Keeping track of all this IT crap

[Greg Rundlett]

On Jan 31, 2008 7:09 PM, Ben Scott <dragonhawk at gmail.com> wrote:
>   I may have asked this here before, but if so, I seem to recall there
> wasn't a good answer at the time.  Or maybe I just forgot and can't
> find it in the archives.  Either way, worth asking again.
>
>   Do people know of any good software to keep track of all this IT
> crap?  Users, computers (with make, model, serial, CPU, RAM, etc.),
> patch panels and their jacks, switches and their ports.  Most
> importantly, what is connected to what: User A has computer B plugged
> into jack C which is patched into port D of switch E.  Multiple times
> 100 users, two buildings, and eight switches, and damn things are
> confusing.
>
>   I'm looking for FOSS so I can (1) be cheap and (2) extend it to do
> what it doesn't.
>
> -- Ben
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>

Hi Ben,

Directly answering your question, I found this site that lists
projects that do what you're asking (asset tracking with FOSS).  The
first one on the list (IRM  http://irm.stackworks.net/) looks
promising although I don't have first hand experience with it.

On the software inventory side, and specifically in terms of
inventorying the penetration of FOSS in the enterprise, I just found
this interesting project by HP called FOSSology.  You'll have to see
the website and watch the few short videos to get a quick intro.  The
related links page is also high quality for this subject
http://fossology.org/docs/links_-_related_projects.  If anyone wants a
quantitative and qualitative view of just how much their company
relies on free software, this tool may be the best bet.  I can imagine
that consultants would use this tool to do an analysis for clients in
a number of areas.

-- 
A: Yes.
> Q: Are you sure?
>> A: Because it reverses the logical flow of conversation.
>>> Q: Why is top posting annoying in email?