Inventory Item import error when device name is not unique across sites

[srideviyedidha]

Environment

• Python version: 3.7.3
• NetBox version: 2.8.5

Data Setup:
Dev 1 at Site 1
Dev 1 at Site 2
Steps to Reproduce

1. import inventory items linked to ‘Dev 1’. Example data as follows:

device,name
Dev 1,Inv 1

Expected Behavior
Inventory item "Inv 1" created.
Observed Behavior
Error is thrown: Row 1 device: "Dev 1" is not a unique value for this field; multiple objects were found

Screenshot attached

My understanding :
Since Device has unique key over name and site, Site needs to be made available for import of inventory items and Device filtered by site to resolve this exception.

[jeremystretch]

Row 1 device: "Dev 1" is not a unique value for this field; multiple objects were found

This is expected. As the error message says, there are multiple devices named Dev 1, so NetBox has no way of knowing which you're referring to. You'll have to use some unique identifier instead of the name, such as the device's numeric primary key (using the header device.pk).