Whether it's for cost management or compliance reasons, the time eventually comes when you need to audit and document your company's network. Specifically, you may be tasked with gathering not only a full enumeration of all server and client computers but also their hardware and software details. Many systems administrators I know have lost sleep in fear of an audit in which they couldn't produce accurate license counts for desktop workstations.
At first launch, you'll need to undertake two initial setup tasks. First, you'll need to specify a storage location for your inventory metadata. I show you this dialog box in the following screenshot.
In the TNI management console, navigate to the Scanner tab to set up your network scans. The scans can leverage the (in)famous nmap penetration testing and network troubleshooting tool, so you need to ensure that your inventory scanning is authorized on the network lest you trip off intrusion detection/prevention system alarms and suchlike.
TNI 3 licensing depends on (a) the edition and (b) the number of nodes you need to inventory. For example, it costs US$90 to license TNI 3 Standard for 25 nodes. That's super affordable, in my humble opinion! Softinventive lab includes one year of OS support with their permanent licenses.
does anybody have any recommendations on some free or open source network inventory tools? I have used LanSweeper in the past, seemed to do everything I needed - I gave it a subnet, told it to 'scan', and I'm assuming it did a mixture of ping sweep, SNMP and other Windows based stuff to detect assets.
Software for PC audit and network inventory in offices, companies, small and large corporate networks. This network inventory software was developed for those who work with multiple computers and would like to spend their time efficiently.
Network scanning Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, and ESX/ESXi-based computers and servers can be scanned without preinstalled agents. In order to do inventory by means of this inventory software you just need to know the administrator's password. Scan single nodes, network address ranges, or Active Directory structure. Each computer takes several dozen kilobytes in the centralized storage of TNI 3. Group assets, provide them with comments, and attach additional information. Total Network Inventory 3 will show your network in all its beauty! Create flexible reports on different data categories. Build table reports with hundreds of fields of the TNI 3 data model. Hardware inventory reports are well-structured and completely understandable.
Reports can be copied, exported, or printed, and the search feature shows the results before you even finish typing. Detect and browse changes in hardware and software. Know when an application is installed, uninstalled or updated on any computer in your network, see hardware being connected or removed, disk space usage dynamics and much, much more. Schedule data gathering. Create both single postponed scan sessions and repetitive tasks: every day? on Fridays? on first Monday of every month? Scan different sets of assets at different times and keep your inventory up-to-date. And more... Create a database of your network users; store a number of passwords for different assets and protocols; follow the online status of assets in real-time. The inventory software TNI 3 is developed in such a way that it provides you with complete and relevant information in a convenient and categorized form. These and many other features of TNI 3 will save you a lot of effort and stress during network audits.
Make an inventory of your entire LAN without leaving your chair! Total Network Inventory will scan your entire LAN, query all servers, workstations and appliances found, and log essential information about every piece of equipment discovered on your LAN. Make a perfect, effortless, hassle-free inventory. The network inventory maker is able to scan all network devices no matter how large or diverse your LAN is! Do you know how many workstations still running Windows 95 or missing the latest updates? Total Network Inventory will get comprehensive information about each and every workstation on your LAN in real-time including data on all service packs and hotfixes applied. The network inventory builder will store and organize collected data, and provide you with a report on a chosen subject in just a couple of clicks. With Total Network Inventory, all information about your network components is right at your fingertips! Have a budget to plan for hardware upgrades? With Total Network Inventory, it's easy to discover the most outdated computers on your LAN. Just run Total Network Inventory, let it walk through your network, and click to generate a comprehensive network inventory report detailing components used in each and every PC on the LAN. Click once again, and you'll see the most outdated machines appear on top of the list. It's just that easy! Total Network Inventory can scan your entire LAN remotely, without you having to leave your chair or installing anything onto the PCs being probed. Using Total Network Inventory is safe and secure; no data will ever leave the LAN. Thanks to the step-by-step Scan Wizards, querying your entire LAN to make a network inventory is as easy as a few clicks. Detailed reports are easy to produce and a pleasure to read, providing essential information about your network inventory presented in a simple way.
Network inventory management and monitoring is a critical part of ensuring your network stays healthy, well-planned, and functioning as well as possible in your enterprise. Network inventory management allows you to keep track of what network devices you have and all their relevant software and hardware. It also helps you to know when to acquire new assets, or to decommission old ones, which can help with general performance and uptime management, and capacity planning.
Network inventory tools should always be used to complete network inventory processes in large enterprises, as manual approaches will simply not be enough to keep track of everything efficiently. Network inventory software is widespread in the network management tools marketplace, and there are many options for you to choose from.
One of the best ways to keep on top of network inventory is to use network inventory tools, as these greatly free up your time and resources (leaving you available to deal with more pressing issues). These tools scan and map your network, determining exactly what devices you have, their configurations, and the operating systems and software installed on them.
My top choice for network inventory tools is SolarWinds Network Configuration Manager (NCM). NCM is a network configuration management and mapping tool designed to help you stay on top of changes happening in your environment.
One of the other great features of NCM is you can create network reports based on device information, so you can quickly view a network overview of your entire inventory. NCM can be set up to scan regularly, so your device list is updated as frequently as you like. For your contracts and end-of-life information, NCM regularly polls for device data on these points, and can notify you when a device or asset needs to be replaced, or if a contract needs to be renewed.
NCM is a great piece of network device inventory software, and it offers a free trial for up to 30 days. I recommend trying it out, so you can see how comprehensive and easy to use it is. SolarWinds offers subscription and perpetual licensing options available.
For those looking to automate mapping and inventory report creation using one solution, SolarWinds Network Topology Mapper (NTM) is a comprehensive, yet easy-to-use mapper, device discovery, and network reporting tool. SolarWinds NTM can help you more easily track inventory and network information with its multi-layer discovery technique leveraging:
By performing multi-level network discovery, NTM can produce an integrated OSI Layer 2 and Layer 3 network map with detailed device information. The scanning and mapping functions in NTM are designed to help you more easily keep track of what your network looks like and what devices you have connected.
NTM can discover your entire network in typically just a few minutes. In addition to automating network discovery, you can also edit node details of map objects, connect network devices manually, and use the other customizability options to ensure you gain the views of your network inventory most helpful to you. NTM can also help address reporting needs to demonstrate PCI compliance, FIPS 140-2, and other regulatory requirements. NTM is built to be FIPS 140-2 compliant.
What really sets NTM apart is its ability to automatically discover devices, collect device details, and transform this data to generate a variety of reports and diagrams, including network topology maps, hardware inventory, switch port usage, and device connection reports.
Another good piece of network inventory software is Network Inventory Advisor. Network Inventory Advisor also allows you to track installed software, what versions you have, and the licenses included. With license aggregation, collection, and management you can easily see how your licenses compare to the purchased contracts you have.
In addition, you can scan for network device metrics, including CPU, memory, system details, and audio, visual, and peripherals. You can roll out mass upgrades or troubleshoot hardware problems. Network audits can be performed regularly with automated scanning, and reports produced will contain up-to-date software and hardware information for each asset. All devices can be tagged with statuses, and then assigned to a particular user or technical owner for management.
Data from TNI is stored on your primary hard drive, so you can move, store, or archive inventory data. Devices can be grouped and commented on. Reporting in TNI requires you to select a group of computers in the file, and then select the type of report you want to produce. You can also create complex or customized reports by choosing particular objects or metrics in the TNI list of assets.
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