What Does Server Inventory Mean?
A server
inventory is a complete list of information about all servers maintained in an
organization. A server inventory can store information such as server type,
capacity, memory and information type. Server inventories
can provide valuable information suited to different needs such as
maintenance, upgrading, troubleshooting and phasing out.
Techopedia Explains Server Inventory
Server
inventories can provide helpful information depending on an organization’s requirements. There
are a number of ways to maintain server information. In the old days, companies
would maintain server details in spreadsheets and manually update the spreadsheet
whenever needed. However, as things became more complex, spreadsheets failed to
keep up.
Now, powerful application software programs can maintain server
inventory and provide details whenever required. Certain software programs are
capable of mapping to all servers in an organization and updating server
details whenever a change takes place in a server. Such details can be accessed
from remote locations with the help of custom APIs.
The details
maintained in a server inventory can include:
- Server name
- Domain name
- IP address (both IPv4 and IPv6)
- Operating system
- Server status
- DNS suffix
- Server type (such as DNS or DHCP)
- Last data retrieval status
- Last manageability status
- Next recommended action, if any
- Event log access status (such as blocked or unblocked)
- DHCP audit share status
Server inventories
can also maintain the details of virtual servers and related information such
as patch management and continuity planning.