Discovering devices - which tool?

[koda]

Hi!
We are about to build our cmdb, and for discovering devices (Servers and PCs) in our net Siemens have sugested Miranda and HP have sugested Radia.
Wich other tools could be used instead of these?

(We also have thin WYSE-klients, Cisco switches and Lexmark and OKI printers, but they will be discovered by Wyse Rapport, CiscoWorks and MarkVision/PrintSuperVision.)

[RobertdB]

Hi koda,

please note that a CMDB is meant to be more than a database which stores your inventory

Robert

[koda]

I know, but for a starter we need to establish the inventory list (about 500 servers, 1000 PCs and 5000 thin clients.)

[RobertdB]

how about Altiris? http://www.altiris.com and more specific: http://www.altiris.com/products/inventory

[koda]

I was just told that we have Microsoft SMS 2003. Could this give us the information we need?

[Martin]

Originally Posted by koda

I was just told that we have Microsoft SMS 2003. Could this give us the information we need?

The SMS 2003 can be help you to collect the information. But In my opinion, Firstly,you should make a list about the CI and their releationships------Scope. Secondly, select a automatic tool to help us to research the CIs .

[gustel]

hi!
just want to ask what is the significants of Altiris in institution and can you give some senario of this system? tnx

[mfutty]

Altiris originally targeted educational institutions and in recent years stepped into the corporate arena. It is a fairly robust product suite that is pretty effective and easy to use with some training. We currently use it on 1,000 servers and 20,000 workstations for discovery, provisioning, patching, and general reporting. Altiris is pretty responsive to customer support and eager to do whatever it takes in order to gain new customers. One thing I will point out is that training or experience in SQL reporting services and VBScript is required to use the product’s capabilities to its full capacity. Without that experience, you can purchase consulting services from Altiris to fill the gap.

Their pricing structure is fairly inexpensive compared to other products and I personally recommend it for its ease-of-use. Definitely a product worth looking into.

[The Skeptic]

Originally Posted by koda

I was just told that we have Microsoft SMS 2003. Could this give us the information we need?

Depends what information you need.

A CMDB is not an asset repository. It tracks the objects and interrelationships you need to support service management. Mostly this means impact analysis: potential impact of a change and actual impact of an incident and/or problem.

So once you know what processes you want and what data they need to support them, then you know what you need in your CMDB.

One of the great fundamental concepts is People Process Technology [in that order]. Forget the technology until you have the first two sorted out.

[joe]

I tend to agree with the Skeptic...get your people and process in place, then worry about the tool, but to answer your question....I think you should add Centennial discovery to your shortlist as well.

[The Skeptic]

I feel an IT Skeptic blog post coming on.... but I'll start here

What possible use is a standalone discovery/CMDB tool? If it doesn't also store your Incidents, Problems and Changes, and the relationships between them and the CIs, then who uses it? if an impact analysis of an outage doesn't show me there was a change against that CI last night, what possible use is it? if it doesn't also store your Services and SLAs, and their relationships to the CIs, then who uses it?

And if your answer is "we will do code level integration or magic glue or batch synchronisation with service desk and SLM tools" then if I were your boss I'd be firing you. Many vendors have done that work and offer integrated suites, and not just the Fat Four, there are niche ITIL vendors too. To propose doing it yourself is irresponsible waste of company resources.

A CMDB is something that ought to be in the tools: it is not a tool.