Axonius Sub-Assets

A sub-asset is a subset of another asset type which is its parent asset. Sub-assets let you work with a meaningful group of assets on a dedicated page without maintaining a separate data source for them. For example, Network Devices are a sub-asset of Devices, and while they have their own Assets page and table, you can think of them as a filtered view of the Devices page that shows only network infrastructure devices.

Sub-assets are not a separate copy of your data. A sub-asset entry and its parent asset entry are the same underlying record, fetched by the same adapter connection during the same discovery cycle. A router, for example, is a single record that appears both on the Devices page and the Network Devices page.

How Sub-Assets Are Derived

Most sub-assets are defined by a parent asset type plus a filter condition on a single field. Axonius evaluates the condition during the discovery cycle, and every parent asset that matches also appears on the sub-asset page.

For example, the Network Devices sub-asset is derived from Devices using the condition is_network_infra_device = true. Any device reported by an adapter as network infrastructure is therefore listed on both pages.

Because sub-assets are derived rather than fetched, they appear automatically once the parent data is in the system. There is nothing to configure and no adapter to connect specifically for a sub-asset.

Some sub-assets are not defined by a simple field condition. Instead, they present their parent's
assets grouped or deduplicated along a different dimension. For example, the Vulnerability Repository page
catalogs vulnerabilities pulled from external sources (like NVD) alongside Security Findings from the Aggregated Security Findings in your environment, and groups them together by unique CVE ID.

Sub-Asset Fields

A sub-asset contains the same fields as its parent asset type. Any field available on the parent - including aggregated fields, adapter-specific fields, and custom fields - is available on the sub-asset.

A sub-asset uses the same fields as its parent asset. Some of those fields only have a value on the assets that appear in the sub-asset. For example, Network Address Translations is a Network/Firewall Rules field, but only the rules that appear under the NAT Rules sub-asset have a value in it.

Querying Sub-Assets

You can build and save queries on a sub-asset page using the Query Wizard, exactly as you do on any other asset page.

Keep the following in mind:

• Because a sub-asset is a subset of its parent, any query you run on the sub-asset page can also be expressed on the parent page by adding the sub-asset's defining condition. Therefore, running a query with the conditionis_network_infra_device = true on the Devices page returns the same assets as on the unfiltered Network Devices page.
• Queries saved on a sub-asset page are scoped to that page and are not available on the parent page, and the reverse is also true.

Permissions

Sub-assets inherit the role permissions of their parent asset type. A role that grants View on Devices grants the same access to Network Devices; there is no separate permission entry to manage. To learn more, see Roles.

List of Sub-Assets

The following table lists the sub-assets available in Axonius, the parent asset each is derived from, and the condition that determines which parent assets appear on the sub-asset page.

The sub-assets visible in your environment depend on the modules you purchased and on the adapters you connected. A sub-asset page is populated only when the parent asset data contains assets that meet the derivation condition.