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Best Tools For Network Inventory Management?

jra writes "Once every month or so, people ask here about backups, network management, and so on, but one topic I don't see come up too often is network inventory management — machines, serial numbers, license keys, user assignments, IP addresses, and the like. This level of tracking is starting to get out of hand in my facility as we approach 100 workstations and 40 servers, and I'm looking for something to automate it. I'm using RT (because I'm not a good enough Web coder to replace it, not because I especially like it) and Nagios 3. I've looked at Asset Tracker, but it seems too much like a toolkit for building things to do the job, and I don't want my ticket tracking users to have to be hackers (having to specify a URL for an asset is too hackish for my crew). I'd prefer something standalone, so I don't have to dump RT or Nagios, but if something sufficiently good looking comes by, I'd consider it. I'd like to be able to hack a bit here and there, if I must. Perl and Python, along with C, are the preferred implementation languages; least favorite is Java. Anyone care to share their firsthand experiences with this topic, and what tools they use (or built) to deal with it? "

3 of 251 comments (clear)

  1. OpenNMS by spun · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's open source, it's free, it's a complete network management system, and you can import existing asset information as well as populate through network discovery. We use it here at the New Mexico Child Youth and Family Development Department, with 53 offices, 2500 workstations, and 80 servers.

    http://opennms.org/

    --
    - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
  2. Re:To the toolboxes... by onkelonkel · · Score: 5, Funny

    There is a right way and a wrong way to ask for help in an open source forum.

    Wrong way..

    Q. How do I get my HP all-in-one printer to work in Red Hat?
    A. STFU Noob. RTFM.....

    Right Way..

    Q. Red Hat Sucks. It won't even print to my HP all-in one printer. I'm going to install Windows XP. At least it works.
    A. Oh my god, don't do that. All you need to do is edit foobar.print.cfg and change edrtflg$ = 0 ...PM me if you need any more help...

    --
    None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
  3. Re:To the toolboxes... by Bigjeff5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Or he could try the Ask Slashdot section.

    Oh wait...

    P.S.: Slashdot is not really a news site. It looks like it is, but it isn't. It's a news aggregation site who'd primary "feature" is the opinions of fellow slashdotters. Most news sites don't recieve or want comments on their stories. Slashdot does, and the entire site is built around facilitating that. Go check out a slashdot story sometime to see what I mean. There will be a 200 word summary post and 150 comments, most of them centered on three or four discussions. That's Slashdot's added value to the news they serve. Hell, half the time the news here is stone cold, broke out days weeks or months before Slashdot got ahold of it, but the discussions make it interesting.

    --
    Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller