Documentation forSolarWinds Service Desk

Assets Management

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Introduction

Using the SolarWinds Service Desk (SWSD) Assets setup menu you can define a variety of settings that pertain to all the assets housed in your inventory module.

Navigation

Setup > Discovery & Assets > Assets Management.

Best practices

These best practices can help you plan your IT changes.

  • Automatic Asset Classification

    Use the Discovery Scanner, which automatically identifies and classifies asset types (laptops, servers etc.) and organizes the assets in the IT hardware inventory.

  • IT Service Desk Integration

    Integrate the service desk capability with your asset management solution. This allows the computer and hardware inventory information to be linked with Incidents, allowing you more visibility into relevant asset data within service desk tickets.

  • Tagging Assets

    Tag each asset within the hardware inventory by specifying its status and assigning it to specific users and technical owners. You can create your own tag, or put in a barcode or the QR code unique to each asset.

  • Software

    View all commonly used software on the computer.

  • Hidden Software

    View all components, patches, hotfixes, etc. This provides you a clean software list of what is often used.

  • Hardware

    View all hardware properties (CPU, BIOS, disks, networking devices, etc). In the computer inventory section, you can view the exact hardware configuration and which software titles are installed on each of your computers.

  • Warranty Details (Lifecycle)

    Automatically obtain asset warranty information to help save you time and ensures your records are up-to-date.

  • Risks

    View risks detected in your inventory as well as software license compliance standing. Examples of risks can be unauthorized software (games), computers that are not reporting, unprotected computers, low free space, and many others.

    • Computers not reported back in 7 days
    • Hard drive reaching capacity
    • No Anti-virus
    • Greynet software titles (P2P software, games, etc)

  • Incidents

    View all incidents related to a specific asset and make decisions based on current data provided.

  • Audits

    View anything ever reported back from the agent, including hardware or software changes, lifecycle events, and risks. The audit is a one stop shop for all changes to the asset.

  • Remote Assist (if enabled)

    Assist your end users using SWSD's DRE integration.

Assets Options

Backup

You can back up all the data in your account by clicking Request Backup . 

After a request is made, it is added to a processing queue. Requests are processed in the order in which they are received. When processing is complete, you are notified by email.

Additionally, you can schedule a weekly backup of your account’s data and define a default recipient.

Backups contain disposed, stolen, and duplicate assets.

To request a backup with the current date:

  1. Click Request Backup .

  2. Notice the alert that appears above the button.

  3. Upon receipt of the email, a new version of the backup zip file will appear directly below the Request Backup button. The date on the zip file is the date of the request for backup.

  4. Click the zip file to download and extract the contents. The zip contains multiple csv files.

  5. Locate the computers.csv file, which contains all asset IDS, including disposed, stolen, and duplicate.

Differentiate Other Assets by Serial Number

You can differentiate your inventory stored in the Other Assets section by serial number. Select the checkbox to enable this option. When it is enabled, duplicate items are prevented from appearing in your Other Assets repository.

Auto Generate Asset ID for Other Assets

You can automatically generate sequential asset IDs for the items that fall under Other Assets. Enabling this option will generate a unique Asset ID for any new or existing item that does not already have an Asset ID. Asset IDs can be edited and saved as strings.

Render Barcodes for Computers

Because it is a best practice, by default SWSD generates QR codes for each computer asset. SWSD can generate both QR codes and barcodes for all assets.

Computer Assignment Rules

Using computer assignment rules, you can assign a computer to a site and department based on specific information collected by the Discovery Agent.

Examples of rules you can set up:

  • If the computer reports back from a certain IP address range or subnet, the asset can be auto-assigned to X site and Y department.

  • If the computer reports back from a certain active directory group, the asset can be assigned to X site and Y department.

Assets index pages

Your organization's assets are displayed in the relevant index pages such as:

  • Computers
  • Mobile Devices
  • Networked Devices

When you select to display all details of a specific asset, you will be provided a great deal of data pertaining to the specific asset in addition to related information associated with the device. For example:

  • Software
  • Incidents
  • Configuration Items

Statuses describe the state of the asset. The table below provides definitions for each status.

Status Definition - When to utilize this label
Broken Reflects the asset is broken, but still part of your tracked inventory.
Disposed

The asset has been disposed of and you no longer need to track it in inventory.

It is best practice to maintain the asset history intact.

  • SolarWinds DOES NOT recommend deleting any asset.
  • The Disposed status removes the asset from any software license count and maintains accurate compliance reports.
  • By selecting the Disposed asset status, you will free up a SolarWinds asset license to be used on a new asset.
  • SolarWinds recommends that, if possible, you remove the agent from the computer so it no longer reports back.
Duplicate

Identifies the asset as a duplicate still part of your tracked inventory.

Often, assets with the status set to Duplicate are deleted after the duplication is confirmed.
In Repair Used when an asset is in repair and is still part of your tracked inventory.
Lost

Used when an asset is lost and is still part of your tracked inventory.

In most cases, the Lost status is used as a placeholder until the asset has been verified lost, after which the status is changed to Disposed. Some may want to mark the asset as Stolen instead of Disposed to report on all lost and stolen assets together and free up a SolarWinds asset license.
Operational Used when an asset is operational and deployed.
Replacement

When an asset is replaced and is still part of your tracked inventory.

This status can be used instead of Operational in cases where you want to report on replaced assets.
Spare

Used when an asset is a spare and is still part of your tracked inventory.

Often, a pallet of computers will arrive needing to be entered in manually. You can set their status to Spare until you deploy them and change their status to Operational.
Stolen

Used when an asset is stolen and is still part of your tracked inventory.

The Stolen status removes the asset from any software license counts so your compliance reports will be accurate.

The setting also frees up a SolarWinds asset license to be used on a new asset.

For more information regarding SolarWinds Discovery Agent and Scanner, see Discovery & assets.

Some of the factors you can include when setting up assets include:

  • Domain
  • IP Address
  • External IP Address
  • Network Cards IPs
  • Name Prefix
  • Active Directory
  • Organizational Unit Path (Chrome OS)

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