    } catch (error) {
      results.push({ deviceUid, success: false, error: error.message });
    }

    // Respect rate limits
    await sleep(100);
  }

  return results;
}

Error Handling

Common Device API Errors

Error	Status	Cause	Resolution
Device not found	404	Invalid UID	Verify device exists
Invalid field value	400	UDF too long	Max 255 characters
Permission denied	403	API key restrictions	Check API permissions
Device locked	409	Concurrent update	Retry after delay

Error Response Example

{
  "errorCode": "DEVICE_NOT_FOUND",
  "message": "Device with UID 'd4e5f6a7-...' not found",
  "details": {
    "deviceUid": "d4e5f6a7-b8c9-0d1e-2f3a-4b5c6d7e8f9a"
  }
}

Device Validation

function validateDeviceUpdate(fields) {
  const errors = [];

  // Check UDF lengths
  for (let i = 1; i <= 30; i++) {
    const field = `udf${i}`;
    if (fields[field] && fields[field].length > 255) {
      errors.push(`${field} exceeds 255 character limit`);
    }
  }

  // Validate description
  if (fields.description && fields.description.length > 1000) {
    errors.push('Description exceeds 1000 character limit');
  }

  return {
    valid: errors.length === 0,
    errors
  };
}

Best Practices

1. Use UID not hostname for lookups - UIDs are guaranteed unique
2. Cache device lists - Full device list changes infrequently
3. Use site-scoped queries - Reduce data transfer when possible
4. Monitor offline devices - Set up alerts for extended offline status
5. Standardize UDF usage - Document which UDFs are used for what
6. Handle pagination - Always process nextPageUrl
7. Normalize MAC addresses - Handle different formats (colons, dashes, none)
8. Check lastSeen vs status - Status may lag behind actual connectivity
9. Track agent versions - Plan upgrades based on version distribution
10. Document warranty info - Use UDFs for hardware lifecycle management

Device Status Business Logic

Determining True Online Status

function getDeviceEffectiveStatus(device) {
  const now = Date.now();
  const lastSeenMinutesAgo = (now - device.lastSeen) / 60000;

  if (device.status === 'online' && lastSeenMinutesAgo < 15) {
    return 'online';
  }

  if (device.status === 'rebooting') {
    return 'rebooting';
  }

  if (lastSeenMinutesAgo > 60) {
    return 'offline';
  }

  if (lastSeenMinutesAgo > 30) {
    return 'stale';
  }

  return device.status;
}

Device Health Summary

function getDeviceHealthSummary(device) {
  const issues = [];

  // Check online status
  if (device.status !== 'online') {
    issues.push({ severity: 'warning', message: `Device is ${device.status}` });
  }

  // Check open alerts
  if (device.openAlertCount > 0) {
    const severity = device.openAlertCount > 5 ? 'critical' : 'warning';
    issues.push({
      severity,
      message: `${device.openAlertCount} open alert(s)`
    });
  }

  // Check patch status
  if (device.patchStatus?.patchesFailed > 0) {
    issues.push({
      severity: 'warning',
      message: `${device.patchStatus.patchesFailed} failed patch(es)`
    });
  }

  // Check warranty
  if (device.warrantyExpiry && device.warrantyExpiry < Date.now()) {
    issues.push({
      severity: 'info',
      message: 'Warranty expired'
    });
  }

  return {
    healthy: issues.length === 0,
    issues
  };
}

Related Skills

• Datto RMM Alerts - Device alert management
• Datto RMM Audit - Device hardware/software inventory
• Datto RMM Jobs - Running jobs on devices
• Datto RMM Sites - Site-level device management
• Datto RMM API Patterns - Authentication and pagination