Solution for network inventory?

Question

I am trying to figure out a way to keep track of network equipment, including chassis and service modules/line cards. So when I need to find something, I know where I can find it.

1) telnet access available

2) IOS, IOS-XE, IOS-XR, NX-OS, ASA

I am wondering how feasible is it to use script to parse something like #show modules, #show diag in a large scale. Any better ideas? Yes they do have asset tags but they keep getting moved around and scanning the tags is way too much work to keep the information updated.

Btw SNMP is nice but it's probably not going to work in this environment. Connections and configs get changed on daily basis.

You mentioned "SNMP is nice but it's probably not going to work in this environment. Connections and configs get changed on daily basis"... I am not sure I understand this part of the question... is there a relationship between SNMP and configs changing daily? — Mike Pennington, Oct 16 '13 at 08:55
Did any answer help you? If so, you should accept the answer so that the question doesn't keep popping up forever, looking for an answer. Alternatively, you can post and accept your own answer. — Ron Maupin, Jan 04 '21 at 22:30

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 12 '13 at 00:49

Something like RANCID might help you out here. Plus, if you don't do config management it would take care of that for you as well.

RANCID goes out and logs into all of your devices [launched via cron] grabs config/inventory, places it in a source control system and emails you config/inventory diffs. (This would catch any hardware moving around)

Using RANCID for inventory tracking isnt all that pretty though. I just grep what I am looking for from the config/inventory archive.

rancid@network configs$ grep XENPAK *
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR
6509-1.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-SR
core-2.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR            VID: V02 , SN: XXXXXXXXXXX
core-2.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR            VID: V02 , SN: XXXXXXXXXXX
core-2.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR            VID: V02 , SN: XXXXXXXXXXX
core-2.stackexchange.com:!PID: XENPAK-10GB-LR            VID: V02 , SN: XXXXXXXXXXX
rancid@network configs$

Since this is all kept in a revision control system you can look back to see when a module was added or removed.

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 11 '13 at 10:31

I run python scripts to parse inventory (for the same platforms) on a daily basis... The best options I have found are parsing CLI show inventory, "show mod" (for platforms that don't support show inventory), and polling ENTITY-MIB.

Sadly, I have to use all three mechanisms, since there isn't a one-size fits all solution for all Cisco HW / SW permutations, unless Cisco NCS can do it... I haven't tried NCS yet, so I can't say.

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 11 '13 at 18:14

2

Switchmap is SNMP-based, but it might be worth taking a look at for building inventories of equipment, modules, etc.

answered Oct 11 '13 at 18:14

Teun Vink

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Never tested it and don't run any of those, but I think it mostly uses the IF-MIB, so it might work. – Teun Vink Oct 14 '13 at 18:18

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Oct 14 '13 at 08:13

1

My favorite Tool for this is WKTOOL but it's only supported under Windows.

edited Oct 14 '13 at 08:13

Mike Pennington

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answered Oct 14 '13 at 07:39

Roland Stumpner

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does it support IOS-XR, NXOS and ASA? – Mike Pennington Oct 14 '13 at 08:10
Sorry i do not know this. Only tested with IOS – Roland Stumpner Oct 15 '13 at 13:27
@Mike Pennington: Yes, it supports ASA and NXOS, but not IOS-XR at the moment, but it is extensible with external Lua scripts and if there is a huge need for IOS-XR, it can be implemented. If you are interested, please contact me at wktolls@spoerr.org – mspoerr Jan 05 '15 at 11:56

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 14 '13 at 09:29

0

You can set up the basic Zenoss monitoring server, it's supports Cisco Devices information gathering via SNMP. This provides a lot of information just by adding an IP (like: IOS version, interfaces + IP configuration, ...)

http://community.zenoss.org/index.jspa

Zenoss + Cisco howto:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hj9vqYeXtyg

answered Oct 14 '13 at 09:29

Bulki

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Does it support all the Cisco devices requested by realdreams? – Mike Pennington Oct 14 '13 at 10:32
@MikePennington good question, supported devices can be found at this page: http://wiki.zenoss.org/ZenPack:Cisco_Devices (see features) , this is only about the official ZenPack. If you do some tweaking yourself, you can make your own ZenPack, containing more specific SNMP MIB's. It's a very flexible monitoring software. The difference with the paying version is that you have to do it more yourself. – Bulki Oct 14 '13 at 10:53
But this doesn't seem to support IOS-XR... can you add information to support that? – Mike Pennington Oct 14 '13 at 10:56
@MikePennington I'll look into it, get back to you on that one. – Bulki Oct 14 '13 at 11:58

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 14 '13 at 18:10

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If you want something that will show you your gear in a rack type of diagram, I would recommend either of the following:

www.drackula.net

www.noclayer.com

answered Oct 14 '13 at 18:10

Network Samurai

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Solution for network inventory?

6 Answers6