Workstation Audit Tool Required

[slinky]

Guys & Gals,

We're searching for some form of audit tool that can be used by our consultants whilst carrying out site surveys prior to installations.

What we'd like to be able to do is plug the consultants laptop into the customers network and audit all of the workstations to gather information on the machines. ie:

Computer Name
O/S
Service Pack
Hard Drive Details (size, free space)
IP Address
DNS Settings
Def. Gateway settings
etc etc..

We've managed to find/create a VBscript that is capable of creating a rather nice looking spreadsheet including all of the required data, however this works by querying Active Directory and compiling a list of computer accounts, then attempting to audit all machines listed. We don't actually want to use this method as the majority of our customers that we want to use this for are not using a domain..

I've tinkered around and created a script that uses the output from a "net view" but I'm having issues with formatting...

So if anyone has any ideas on products to use, or would like to have a look at the vbscript that we have and maybe suggest some changes, that would be really helpful..

TIA,

slinky
587racing.com

[_DeeJay_]

slinky said:

Guys & Gals, We're searching for some form of audit tool that can be used by our consultants whilst carrying out site surveys prior to installations. What we'd like to be able to do is plug the consultants laptop into the customers network and audit all of the workstations to gather information on the machines. ie: Computer Name O/S Service Pack Hard Drive Details (size, free space) IP Address DNS Settings Def. Gateway settings etc etc.. We've managed to find/create a VBscript that is capable of creating a rather nice looking spreadsheet including all of the required data, however this works by querying Active Directory and compiling a list of computer accounts, then attempting to audit all machines listed. We don't actually want to use this method as the majority of our customers that we want to use this for are not using a domain.. I've tinkered around and created a script that uses the output from a "net view" but I'm having issues with formatting... So if anyone has any ideas on products to use, or would like to have a look at the vbscript that we have and maybe suggest some changes, that would be really helpful.. TIA, slinky 587racing.com

IIRC, Microsoft do a free tool which can be used and will scan by IP address range....

If you're on a single subnet you could always use the browse list to compile the list of machines too.

How do you plan to get the information when the machines are all in different domains/workgroups (I assume you'll need to authenticate against each to get the info you require, using WMI or whatever).

D

[rdhawkins]

My software will do it but you have to install a client on each machine.

NetSupport DNA if it helps.

Maybe OTT for what you want (requires server/SQL database etc).

Rob

[slinky]

_DeeJay_ said:

IIRC, Microsoft do a free tool which can be used and will scan by IP address range.... If you're on a single subnet you could always use the browse list to compile the list of machines too. How do you plan to get the information when the machines are all in different domains/workgroups (I assume you'll need to authenticate against each to get the info you require, using WMI or whatever). D

D, I've got the "tool" for gathering the info (using WMI, the authentication isn't really an issue as our customer sites are internally very insecure)...

The machines will all be in one Workgroup or Domain (but not a mix of both)..

The trouble at the moment is combining all of the information gathering tools together and getting them to output nicely... or to find a tool that carries out our requirements.

slinky
587racing.com

[malman]

I'm not sure that a net view is that reliable for getting a list of hosts.

I think a ping sweep to show live hosts then connect to hosts for your query. If you need the netbios name of the PC then an nbtstat query should get it.

[_DeeJay_]

slinky said:

_DeeJay_ said: IIRC, Microsoft do a free tool which can be used and will scan by IP address range.... If you're on a single subnet you could always use the browse list to compile the list of machines too. How do you plan to get the information when the machines are all in different domains/workgroups (I assume you'll need to authenticate against each to get the info you require, using WMI or whatever). D D, I've got the "tool" for gathering the info (using WMI, the authentication isn't really an issue as our customer sites are internally very insecure)... The machines will all be in one Workgroup or Domain (but not a mix of both).. The trouble at the moment is combining all of the information gathering tools together and getting them to output nicely... or to find a tool that carries out our requirements. slinky 587racing.com

Microsoft's (the name I cannot remember for the life of me though it was a 4 letter acronym) produces an XLS, TXT or XML document IIRC.

If you have the info, then surely it's just a case of writing some code to format it in Excel or something isn't it? Failing that, write it to a database (MSDE?) and pull it out with some reporting software?

edited to say: if you'd like, you could email the vbscript to me and I'll see what I can do...


>> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Tuesday 12th April 17:39

[.Flyer]

Have a look at AIDA32 - I use the Enterprise version. Not sure if that's the version you download there, but if not, I can email it to you (3mb) or I'll upload it to my site for a while (it was freeware).

>> Edited by .Flyer on Tuesday 12th April 17:45

[alunr]

BGInfo - searhc on goole for it - it does EXACTLY what you want.

[slinky]

alunr said:

BGInfo - searhc on goole for it - it does EXACTLY what you want.

Does BGInfo not just throw information about the machine onto the desktop of the machine in question?

slinky
587racing.com

[malman]

MBSA based on HFNetchk - is that thone you're thinking of?

[BliarOut]

.Flyer said:

Have a look at AIDA32 - I use the Enterprise version. Not sure if that's the version you download there, but if not, I can email it to you (3mb) or I'll upload it to my site for a while (it was freeware). >> Edited by .Flyer on Tuesday 12th April 17:45

What he said.... It's superb!

[slinky]

I've had a quick look @ Aida32 but unfortunately it doesn't appear to do exactly what I want it to, whilst the single machine auditing capabilites appear very impressive, I can't see any way of auditing machines across the network... Does it actually do that?

TIA,

slinky
587racing.com

[zumbruk]

Nessus does a fair part of what you want. I'm not sure that some of the information you're seeking is remotely accessible, though.

[.Flyer]

slinky said:

I've had a quick look @ Aida32 but unfortunately it doesn't appear to do exactly what I want it to, whilst the single machine auditing capabilites appear very impressive, I can't see any way of auditing machines across the network... Does it actually do that?

Yep; this software will do *exactly* what you want. The only possible downside is that it isn't supported anymore by the author. He's shut down the website and now works for Lavalys, producing similar software (obviously, there's a few quid to be made here )

Here's an extract from the user guide:

AID32 User Guide said:

Since Version 1.15, remote access features are available to help the work of helpdesk and network management staff. This client&server based module uses TCP/IP communication, and it's not limited to the local network (LAN), but using the Internet it can connect any points of the world to each other. Clients connecting to AIDA32 instances running in server mode can see exactly the same information as appears in the window of AIDA32 servers, so this solution is basically an "extension of the human eye".