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I know, I know, I’ve other topics about inventory / asset management however my situation is very unique and need guidance. We’re looking to do an inventory on all the machines (PC/Mac) that we support. Our desktop support team covers various departments within a 1 mile radius, each with their own set of computers (5 -100s) on a shared networks used by other departments. Each department we cover will either want ALL or 85% of their machines to be covered. So ofcourse so request will fall through the cracks that get help for free, argh!

We’ve done a manual inventory using a free software called WinAudit, however we have to then save the the PDF/CSV but have to manually input info (Model, MAC, IP, Serial#, user, OS, object name) into a spreadsheet. I’ve looked at Spicework and it shows an option to SCAN the network, however this becomes a concern to our Network Security group who will wonder about this software.

We’d like the ability to use something like WinAudit to upload information to say Spicework, is that possible? However there’s one catch. Our clients get nervous we they hear audit and when they see such a software is install they they complain and refuse to have it installed. So we’re looking for something self executable and can push the information to say SpiceWork.

I’ve already looked at using the Brother label maker with tamper evident tape to create QR tags so I have an idea for that, but just need something to make our lives easier in collecting the info without getting security and other IT groups upset or clients scared we’re scanning their documents.

Any help is appreciated.

3 Spice ups
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It is possible to import data, but it’s going to require a lot of work. As for the security concerns, give this a read, it should quell those concerns:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/2311-how-secure-safe-is-spiceworks-on-my-network

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Here’s a trick for QR codes that may also be of interest to you:

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/2127-creating-qr-code-lables-for-your-spiceworks-inventory

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And if they want to get rid of ads, there’s a way to do that too:

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I had a feeling a lot of work would be required for the importing of data from a spreadsheet., I’d to know if there’s documentation on that. As for the network scanning, one issue with scanning a network is that the network is shared by 1 or more departments on 1 or more floors. So it’ll collect info on all the machines there.

Back to the importing, is there a self executable software for spicework to run on a Mac or PC that can be uploaded to Spicework or do I still need to capture it manually? OR is there a way I can log into Spicework from the machine I’m trying to capture and push the info that way?

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You can scan subnets (barring that these systems are separated by subnet) or individual IPs. That’s a setting you can adjust, so that’s not a problem that can’t be overcome.

There is some documentation here in the community on importing data, but I don’t have any direct links to it at the moment.

I’m not following why you want to “push” info, that defeats the purpose of Spiceworks and automating the process. With that said, if you have laptops that leave the LAN often, then there’s an agent you can install that will periodically check in and update your database. You only have to install Spiceworks on one system that will become your “Central Server” and then supply scanning credentials and IP / subnet range(s) and let it do the rest.

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I would also recommend checking out the Spiceworks University section and watching a few of the videos:

http://community.spiceworks.com/university

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Unfortunately even the subnets are shared with other departments. Pusing is for situations when a new computer is being setup or discovering a machine that was never on our inventory. I just thought that maybe I can log into Spicework on the machine I’m on, scan it, and then upload to the inventory so I don’t have save a CSV or PDF and then upload to Spicework.

Cool, I’ll check out the university pages and give that shot. Thank you very much for the advise!

1 Spice up
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The videos will make this make more sense. Honestly though if the higher ups are concerned with security, from what you have described they have neglected the network configuration quite a bit.