Using Network Inventory to Support IT Service Management (ITSM)

Jan 30, 2025

There’s the company facing slow internet issues. But guess what? They don’t have a clear roadmap of all the devices and connections.

A lot of troubleshooting happened. And then the issue is traced to a misconfigured router – that actually was buried somewhere in a remote office.

Now this whole scenario took hours, but it was surely avoidable. How? Through ITSM, IT Service Management (ITSM) practices and network inventory.

Let’s explore how it supports ITSM. More importantly, why does it matter? And how to make it work for your organization!

But, why network inventory?

Now organisations believe that investing in this tools can be an expensive affair. But that’s where they go wrong.

It does more than what it’s for. It gives businesses a clear view of all the devices, connections, and configurations within a network. Details like IP addresses, device types, software versions, and relationships between devices – almost everything is available here.

In addition to this, a business even gets:

  • Real time visibility into the network’s current state
  • Actionable insights (data) that probably would help with troubleshooting, planning, and compliance.

How does ITSM help?

The job here is more of structuring. ITSM does that (IT service management). Starting from managing incidents, problems, to changes, and assets, ITSM does it all.

There are multiple frameworks, one being ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). These ones emphasize more on best practices as per Slurp’it.

ITSM supported, if integrated with it actually helps with:

  • Quick identification and resolution of disruptions. That actually is incident management
  • Identification of the root causes and prevention of recurring issues
  • Assessing risks
  • Tracking both hardware and software resources.

How network inventory works along with ITSM?

This tools when used with ITSM, offer multiple benefits to an organisation. Some notable ones are:

1. When an incident occurs, IT teams need to act fast. So when they actually have a detailed
network inventory, they get instant access to:

  • The location of affected devices
  • Configuration details
  • Dependencies between devices.

For example there’s this retail chain experiencing connectivity issues across several stores. Using their tool, the IT team quickly identified a failing switch at a central hub and deployed a fix. And that’s how the downtime got minimized as per Slurp’it.

2. Recurring issues can drain IT resources. And even can frustrate end-users. A wellmaintained tools actually helps teams to analyze patterns. They can even identify underlying causes. With this, the benefits they get are:

  • Historical data from the inventory helps pinpoint recurring failures
  • Teams can update configurations or replace aging equipment before issues arise.

3. Network changes are happening a lot. Whether planned upgrades or emergency fixes. Everything comes with risks. It actually minimizes these risks by providing:

  • A clear understanding of device dependencies
  • Accurate impact assessments
  • A foundation for rollback plans if something goes wrong.

For example, there’s this software company. They upgraded its firewall but overlooked how it interacted with specific devices. The result? Extreme connectivity issues. But because of a detailed network inventory, they could have avoided the disruption.

4. Keeping track of IT assets is quite important if we talk about ITSM. So here it helps with:

  • Accurate records of all hardware and software assets
  • Compliance with licensing and regulatory requirements.
  • Efficient allocation of resources. This allows businesses to avoid over-purchasing or under-utilizing equipment.

How to actually build an effective network inventory?

Now, let’s talk about the main part. How can one build an effective network inventory?

It’s easy, you just have to follow these steps:

Try automating discovery

Manually tracking devices in a growing network is impossible. Automated discovery tools scan the network. These tools identify and catalog devices. Hence the inventory is always up-to-date.

Over here one can consider using tools like NetBox and SolarWinds network configuration.

Give visualization tools a chance

A visual representation of your network makes it easier to understand device relationships and troubleshoot issues. Many inventory tools offer built-in visualization features. In fact much comes with integration capabilities too with third-party tools.

Integrate with ITSM platforms

This is the best thing you can do. To get a maximum impact, make sure to integrate it with ITSM tools. The best options to go for are ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or BMC Remedy. As per Slurp’it with this integration, businesses can

  • Get instant access to network data during ticket resolution
  • Quick updates to asset records

What’s in for the future of network inventory and ITSM?

Networks are complex, and a few years down the line it will get more complex. In the case of both network inventory tools and ITSM businesses can get AI-driven insights.

Artificial intelligence will analyze inventory data. It will predict failures, optimize configurations, and recommend improvements. With the integration of IoT, inventory tools will easily manage and track endpoints as per Slurp’it.

Know that this tools are more than just a technical necessity. It’s a strategic asset for ITSM. It gives the right visibility, accuracy, and insights. It allows IT teams to deliver exceptional service. So, are you ready to transform your ITSM with it? The journey starts today, make the most out of it! Contact us for more detail information at Slurp’it!

Slurp’it release updates

The following features & updates have been released over the last months. See our change log for more details:

  • Nautobot plugin support

  • Async implementation for the device finder and data collector for extra speed

  • Corrected multiple Device Type names (thanks to the community)

  • The SNMP tester is now using defined & enabled Transform Rules

  • API pagination is aligned for all Get calls

  • Ruijie & Nokia templates are added

  • Multiple small bugs and improvements

  • Automated disable/delete of unused discovered devices in Netbox

  • Slurp’it SDK.

Weekly Online Workshops

Curious about Slurp’it and how it integrates with your tools? Join us for our weekly online workshops, where we’ll walk you through everything Slurp’it has to offer. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to dive deeper, you can see Slurp’it in action and ask us anything.

Workshops are held every Tuesday at 10 AM CET and Thursday at 4 PM CET.

Autocon2 & Workshop with NetBox Labs & Netpicker

Heading to Autocon2 in Denver in November? Be sure to swing by our booth to say hello! We’re also hosting a special workshop with Mark Coleman from NetBox Labs and Otto Coster from Netpicker on Tuesday morning. It’s a great chance to get hands-on experience with Slurp’it and learn from the experts.

More info: https://networkautomation.forum/autocon2

 

Take care and as usual… Happy discovery!

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