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In our environment the following is true: Every resource (think server, switch, pdu etc) is mapped to a specific device identifier in a database

The problems are:

  1. Not every device which exists in the database is guaranteed to exist in the data-center (human error, custom setups, sent to be repaired etc.)
  2. Not every device which exists in the datacenter will exist in the database (someone forgot to add it, it was supposed to be temporary, etc.)

The solution would be: A member of our team going through the lab and manually validating each rack unit against its status in the database to ensure that mapping is appropriate.

What we need for that solution to be effective would be A tool that allows us:

  • Layout a list of all available rack units
  • To associate each rack unit with a device listed in the database (if one exists)
  • Allows a user to simply specify whether the database to physical mapping is correct or incorrect

Is there a tool that is available that would allow this kind of integration, or allow us to script these kinds of configuration requirements?

I've been looking at racktables.org but I'm not sure how we could populate the mapping of our devices into its tables automatically.

Any other alternative solutions people have used for keeping inventory accurate?

HopelessN00b
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cheesesticksricepuck
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    When I worked for a *large cloud infrastructure* provider, we ended up writing our own asset tracking system precisely for the reasons you state. We needed deeper integration than what Racktables would allow. – ewwhite Jun 17 '14 at 21:45
  • @ewwhite thats what i figured would be necessary. looks like i need to convince management that we need more software guys to support these kinds of necessary tools :P – cheesesticksricepuck Jun 17 '14 at 21:59
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    I have also worked in a company that used internally developed tools for such a task. One thing I learned is that once you reach a certain size, you just can't expect such a database to be 100% accurate. But if you do notice an error you of course fix it. At the same time perform an audit targeted at discovering similar problems elsewhere. Anything that can be audited automatically should be, it both saves time and avoids human errors. – kasperd Jun 17 '14 at 22:19
  • Not quite what you're looking for but Spiceworks is pretty good for inventory management. You can create custom asset types and it'll map network-discoverable devices for you. Not sure what the API is like but you might be able to hook something into it to make it do what you need. – Chris McKeown Jun 17 '14 at 22:41
  • Take a look at [Device42](http://www.device42.com). You can either use the REST APIs and/or excel re-imports in conjunction with a hand held wireless USB scanner for this. Also various auto-discovery methods make it very simple for us. – Neil Lohit Jun 19 '14 at 19:44

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