Windows XP Pro SP2, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 2003 Server SP1, SP2 and R2, & Windows 2008 Serverģ. The Spiceworks software as a less than 25 Mb download file ( as of now) could be downloaded from the The same executable is inclusive of all basic requirements for Spiceworks that includes the SQLite database for storing settings-n-stats and Apache web server ( need to check if installations already there to avoid conflicts).ġ.
Spiceworks was only available for free solution that provides a very flexible and customizable Helpdesk solution that could address most of the needs in our environment with continuous learning and efforts to improve it. Most of the solutions out in market assume an IT Helpdesk person logging and assigning calls after receiving telephonic or mail based complaints as that’s a standard in most of the places. Web Based Helpdesk Solution: Centralized helpdesk is a proven resource to keep the cost and quality of support optimized and after searching a lot of open source Helpdesk solutions for a web based helpdesk solution, there was no satisfactory solution matching our requirements.
Most favorable thing is, it doesn’t works on agent-less way means it could start it work without affecting current existing scenario and without installing anything on production machines that might raise issues for any compliance.Ģ. Though the setup requires specific changes in system firewalls, but it works for covering almost all the workstation with little troubleshooting skills.
Spiceworks solves the same issue with collecting the system related info like Serial number, MAC Address, RAM, HDD, Processor, Product Keys etc from a centralized location.
Inventory of Systems: With the changing requirements and movement of systems, it’s a hard and purely manual work to keep track of updated inventory of workstations with us in some particular campaigns as earlier it involved going PC to PC and collecting detailed profiles of workstations. Though Spiceworks integration with active directory is still a work in progress from Spiceworks community end and complete performance monitoring like Zabbix or NagiOS is not available with Spiceworks, but there are two areas, where Spiceworks is very useful for our scenario.ġ. It discovers Windows, OS X, Linux and UNIX but you need to run it from only one PC on your network ( which might be even just a desktop with provided resource requirements). IT Pros who have admin rights on their network.Ability to manage services on remote machines Ability to compare one machine with anotherĩ. Software automatically categorizes machines into groups. Alerts on customizable definitions (eg machines with no anti-virus or low printer toner)Ħ.
Ability to manage your software licensesĥ. What are the main features available with Spiceworks?Ĥ.
Spiceworks is an adware and is written in Ruby on Rails, It’s not a complete and detailed Monitoring Solution like Zabbix as of now, but it covers other aspects of your IT management that Zabbix left, in a powerful way like Inventory, events reporting like installations/ updates and complete out-of-the-box-Helpdesk segment.
Spiceworks runs on Microsoft Windows and discovers Windows, UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X machines along with other IP-addressable devices such as routers, VOIP phones, printers, etc. It also includes an integrated help desk system. Spiceworks IT Desktop is used to inventory, monitor, manage and report on software and hardware assets. Spiceworks provides a free systems management, inventory, and helpdesk software application, Spiceworks IT Desktop, designed for network administrators working in small- to medium-sized businesses. Why to just think, when I could come up with one of my own? Here I am with a step to step guide about Spiceworks. The only resource is their very active users forum ( really serves the purpose in superb way), which sure does the job, but I thought there must be something out there like step by step as well. But I always thought that there is a vacuum, when we try to find some proper book over this great IT tool. Wrote twice about Spiceworks, once for just introducing and once for showing a preview of upcoming Spiceworks 5.0.