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Tracking Dell Docking Stations with xAssets ITAM

Automatically discover Dell Docking Stations with xAssets Network Discovery

Includes support for multiple docking stations per laptop for WFH and office

06 April 2024

Will Islwyn Lambert

03 April 2023

Will Islwyn Lambert

Introduction

xAssets Network Discovery and xAssets IT Asset Management both include the ability to discover Dell Docking Stations. The Asset Inventory / CMDB loads them as child assets of the associated laptops. Data discovered for these devices includes Make, Model, Serial Number and Service Tag, Installation Date, Motherboard Version, and monitor resolution.

Dell Docking Stations do not require additional node licensing. The xAssets Network Discovery licensing model covers these devices as peripherals.

This article show how Dell Docking station tracking works within xAssets' products, and also shows how you can get Dell Docking Station data with Powershell scripts.

Discover Networked Docking Stations

xAssets can discover docking stations connected to the network or VPN, and this can include both wired and wireless docking stations.

The Dell Command Software must be installed on each laptop. It could be deployed using an MSI software push from Intune, SCCM, or Domain Group Policy. Then discovery of the laptop with xAssets discovery will retrieve the docking station's serial number, make, model, and version. The asset management software stores docking stations as child assets of the laptop. Each docking station has it's own asset record.

xAssets IT Asset Management Software can handle multiple docking stations per asset, such as in cases where a laptop is used both at home and in the office. Historical relationships between laptops and docking stations are also stored in the asset database.

Discover Work From Home Docking Stations

The xAssets Discovery Agent (releasing at end of May 2024), discovers Dell docking stations connected to laptops that are not on the network, such as WFH (work from home) laptops.

The prerequisites are:

Dell Command | Monitor Software is installed
xAssets Discovery Agent is installed
An internet connection

The laptop does not need to be connected to a docking station at the time of discovery. Discovery at any time will discover all the docking stations being used with a laptop.

How to discover Dell Docking Stations Using xAssets

First, choose Discover > Discover a Computer or IP Range, and fill in the computer name(s) or IP ranges in the dialog box

xAssets Network Discovery - Discover a Computer or IP range dialog box

When you click OK discovery will start

When discovery has completed, click the "Assets" link to find the computers and docking stations just discovered

xAssets Network Discovery - List of Discovered Assets

Click on the computer record to view the laptop asset record, and then click "related assets" in the left menu

xAssets Network Discovery - Dialog showing laptops with their related docking stations

You can also click the docking station directly from the "Assets" query, or from the above "Related Assets" list

xAssets Network Discovery - An Asset Record for a Dell Docking with Serial Number and Model

The above process is the same for "work from home" and on-network laptops.

Both xAssets Network Discovery and xAssets IT Asset Management Software can discover Dell Docking Stations and this function is available in the free editions.

How to discover Dell Docking Stations Using PowerShell

This PowerShell script will discover the Dell Docking Stations on a named computer. No xAssets software is required:

    $computerName = "Paul"

    $namespace = "root/dcim/sysman"

    $query = "SELECT CreationClassName, ElementName, Manufacturer, Model, Name, SerialNumber, Tag, ChassisPackageType, Version
    FROM DCIM_chassis"

    Get-WmiObject -Namespace $namespace -Query $query -ComputerName $computerName

For the WFH Laptop we are testing with, the output from this script was as follows:

    ChassisPackageType : 10
    CreationClassName  : DCIM_Chassis
    ElementName        :
    Manufacturer       : Dell Inc.
    Model              : Latitude 5540
    Name               : Main System Chassis
    SerialNumber       : N/A
    Tag                : 9CWCT05
    Version            :
    PSComputerName     :

    ChassisPackageType : 12
    CreationClassName  : DCIM_DockingStation
    ElementName        : Docking Station
    Manufacturer       : Dell Inc.
    Model              : CABLE_ID_130W_DP
    Name               : WD19S
    SerialNumber       : 82-204-126-22-66-74-12-0
    Tag                : 7XXQPZ3
    Version            : 01.00.36.01
    PSComputerName     :

            

The serial number of the Laptop is N/A here but it is collected by xAssets Network Discovery. It can be retrieved from PowerShell using a similar script (using classes Win32_SystemEnclosure or Win32_BIOS).