[u-u] Asset tracking...

[Alan J Rosenthal]

>I take you to mean that the static data lives only in the central
>(text) database on the hub box.

Indeed.

>One could put that static data on the machine it pertains to (in
>a file in /usr/local/etc, say), and have the cron job include it
>in the hourly email along with the dynamically generated stuff.

That's a cool idea.  Unfortunately not applicable to me because many of
the machines in my inventory database are not adminned by me (it's only
the ones which are adminned by me which send the hourly e-mail).  Also,
it's very convenient to track the monitors separately from the system
units as they sometimes move around independently.  And fortunately the
monitors don't have their own /usr/local/etc.

>As well, it would make it easier to maintain that info --

This would vary.  When I move a machine from one place to another I'm
able to record the move without the cooperation of that machine.
Although again this matters more for machines I don't admin, and you're
not talking about that sort of situation.  Still, after moving around a
bunch of workstations, I now can go back to my office with my moves list
and type it all in more easily than if I had to (admittedly still from
my office) log in to each of the machines to edit its data.

regards,