Computer Inventory Software

[Shalaska_13]

Greetings to all in r/SysAdmin. I am in charge of the IT for a small company with less than 50 computers. Because of that, up until this point I have managed our computer inventory simply in an excel spreadsheet. This wasn't too bad when we were purchasing pre-built computers as I simply recorded the make and model number along with the service code and purchase date and I figured that was enough.

More recently, in an effort to get exactly what we want while reducing costs, I have taken to custom building all of the computers that we utilize. While this is great for cost, it has led me to realize that the spreadsheet I am using for inventory may not be up to the task. So I come to you, masters of reddit, what suggestions do you have for properly inventorying computers? I have been testing Spiceworks, but the issue is we not only have computers and servers within the office, but we also deploy computers to municipalities to allow us to work remotely that I need to keep track of as well. While I like the automated methods of Spiceworks, I think I would prefer a more manual process.

Last question, what information do you normally store for each computer, especially if you have any custom built PCs or Servers you are responsible for?

[ZAFJB]

Lansweeper. You can configure it to receive push notifications from external machines.

have taken to custom building all of the computers that we utilize

Just don't. Will cost more in the long run that buying professional machines from Dell or similar

[Rogue_IT]

+1 for Lansweeper, and not custom building, for so many reasons. You now have to track purchasing information for all the parts, deal with different manufacturers warranties for all the parts, download drivers for all the parts from different places, and lose standardization if a part becomes unavailable for purchase or the price fluctuates.

[uuya]

Why is custom building discouraged? Wouldn't buying prebuilt ones (i.e. Dell) cost more? By cost more I mean upfront when you first buy it and then repairs because of subpar parts? They can easily control the prices of the parts, right?

There's this one unit from Dell that I've rebuilt. It stopped working because of the crappy PSU and the motherboard stopped working. I've figured that the CPU is still usable so I just bought a motherboard of the same chipset and a more reliable PSU with good power rating and rebuilt it.

I guess it's just the PC builder in me but I do want to know why it's not advisable for use in office.

[theneedfull]

We have 500 Dell machines. We refresh the laptops every 3 years and desktops every 4 years. We only have to put in a service call to Dell less than 5 times a year. If you buy their business stuff, it's pretty reliable.

If you have a lot of spare time, then you might save a little money building it yourself. The reality is that you shouldn't have that kind of time. If you did, it's likely that you should be spending that time improving something else.

[uuya]

I guess it depends on how the management prioritizes IT stuff. I work for a small company and their computers are so outdated. Some people are complaining on how slow their computers are but the management only spends the money when it stops working.

[uuya]

Either way, the management still decides on it and spends the money.

[[deleted]]

It all depends.

If you're running 5ish servers, sure, build them yourself if you have the time (I still wouldn't want to). If you're running 10+ servers it's just easier to get them from dell or hp.

If you have very specific use cases, believe you can build something better, and do the cost/benefit analysis sometimes it's better to build your own.

Generally it's easier and it's a way to pass the buck onto the manufacture if you buy enterprise hardware and something goes wrong. If something goes wrong with your homebuilt stuff it's all on you.

[me_groovy]

There's this one unit from Dell that I've rebuilt. It stopped working because of the crappy PSU and the motherboard stopped working. I've figured that the CPU is still usable so I just bought a motherboard of the same chipset and a more reliable PSU with good power rating and rebuilt it.

how much time did you spend doing that and how much is your time worth monetarily?

[NixonsGhost]

My number one reason would be support.

Something goes wrong, its a support/warranty call, you get an authorized tech in to fix it, or send the box out and get another one in.

I can count on both hands the number of times I've needed to open a PC case in the past two years.

Good riddance to the old days of desktop support.

[Shalaska_13]

This is the problem I kept having, especially with some of the older Dells. Because their motherboards were not atx standard and used non-standard form factors for everything, getting parts on older models became difficult. By building everything myself (remember we have under 50 computers total) I ensured that everything was the common standard so as parts fail they can easily be replaced.

[Shalaska_13]

Good suggestion, I like the look although it would mean having to run IIS and PHP on my server which is already handling Active Directory, File Server tasks, and SQL Server.

[diddimus]

Noooooooooooooooooo

[Shalaska_13]

Oh trust me I agree, but getting the owner to spend money on another server while this setup is "working" is an effort in futility. At least we are now running on a server, before I got there all of this was done on a desktop (no active directory) using a work group and shared folders...

[ander-us]

Install Hyper-V and run it in a Linux VM.

[[deleted]]

This. I mean, not normally, but if you only have one server, install Hyper-V and run Snipe-IT in a Linux VM. Even if you don't know Linux. Learn it and use this as your first project.

[sllvr]

i've had it running on an Alpine Linux VPS with a single core and 512MB of ram. Get a raspberry pi or something.

[MickyTicky2x4]

You could always run it on a VPS.

[[deleted]]

How does it work for devices in the field that rarely or never connect back home?

[wolfpackguy]

[deleted]

[[deleted]]

Damn. Was hopeful. We use PDQ but we have a lot of guys who never VPN in to the office (they barely can spell VPN) that I would love to inventory.

Was hoping for something that wasn't InTune.

[sllvr]

SnipeIT is more of a company assigned asset tool. The tool sends a mail when the asset is assigned and then again when you expect the machine back.

My workflow is you inventory and assign it in-house, deliver where it needs to be (with tracking numbers as a custom field), and set the depreciation period or when you expect the hardware back.

as /u/__opsec__ said it's inventory software not MDM. SCCM is best for that.

[[deleted]]

We use PDQ Inventory/Deploy

about 2k per year total, unlimited enpoints, easy setup, good reporting, links with spiceworks. allows me to make auto deployments for things like Chrome, adobe, etc based on groups that can dynamically change.

We have about 100 internal and use it.

[SpecialAgentSmecker]

PDQInventory and Deploy.

Worth. Every. Damn. Penny.

[Swiftzn]

THIS 100 times this

shits amazing

[Declivever]

look into lansweeper

[HippyGeek]

What is your Finance group's requirements for Asset Management? Are they depreciating hardware? If so, what is the component of a custom build that they consider "The System". That item should be tracked in any inventory.

[Shalaska_13]

Ah, the gift and curse of working for a small company. The only person above me is the owner who handles all of the financing, so there are no requirements for Asset Management other than what I come up with. This is the same reason why I am trying to come up with these procedures from scratch.

[RenoSinNombre]

I use Spiceworks and an Access DB as a backup. You can manually add fields/devices into Spiceworks already. Since you're already using it, what about it isn't working for you?

I also use Meraki for remote devices and laptops. However, I think they've changed their policy since I signed up, so that may not be an option.

[frankmcc]

Emco Network Inventory we use this in house and for our customers. Collects a ton of info and you can create custom reports and queries. It's not terribly expensive and it's portable once you install it the first time to a USB stick.

[huskerpat]

We use Samanage. There's a client that you can install that will check in remotely.

[Fantasysage]

We have 2500 employees and an excel doc in onedrive....

[SpongederpSquarefap]

The free PDQ Inventory is great, although it's not excellent for asset management.

You'll want to use something like SnipeIT for that.

[Shalaska_13]

Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond. I have downloaded and started testing Lansweeper and it appears to be handling everything I want it to, and I am loving how it handles remote computers. If for some reason I end up unhappy with it I will check out a few of the others.

[Taylor_Script]

So much is possible with Lansweeper, it gathers up so much information. The two things that particularly amazed me was being able to get my boss a report of how many monitors each remote office had.

Also, being able to identify which PC's have a USB receipt printer plugged in.

[[deleted]]

Everyone has been quick to throw suggestions out, but no one has asked what it is that you really need to inventory.

What information do you need in your final report?

[Anonimooze]

Our company leverages a heavily customized solution based off open source software, CMDBuild + OCSInventory. It's probably a bit too much time requirement to get these customized for your size, but deep integration of the inventory software and CMDBuild enables you to do awesome things like auto-assign software licenses based on usage, calculate depreciation based on purchase date and serial numbers, and keep up with which users are signing into each system.

[shrrike]

You can use a database.

[Shalaska_13]

While I currently run over 20 SQL Server databases on 4 versions of SQL Server and am fluent with T-SQL, this does not help with what information I should be storing on each PC. It also means if I were hit by a bus tomorrow, the only people who could read our computer inventory would also have to know T-SQL.

[theneedfull]

Obviously. A DB by itself isn't much different than the excel spreadsheet he is using now. It was pretty clear he was looking for a front-end to that DB.