1. 36
Items
To
Capture
For
PracFcal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking hLp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/36-­‐items-­‐to-­‐capture-­‐for...
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36
Items
To
Capture
For
Prac3cal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking
by
Ramesh
Natarajan
on
August
18,
2008
3 Like 4 Tweet 1
If
you
are
managing
more
than
one
equipment
in
your
organizaFon,
it
is
very
important
to
document
and
track
ALL
informaFon
about
the
servers
effecFvely.
In
this
arFcle,
I
have
listed
36
aLributes
that
needs
to
be
tracked
for
your
equipments,
with
an
explanaFon
on
why
it
needs
to
be
tracked.
I
have
also
provided
a
spreadsheet
template
with
these
fields
that
will
give
you
a
jumpstart.
Before
gePng
into
the
details
of
what
needs
to
be
tracked,
let
us
look
at
few
reasons
on
why
you
should
document
ALL
your
equipments.
IdenFfying
What
needs
to
be
tracked
is
far
more
important
than
How
you
are
tracking
it.
Don’t
get
trapped
into
researching
the
best
available
asset
tracking
soTware.
Keep
it
simple
and
use
a
spread
sheet
for
tracking.
Once
you
have
documented
everything,
later
you
can
always
find
a
soTware
and
export
this
data
to
it.
Sysadmins
hates
to
document
anything.
They
would
rather
spend
Fme
exploring
cool
new
technology
than
documenFng
their
current
hardware
and
environment.
But,
a
seasoned
sysadmin
knows
that
spending
Fme
to
document
the
details
about
the
equipemnts,
is
going
to
save
lot
of
Fme
in
the
future,
when
there
is
a
problem.
Never
assume
anything.
When
it
comes
to
documentaFon,
the
more
details
you
can
add
is
beLer.
Don’t
create
document
because
your
boss
is
insisFng
on
it.
Instead,
create
the
document
because
you
truly
believe
it
will
add
value
to
you
and
your
team.
If
you
document
without
understanding
or
believing
the
purpose,
you
will
essenFally
leave
out
lot
of
criFcal
details,
which
will
eventually
make
the
document
worthless.
Once
you’ve
captured
the
aLributes
menFoned
below
for
ALL
your
servers,
switches,
firewalls
and
other
equipments,
you
can
use
this
master
list
to
track
any
future
enterprise
wide
implementaFon/changes.
For
e.g.
If
you
are
rolling
out
a
new
backup
strategy
through-­‐out
your
enterprise,
add
a
new
column
called
backup
and
mark
it
as
Yes
or
No,
to
track
whether
that
specific
acFon
has
been
implemented
on
that
parFcular
equipment.
I
have
arranged
the
36
items
into
9
different
groups
and
provided
a
sample
value
next
to
the
field
name
within
parenthesis.
These
fields
and
groupings
are
just
guidelines.
If
required,
modify
this
accordingly
to
track
addiFonal
aLributes
specific
to
your
environment.
Equipment
Detail
(1)
Descrip3on
(ProducFon
CRM
DB
Server)
–
This
field
should
explain
the
purpose
of
this
equipment.
Even
a
non-­‐IT
person
should
be
able
to
idenFfy
this
equipment
based
on
this
descripFon.
1
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:23
pm

2. 36
Items
To
Capture
For
PracFcal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking hLp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/36-­‐items-­‐to-­‐capture-­‐for...
(2)
Host
Name
(prod-­‐crm-­‐db-­‐srv)
–
The
real
host
name
of
the
equipment
as
defined
at
the
OS
level.
(3)
Department
(Sales)
–
Which
department
does
this
equipment
belong
to?
(4)
Manufacturer
(DELL)
–
Manufacturer
of
the
equipment.
(5)
Model
(PowerEdge
2950)
–
Model
of
the
equipment.
(6)
Status
(AcFve)
–
The
current
status
of
the
equipment.
Use
this
field
to
idenFfy
whether
the
equipment
is
in
one
of
the
following
state:
AcFve
–
Currently
in
use
ReFred
–
Old
equipment,
not
gePng
used
anymore
Available
–
Old/New
equipment,
ready
and
available
for
usage
(7)
Category
(Server)
–
I
primarily
use
this
to
track
the
type
of
equipment.
The
value
in
this
field
could
be
one
of
the
following
depending
the
equipment:
Server
Switch
Power
Circuit
Router
Firewall
etc.
Tag/Serial#
For
tracking
purpose,
different
vendors
use
different
names
for
the
serial
numbers.
i.e
Serial
Number,
Part
Number,
Asset
Number,
Service
Tag,
Express
Code
etc.
For
e.g.
DELL
tracks
their
equipment
using
Service
Tag
and
Express
code.
So,
if
majority
of
the
equipments
in
your
organizaFon
are
DELL,
it
make
sense
to
have
separate
columns
for
Service
Tag
and
Express
Code.
(8)
Serial
Number
(9)
Part
Number
(10)
Service
TAG
(11)
Express
Code
(12)
Company
Asset
TAG
–
Every
organizaFon
may
have
their
own
way
of
tracking
the
system
using
bar
code
or
custom
asset
tracking
number.
Use
this
field
to
track
the
equipment
using
the
code
assigned
by
your
company
Loca3on
(13)
Physical
Loca3on
(Los
Angeles)
–
Use
this
field
to
specify
the
physical
locaFon
of
the
server.
If
you
have
mulFple
data
center
in
different
ciFes,
use
the
city
name
to
track
it.
(14)
Cage/Room#
–
The
cage
or
room
number
where
this
equipment
is
located.
(15)
Rack
#
–
If
there
are
mulFple
racks
inside
your
datacenter,
specify
the
rack
#
where
the
equipment
is
located.
If
your
rack
doesn’t
have
any
numbers,
create
your
own
numbering
scheme
for
the
rack.
(16)
Rack
Posi3on
–
This
indicates
the
exact
locaFon
of
the
server
within
the
rack.
for
e.g.
the
server
located
at
the
boLom
of
the
rack
has
the
rack
posiFon
of
#1
and
the
one
above
is
#2.
Network
(17)
Private
IP
(192.168.100.1)
–
Specify
the
internal
ip-­‐address
of
the
equipment.
(18)
Public
IP
–
Specify
the
external
ip-­‐address
of
the
equipment.
(19)
NIC
(GB1,
Slot1/Port1)
-­‐
Tracking
this
informaFon
is
very
helpful,
when
someone
accidentally
pulls
a
cable
from
the
server
(If
this
never
happened
to
you,
it
is
only
a
maLer
of
Fme
before
it
happens).
Using
this
field
value,
you
will
know
exactly
where
to
plug-­‐in
the
cable.
If
the
server
has
more
than
one
network
connecFon,
specify
all
the
NIC’s
using
a
comma
separated
value.
2
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:23
pm

3. 36
Items
To
Capture
For
PracFcal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking hLp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/36-­‐items-­‐to-­‐capture-­‐for...
In
this
example
(GB1,
Slot1/Port1),
the
server
has
two
ethernet
cables
connected.
First
one
connected
to
the
on-­‐board
NIC
marked
as
GB1.
Second
one
connected
to
the
Port#1
on
the
NIC
card,
inserted
to
the
PCI
Slot#1.
Even
when
the
server
has
only
one
ethernet
cable
connected,
specify
the
port
#
to
which
it
is
connected.
For
e.g.
Most
of
the
DELL
servers
comes
with
two
on-­‐board
NIC
labeled
as
GB1
and
GB2.
So,
you
should
know
to
which
NIC
you’ve
connected
your
ethernet
cable.
(20)
Switch/Port
(Switch1/Port10,
Switch4/Port15)
–
Using
the
NIC
field
above,
you’ve
tracked
the
exact
port
where
one
end
of
the
ethernet
cable
is
connected
on
the
server.
Now,
you
should
track
where
the
other
end
of
the
cable
is
connected
to.
In
this
example
the
cable
connected
to
the
server
on
the
GB1
is
connected
to
the
Port
10
on
Switch
1.
The
cable
connected
to
the
server
on
Port#1of
PCI
Slot#1
is
connected
to
the
Port
15
on
Switch
4.
(21)
Nagios
Monitored?
(Yes)
–
Use
this
field
to
indicate
whether
this
equipment
is
gePng
monitored
through
any
monitoring
soTware.
Storage
(22)
SAN/NAS
Connected?
(Yes)
–
Use
this
field
to
track
whether
a
parFcular
server
is
connected
to
an
external
storage.
(23)
Total
Drive
Count
(4)
–
This
indicates
the
total
number
of
internal
drives
on
the
server.
This
can
come
very
handy
for
capacity
management.
for
e.g.
Some
of
the
dell
servers
comes
only
with
6
slots
for
internal
hard-­‐drives.
In
this
example,
just
by
looking
at
the
document,
we
know
that
there
are
4
disk
drives
in
the
servers
and
you
have
room
to
add
2
more
disk
drives.
OS
Detail
(24)
OS
(Linux)
–
Use
this
field
to
track
the
OS
that
is
running
on
the
equipment.
For
e.g.
Linux,
Windows,
Cisco
IOS
etc.
(25)
OS
Version
(Red
Hat
Enterprise
Linux
AS
release
4
(Nahant
Update
5))
–
The
exact
version
of
the
OS.
Warranty
(26)
Warrenty
Start
Date
(27)
Warrenty
End
Date
Purchase
&
Lease
(28)
Date
of
Purchase
–
If
you
have
purchased
the
equipment,
fill-­‐out
the
date
of
purchase
and
the
price.
(29)
Purchase
Price
(30)
Lease
Begin
Date
-­‐
If
you
have
leased
the
equipment,
fill-­‐out
all
the
lease
details.
(31)
Lease
Expiry
Date
(32)
Leasing
Company
–
The
company
who
owns
the
lease
on
this
equipment.
(33)
Buy-­‐Out
Op3on
($1)
–
Is
this
a
dollar-­‐one
buy-­‐out
(or)
Fair
Market
Value
purchase?
This
will
give
you
an
idea
on
whether
to
start
planning
for
a
new
equipment
aTer
the
lease
expiry
date
or
to
keep
the
exisFng
equipment.
(34)
Monthly
Lease
Payment
Addi3onal
Informa3on
(35)
URL
–
If
this
is
a
web-­‐server,
give
the
URL
to
access
the
web
applicaFon
running
on
the
system.
If
this
is
a
switch
or
router,
specify
the
admin
URL.
(36)
Notes
–
Enter
addiFonal
notes
about
the
equipment
that
doesn’t
fit
under
any
of
the
above
fields.
It
may
be
very
tempFng
to
add
username
and
password
fields
to
this
spreadsheet.
For
security
reasons,
never
use
this
spreadsheet
to
store
the
root
or
administrator
password
of
the
equipment.
Asset
Tracking
Excel
Template
1.0
–
This
excel
template
contains
all
the
36
fields
menFoned
above
to
give
you
a
jumpstart
on
tracking
equipments
in
your
enterprise.
If
you
convert
this
spread
sheet
to
other
formats
used
by
different
tools,
send
it
to
me
and
I’ll
add
it
here
and
give
credit
to
you.
I
hope
you
find
this
arFcle
helpful.
Forward
this
to
appropriate
person
in
your
organizaFon
who
may
benefit
from
this
arFcle
by
tracking
the
equipments
effecFvely.
Also,
If
you
think
I’ve
missed
any
aLribute
to
track
in
the
above
list,
please
let
me
know.
If
you
liked
this
ar1cle,
please
bookmark
it
on
del.icio.us,
Digg
and
Stumble
using
the
link
provided
below
under
‘What
Next?’
sec1on.
3
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:23
pm

4. 36
Items
To
Capture
For
PracFcal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking hLp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/36-­‐items-­‐to-­‐capture-­‐for...
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Comment
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1
sg
August
19,
2008
at
4:39
am
“Sysadmins
hates
to
document
anything.
They
would
rather
spend
Fme
exploring
cool
new
technology
than
documenFng
their
current
hardware
and
environment.”
—>
why
not
combine
fun
with
necessity?
Ocs
inventory
allows
you
to
play
with
new
open
source
technology
and
in
the
process
you
get
a
database
of
everything
that
is
connected
to
the
network
(and
has
the
ocs
inventory
agent
running
on
it),
without
having
to
do
it
manually.
That
database
can
then
be
queried
(eg
give
me
all
machines
with
less
than
x
mb
ram,
…
)
or
integrated
(e.g.
with
arpwatch:
compare
known
hosts
in
inventory
with
hosts
on
the
network,
alert
if
unknown
hosts)
If
you
want
to
you
can
also
add
own
properFes
like
warranty
dates
to
the
ocs
inventory
database.
2
Ajith
Edassery
August
21,
2008
at
12:01
am
This
is
a
preLy
exhausFve
list.
I
wonder
whether
there
are
not
tracking
tools
(including
inventory,
license
expiry,
floaFng
license
usage,
access
tracking,
warranty/service
terms/tenure
etc)
or
soTware
available
for
automaFng
all
these?
Anyways,
thanks
for
the
post
Cheers,
Ajith
4
of
8 18
Apr
12
7:23
pm

5. 36
Items
To
Capture
For
PracFcal
Hardware
Asset
Tracking hLp://www.thegeekstuff.com/2008/08/36-­‐items-­‐to-­‐capture-­‐for...
3
Abhi
August
23,
2008
at
9:10
am
Excellent
stuff.
DocumenFng
is
really
good
thing.
But
I
hate
spending
my
Fme
in
documenFng
the
inventory.
Rather
I
would
like
to
use
tools
like
OCS
inventory.
Do
we
know
any
tool
that
can
be
used
as
non-­‐root
user
to
document
the
system
details
?
4
Mark
Hoff
August
23,
2008
at
12:49
pm
You
wrote:
“Don’t
get
trapped
into
researching
the
best
available
asset
tracking
soTware.”
I
couldn’t
agree
more.
I’ve
seen
the
insides
of
many
asset
tracking
systems
(nearly
one-­‐hundred
at
last
count.)
These
include
a
great
many
of
the
large,
medium,
and
small
commercial
offerings,
as
well
as
a
range
of
open-­‐source
and
freely-­‐available
packages.
Not
a
single
one
of
them
stands
out.
And
most
of
the
Fme
that
you’re
spending
researching,
you
could
be
spending
doing.
Asset
tracking
is
a
pain
in
the
*ss.
No
maLer
how
you
do
it,
it’s
dirty,
tedious,
unglamorous
work.
And
it’s
mostly
maintenance
work.
No
one
wants
to
do
it.
But
everyone
wants
it
done–and
done
well.
5
Will
Barrowes
September
12,
2008
at
10:19
am
I
am
with
CG4
SoluFons
Inc.
We
provide
Asset
Tracking
SoTware
(www.cg4.com)
that
uses
tradiFonal
barcodes,
handheld
scanners,
and
a
web-­‐based
central
server
using
a
SQL
database.
I
was
just
reading
through
the
posFngs
and
thought
I
would
add
a
couple
of
comments.
Our
customers
spend
most
of
their
Fme
tracking
IT
Assets.
The
list
of
fields
provided
looks
comprehensive.
We
see
most
of
those
with
almost
every
customer.
Regardless
of
the
types
of
assets
you
are
tracking,
using
a
spreadsheet
is
painful.
My
background
is
corporate
finance
and
when
in
that
role
I
would
use
a
spreadsheet
to
inventory
assets.
I
hated
doing
it,
just
like
Mark
Hoff
and
the
others
menFon.
I
would
always
move
that
task
to
the
boLom
of
the
stacks
on
my
desk
hoping
it
would
go
away.
For
the
last
eight
years
I
have
been
working
with
CG4
and
I
can
say
that
with
the
strength
of
the
mobile
component
of
our
web
based
asset
tracking
soTware
I
would
have
done
my
inventory
work
quickly
and
with
a
half
smile
on
my
face
knowing
that
the
painful
inventory
via
spreadsheet
was
no
longer
a
part
of
my
life.
Mark
Hoff,
I
would
be
interested
to
have
you
learn
a
bit
about
what
we
offer
and
have
you
give
us
feedback.
With
having
your
head
into
so
many
asset
tracking
systems,
I
would
value
your
opinion.
You
can
email
me
at
will.barrowes@cg4.com.
We
might
be
able
to
make
it
worth
your
Fme.
6
Jared
Younker
May
26,
2009
at
3:06
pm
GreeFngs
Ramesh,
Just
wanted
to
thank
you
for
wriFng
the
above
arFcle.
I
was
just
promoted
to
Senior
Network
Administrator
last
week,
and
my
first
assigned
task
was
to
create
an
extensively
detailed
company
inventory.
Your
Fps
are
incredibly
helpful,
thanks
for
allowing
us
to
learn
from
your
process!
7
Tony
A.A.
December
28,
2010
at
12:23
pm
I’ve
been
looking
for
something
like
this
for
a
while
now.
Thank
you!
One
thing
that
I
sFll
don’t
know
how
to
track
properly
though,
is
virtual
machines,
physical
machines
running
virtualizaFon,
and
how
the
two
are
related.
Using
a
virtualizaFon
cluster
of
several
physical
machines
makes
the
whole
thing
that
much
harder.
Also
I
oTen
find
it
necessary
to
document
the
main
soTware
or
services
running
on
a
servers,
especially
in
high-­‐availability
environment
where
you
have
dedicated
front-­‐end,
database,
and
file
servers.
8
Snozz
March
2,
2011
at
5:31
pm
Nice
list,
but
I
suggest
checking
out
Spiceworks.com.
Awesome
tool
like
OCS,
but
instead
it
does
everything
client-­‐less.
Leave
a
Comment
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