[thelist] Asset Management

[Michael Pemberton]

I've googled, sourceforged, hostscript'd and now I'm 'listing'...

I am in the process of putting together a breakdown of the bits and 
pieces that make up my small home network.  Initially, this is mainly 
for insurance purposes, but as more and more becomes work-related, it 
will become the basis for tracking my outlays on hardware for my small 
business.

My question is, should I look at handcoding (cut-n-pasting) a solution, 
or are there any good scripts out there that I should be looking at?

I've seen IRM and AssetMan around, but they seem a bit too powerful for 
my needs and the bloat means I am less likely to work be able to tweak 
it as my needs change.

I'm really just looking for something that has room to grow without 
being to large to begin with.

Any info would bne greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

<tip author="Michael Pemberton" subject="Read the F'n FAQ">
I post this story as a warning to others.  Just because you have read 
through the manual, doesn't mean that you have got all the details.  I 
learnt this the hard way.

In a recent attempt to get a new UPS working, I pluged everything in and 
installed the software on my server.  All seemed to be in the right 
holes, but I just could not get the USB monitoring to work.  So, at 
1:30am, I switched over to using the Serial (RS232) connection.  After 
an hour of trying diferent cables, different software and even different 
servers, I gave up.

In the calm of the following morning, I opted to hit the website and 
read some of the postings.  It was there that I discovered a litte 
posting regarding the USB vs Serial support explained.  The document 
informed me that if theUSB cable is used, even without success, the 
serial port will be disabled and the only way to get it back is to 
"Brain Dead" the unit.

I got home, "Brain Dead'd" the unit and tried again with the serial 
connection.  All systems go.

Hopefully other can learn from my mistakes.
</tip>

-- 
Michael Pemberton
evolt at mpember.net.au