topic Finding and removing unused objects in FMC in Network Security

Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Keith Miller — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 14:34:40 GMT

Was looking for a way to find and remove unused objects in the FMC (6.2.2) like you could with ASAs in ASDM. Is there really no way to do this?

Every other day I find some annoying little thing about the FMC and FTDs...

Regards,

Keith

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Marvin Rhoads — Fri, 27 Oct 2017 12:30:56 GMT

Sorry but there's no utility, either built-in or external, that currently allows you to do that.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Keith Miller — Wed, 01 Nov 2017 13:47:46 GMT

Thanks for confirming what I was afraid of @Marvin Rhoads. :sigh:

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

diparma — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 03:16:38 GMT

Keith, Using the migration tool we have, We can remove unused objects while migrating from PAN/ASA/Ckeclpoint to FTD.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Marvin Rhoads — Tue, 17 Sep 2019 03:10:53 GMT

As of Firepower 6.4, we now have the "Where used" feature. It's not 100% of what we need but a step in the right direction.

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/security/firepower/640/relnotes/firepower-release-notes-640/features.html

View object use

The object manager now allows you to see the policies, settings, and other objects where a network, port, VLAN, or URL object is used.

New/modified screens: Objects > Object Management > choose object type > Find Usage (binoculars) icon

Supported platforms: FMC

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Jack G — Mon, 16 Nov 2020 22:55:29 GMT

Wonder if it makes more sense to show the icon if it's actually in use. Perhaps it would require additional processing and slow down the interface.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Hyperion0000 — Tue, 23 Aug 2022 13:47:48 GMT

I realize this is a super old thread, but it popped up in the google. 🙂 I figured I might be able to help someone else. I'm currently on 7.2.0.1 and there is a check-box under network objects to "Show unused objects".

Technically speaking (on older versions) FMC will not allow you to delete an object that is being used. So you should be able to just try to delete all objects and it will stop you on the objects that are used.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

JoshfromPHX — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 15:56:46 GMT

Does anyone know if we can bulk-remove unused network objects on the FMC?

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

Marvin Rhoads — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:07:13 GMT

Not exactly in bulk, but current versions (7.0+) allow us to filter the object list to show only unused objects. You can then hit the trash icon for any user-defined unused objects. (System-defined objects must remain in FMC but are not deployed to managed devices until they are used.)

FMC Unused Objects

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

JoshfromPHX — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 17:29:31 GMT

Maybe one day we can click on "Show Unused Objects" and then select all > delete. That would be what we are looking for here. Thank you Marvin.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

baab66 — Fri, 06 Dec 2024 12:26:44 GMT

Ctrl Select all Unused objects and right click to delete is an option to remove all Unused Objects from FMC.

Re: Finding and removing unused objects in FMC

MatthewM — Sun, 03 Aug 2025 03:58:19 GMT

Thank you for posting that, saved me some time!! ~M