What is a good way to track a ton of tech inventory?

[PJPagan]

Hi everyone, first post here, sorry for it to be an ask for help! I want an answer that isn't from salesmen and I'm sure there are other admins here.

 

How would you manage a ton of desktop/server inventory? I suddenly find myself pseudo-managing the desktop support portion of an IT department and there is no inventory tracking. It's insane.

 

I've been googling but personal experience from actual admins > paid promo ads. I do devops and manage linux servers. This is a bit out of my realm.

 

Any help is appreciated!

[emosun]

barcodes

[Jurrunio]

The physical hardware? Code them with a label (barcode could make it easier but you'll need a scanner), create a table with their code and write down where they are located (in details, such as somebody's desk or a certain spot in the server room).  If you're good with coding this should be easy to automate, I dont know if "a ton" is still within the realm of doing it by hand by your standard

[MonkeyBomb]

Asset tags and name each computer with PC or LT then the asset tag number and keep records in excel

 

Lansweeper can scan your entire network and keep track of all software installed and hardware of each machine.  Plus, it does have a built in helpdesk (haven't tried it yet).

[Needfuldoer]

Serialized asset tags with scannable codes (either QR codes or simple barcodes), plus asset tracking software like Snipe-IT or ServiceNow.

 

Entering everything the first time is a huge lift, but it's far from the end of the job. An asset tracking system is only as good as the team tasked with keeping it up to date.

[Sarra]

I just buy the largest plastic storage bin I can find, and throw everything in there.

 

If I could get a kiddie pool with a lid, that would be my preferred route.

[Arika]

5 hours ago, Sarra said:

I just buy the largest plastic storage bin I can find, and throw everything in there.

Also known as the "I swear I've seen it in here before" method

 

I live by it.

[ToboRobot]

On 9/23/2022 at 3:51 PM, PJPagan said:

Hi everyone, first post here, sorry for it to be an ask for help! I want an answer that isn't from salesmen and I'm sure there are other admins here.

 

How would you manage a ton of desktop/server inventory? I suddenly find myself pseudo-managing the desktop support portion of an IT department and there is no inventory tracking. It's insane.

 

I've been googling but personal experience from actual admins > paid promo ads. I do devops and manage linux servers. This is a bit out of my realm.

 

Any help is appreciated!

The scale of the problem is going to be important.  How many devices?

[Sarra]

1 hour ago, Arika S said:

Also known as the "I swear I've seen it in here before" method

 

I live by it.

 

Only problem is when you throw your back out trying to move it. Probably because you dropped something behind it, and can't quite reach it with it in the closet...

[Isuck Assimov]

Excel Spreadsheet with article numbers and serial numbers. Needs constant maintenance even in a small business tho.

[tkitch]

21 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

The scale of the problem is going to be important.  How many devices?

This guy tracks inventory.

 

If you're looking at up to a couple hundred PCs / devices?  Excel isn't a bad choice.

If you're looking at more than a couple hundred?  You probably want a utility to help track stuff for you.

[Kev]

If less then a hundred or so devices and you don't mind the manual work, Excel is a good choice. You can hook a bar code scanner to it with a VB script and really go to town. Lansweeper free is good for 100 or less devices and a good product, but it's a $1 per device after that, so really quite pricey.

 

If you have thousands of assets I HEARTILY recommend Hudu. It's a monthly subscription and you can self-host for the best price. Nothing in IT document management is as good and I've used a lot.

 

That said, if the documentation isn't vital to making money (like at an MSP or dev shop), buy a barcode scanner on Amazon, buy stickers from myassettag.com (I've used a couple vendors and these are the best), and start pasting into excel.

[Sarra]

(A serious answer from me, for once...) I'd ask this on the Level1Techs forum. You'd probably get an actual like ops manual from an IT manager from some reasonably sized company with instructions how to set up an efficient, inexpensive, and easily maintained inventory system that way.

[LTHKDEV]

You manage Linux servers so I’d say spin up a VM and install Oracle (or SQL Server if you prefer a GUI) both are free downloads without enterprise support .. it’s not for a live Production application, so you can learn the basics to be able to create it and back it up pretty quickly and you’ll have a ton of options when querying the inventory.. you can use scripts to populate the tables with model#, manufacturer, barcode/inventory# label (if you choose to add that), who has the item, whether the item is in storage, if it’s broken, etc.. it will be bit of work to setup up front, but afterwards you will have a pretty robust management system.. you can even shutdown the database when you are using it, since it’s not a live environment, and just start the database when you have to update something.. excel and a barcode scanner would be a good start too and you can import a .csv file into the database to populate it 

Edited September 29, 2022 by LTHKDEV

[Just that Mario]

RFID

[PJPagan]

Hi everyone, thank you for the insights! Sorry for the late reply. Chaos, etc. etc..

 

Tldr I'm definitely happy I asked, this info helps. @needfuldoer "An asset tracking system is only as good as the team tasked with keeping it up to date" - this cut deep .

 

I'm going to poke at some options and see what sticks. Again, just wanted to say thanks.

 

 

[Bad5ector]

Sounds like someone needs a CMDB.