Managing Router and Switch Inventories?

JabbaTheFart asks: "How does the Slashdot community deal with network equipment inventories. After searching Slashdot and seeing this post, I found a few good projects that work with computers (such as IRM, Request Tracker) but they don't cope with the specifics that you would need to work with routers and switches like: port info, firmware versions, currently running config, and so forth. I have looked into network monitoring projects like NMIS, Orion, and others but I would still need regular management information like serial numbers, contract status, price, etc. A simple database could work, but it would be nice to have web access. What do you use to keep track of all that network equipment that you are in charge of?"

Comments

A wild idea

[Intron]

"they don't cope with the specifics that you would need to work with routers and switches like: port info, firmware versions, currently running config, and so forth"

Too true. If only there were some sort of file type that could handle arbitrary ASCII data. Then I could store any information that I wanted by just typing it on a keyboard! Of course, there would have to be utilities for searching based on arbitrary text or wildcard text entries. An even more ambitious person might want a file type that could arrange this data into columns and rows that could be easily sorted on their contents. As you can see, this would quickly break down into a monstrously difficult undertaking.