Transcript Introduction to Spiceworks IT Desktop

Introduction to The Spiceworks IT Desktop
November 2011
Presentation Agenda
• PowerPoint Slides (Boring! Death by PowerPoint…)
• Live Demo (Yay!)
• Mobile App Demo (Hell Yeah!)
• Q&A (Is he sure he wants to do that?)
2
About Me…
• IT Specialist at Visiting Nurse & Hospice Home – Community Based, nonprofit hospice and homecare agency
• Working in IT for about 5 years
• CompTIA A+, Network+ certified. Working on CCNA cert
• AAS in Engineering and Journeyman IBEW (Union) licensed electrician
• Support just over 100 end users, about 50% mobile
• Environment: HP servers (2 physical, 14 virtual), Cisco firewall and WLAN
controller/WAPs, HP ProCurve switches
3
Why did I choose Spiceworks?
• Was looking for:
• Free and/or Open Source Inventory Management
• Help Desk would be nice
• Non-hosted (because of HIPAA and security)
• Preferably automated inventory (at least initially)
• Tried the rest- found Spiceworks
• Free, non-hosted, lots of features
• No obvious catches (except ads, but easy to tune out)
• Honestly- sounded “too good to be true”
• No risk in trying
• 1+ million users & big name vendors worldwide couldn’t be wrong!
• 3 Things That Sell Spiceworks: Inventory, Help Desk, Community
4
IT Management is Complicated!
“Is my network changing?”
“Is it all working?”
“How do I keep track
of everything?”
“How much am I purchasing?”
“Where can I find
answers?”
“What do I have?”
“What’s happening now?”
Spiceworks is for SMB IT Pros
“Is Spiceworks for
Me?”
Spiceworks is designed for…

IT Pros who have admin rights on their network

Organizations with less than 1000 devices on
their network. It will work with more, it just won’t
be as fast.

Running on a PC. It discovers Windows, OS X,
Linux and Unix but you need to run it from a PC
on your network.
Spiceworks System Requirements
“What do I need for
Spiceworks to
work?”
System Requirements
Windows XP SP2+/Vista/7 or Windows
Server 2003 SP1+/Server 2008
1.5GHz Pentium 4 Processor
1.0 GB RAM
Browser Requirements
Firefox 3.5+, Google Chrome, Internet
Explorer 7.0+ (not 9.0 yet), Safari
Scanning with Spiceworks
“What can I scan
with Spiceworks?”
• Windows Operating Systems
• Linux & Unix via SSH
• MAC via SSH
• Exchange 2003 (2007/2010 with an additional script)
• Network devices via SNMP
• ESX/vSphere
• Cloud Services (Rackspace)
Spiceworks at a Glance

Active Directory integration

Supports remote sites/collectors

Canned and SQL based reporting

Accessible via web browser

Network discovery & alerting

Help desk ticketing

Purchasing & quote management

ODBC compliant database (SQLite3)

Powerful community
Inventory Your Network Assets
“What do I have?”
Agent-less Inventory of Network Assets

Automatically discover
hardware & software

Gather technical data about
those assets

Create custom attributes

Inventory non-network
devices such as PDAs
Document your network
“Is my network
changing?”
Network configuration history

Backup and restore network
device configurations

Detect changes

View interface statistics and
attached devices

View and manipulate your
network map
Report on Important IT Info
“Is it all working?”

See software installations, disk
usage, trouble tickets & more

Easily create custom reports

Export reports in CSV, PDF and
Excel format

Exchange report templates with
other Spiceworks users
Customizable Reports
Monitor & Receive Alerts About Your Network
“Is it all working?”

Monitor disk space, software
installations, printer ink levels,
anti-virus updates & more

Create alerts to detect events
and prevent issues

See & set up alerts for Microsoft
events across your environment

Monitor the health of your
Exchange server
Network Monitors & Alerts
Monitor & Receive Alerts About Your Network (cont.)
“What’s happening
now?”

Get an email when unwanted
software is installed

View timelines of activities on
devices and tickets

Monitor UPS status and how
they affect connected devices
Activities
Run an Easy-to-Use Help Desk
“How do I keep track
of everything?”

Allow clients to submit tickets
with attachments via email or
web portal

Create tickets in one click for
devices that need attention

Assign tickets across your IT
team, manage projects and view
progress

Support as many users you
want with as many concurrent
admins as you need
Help Desk and Ticket Submission
Keep track of your IT Purchases
“How much am I
purchasing?”
Track your IT purchases

List all your IT purchases
through one interface

Request quotes from
multiple vendors
(predefined or manually
entered)

Link purchases to tickets

Get reviews of hardware
without leaving Spiceworks

Order printer supplies “inapp”
Create a user portal/Intranet
“How do I keep track
of everything?”

Update clients with important ticket
details or company information

Logon with email address or Active
Directory credentials

Use company logos, colors, etc.

Create tabs with additional
information

Create drop-down categories for
ticket submission
Create a customized portal
Connect With Other IT Pros
“Where can I find
answers?”
Global Community of IT Pros

Ask IT questions and share answers

Join groups of IT pros based on interest,
geography, expertise and more

See recommendations & ratings on IT
products & services from other IT pros

Follow vendors, then discuss topics via
their dedicated page

Get tips and support on getting the most
out of Spiceworks

Review submitted How-tos
Extending Spiceworks

Install plugins, deploy scripts, shared reports, language packs and more; all
authored by Spiceworks partners and community members

Customize your dashboard view or create new views altogether with custom
widgets that support RSS feeds, iFrame, charts, custom add-ons, etc.

Integrate existing monitoring or alert systems with Spiceworks via ‘External Alerts’

Create custom email templates for your end-users to brand your help desk

Use custom attributes to track additional data about your assets
Going Mobile
IT Pros Across The World Use Spiceworks
… To Simplify Their Job.
IT Nerds Pros Across The World Use Spiceworks
… To Simplify Their Job.
IT’s Free. Really Free!
No Gimmicks. No Catches.
Here’s How Spiceworks Keeps IT Free.
Can’t Have or Don’t Want Ads?
Have Spiceworks Your Way
Replace the Ads and add your logo for $45 a
month with Spiceworks MyWay.
Download & Install Spiceworks… In 5 Minutes
“Where can I get
Spiceworks?”
1. Go to www.spiceworks.com
• Click “Free Download”
• Enjoy IT Freedom in less
than 5 minutes!
www.spiceworks.com