Free Network Inventory Tool (Web Based, Easy to Use)

[Wiseman82]

http://www.neutex.net/

I developed a similar piece of software for my previous employer (a college) - we found it really useful. I haven't had chance to fully evaluate this software but on first impressions - it’s easy to use and potentially very useful. The price it good too - It's free!

[ChrisH]

Looks good I will check it out and free to boot

[bossman]

yes looks like just the ticket for our needs and yes it's free i noticed! ( wonder what the catch is) i'm always looking for a catch i'm paranoid you see. Who said that it's a lie!!

[Nij.UK]

OOO very useful, i think i will have to get a copy of this, ive been wanting to develop something like this, but just never got round to doing so, but this will save me some time

Thanks for the link!

[webman]

I made a start on something similar but don't really have the time to finish it yet.

[plexer]

Just installed this on my ICT Support server and just get a 404 error from IIS.

It's all there and installed but dunno what's going on.

Ben

[Simcfc73]

Mine just gives me the code of the page.

[plexer]

Have you got .net 1.1 installed?

Ben

[plexer]

Repsonse from their tech support about my problem may help others.

1. Make sure Microsoft .NET 1.1 is installed on your system. This can be
checked via Add/Remove Programs. Also, make sure ASP.NET is installed as
part of IIS. You can do this by opening "Add or Remove Programs" in the
"Control Panel", click "Add/Remove Windows Components", "Application
Server", and make sure "ASP.NET" is checked.

2. Make sure ASP.NET 1.1 is installed and enabled. You can do this by
executing the following command:

C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspne t_regiis.exe -i

3. Also, verify that ASP.NET 1.1 is allowed in IIS. Open the IIS snap-in
and check the "Web Service Extensions" folder to make sure "ASP.NET
v1.1.4322" is allowed.

4. Verify .aspx pages are interpreted correctly. Open IIS, expand "Web
Sites", expand the web site NetPoint is installed in, right click on the
NetPoint virtual directory, and select Properties. Click the Configuration
button and make sure the .aspx extension is set to
"C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspn et_isapi.dll".

Ben

[sahmeepee]

OK, I've just given it a trial run through tonight.

It installed fine first time on this PC (my everyday desktop). I already had IIS and .NET 1.1 installed. I pointed it at an existing sql-server installation (on a different machine) and chose windows auth. Annoyingly this meant I had to use runas to run the installer.

After starting the Neutex NetPoint service, the web UI was immediately available as advertised although there didn't seem to be any login procedure so that might need locking down: something to check as it lists your Windows and Office VLKs in the inventory!

I set up a single schedule for 5pm, then started looking for the setting to tell it how to find my computers. There wasn't one: it just does it. I'm not sure whether it tries everything visible in "net view", every computer in the domain or just every IP address in the subnet.

It started running at 5pm and by 7pm it'd done 137 PCs and servers, with the limiting factor being my groaning processor on this laptop (a P4 2.8, but possibly running slower). Network-wise it ate about 22Mbps solidly for the 2 hours. It'll be interesting to see how the speed compares on the second run through.

With agentless inventory I think the gain of not having to deploy, maintain and run client software is balanced by the PITA of the computers actually having to be switched on when you run the inventory software. I might try doing a scan at lunchtime to see if any users complain - at ~1 minute per computer I don't imagine it'll cause much pain at the client end.

[Geoff]

something to check as it lists your Windows and Office VLKs in the inventory!

Any idiot running keyfinder (or similar) can get your VLKs.

[tosca925]

@sahmeepee


In your opinion how do you think this will react to have to run the inventory on 800 machines?

[plexer]

Just having a quick look at this it looks good but what I'd like to have is a "poll now" button instead of having to set a schedule and also the ability to poll a single hostname/ip so if you've just added/repaired a pc etc... you could scan that one pc and get its inventory up to date.

Also the ability to add items that won't be able to be polled projectors etc... so that all your inventory is in one place.

All the items seem to be broken down into their components but I'd like to see a list of all the hostnames found and the ability to group them so I can drill down into one room.

When searching to see what computers have a particular component i.e video card but being able to search for those that don't have it which would be very handy for what software/pacthes etc... that should be installed but aren't.

Any others that I can feedback to them?

Ben

[sahmeepee]

tosca: should be fine, but I'm not sure how healthy it'd be if you use MSDE. The database was about 65Gb in total after scanning those 137 machines.

plexer: I agree on all those counts - I think if you want that you should be talking to webman though! His Carbon Hardware app looks promising.

I'm also wondering why this product is free and whether it's going to stay that way very long. Methinks it won't.

[sahmeepee]

something to check as it lists your Windows and Office VLKs in the inventory!

Any idiot running keyfinder (or similar) can get your VLKs.

Assuming they can run the executable. No sense in handing it to them. Also, they'd have a fun time trying to run the MagicalJellyBean on one of my servers, which also have their license keys listed by NetPoint.