Discussion on:

DIY: Manage networks and help desks for free with Spiceworks

The adware isn't bad. The only issue I have is that we are and all Linux shop.

I can't bring myself to use Windows for a management role of a Linux network, nor can I justify the CPU cycles to run a dedicated VM. The other option is to dink with Wine to make it work, but I can't help think that there is a much more elegant solution out there. Nagios perhaps?

My current place of employment we use spiceworks and love it. The network management tools are a great help and the help desk is a nice touch as well. The help desk seamlessly works extremely well with the purchasing/ordering feature of spiceworks.
We have also email enabled the help desk so anyone, anywhere in our company can send an email to spiceworks and create a help desk ticket. All they have to do is reply to their ticket and it automatically updates. We moved from using SharePoint as our help desk and purchasing system to spiceworks.
Another side plus is the community. The spiceworks community is very helpful and the people who post on their seem to be very knowledgeable.
We've been using spiceworks for their past few major versions and this latest one is so far the best I have seen.

There is only one issue I have with it is that spiceworks "phones" home every once in a while to relay data to home base. I've done some research on this and it only sends Non-identifying information. Just basic information with a installation number. Besides that it's a great software to use and from what I've seen out there in the open source community this beat's pretty much anything hands down.

....and you cannot run the tool without seeing ads.

Not entirely true. You can't run the free version without seeing ads, that's why it's free...

However, you can pay and get an ad free version and that's only $330 per annum. You will then get your own corporate branded version (which some people may want for their organisations anyway).

See http://www.spiceworks.com/myway

I've been using Spiceworks since version 1.6 and it really is turning into a must-have tool.

I was going to ask if there was a "Premium", non-ad version.
Does that include any support at all, or is everything community-based?

Well, we're an all Windows shop with the exception of our Mac graphic designer and me, who only runs Linux. I have to dedicate a virtual Windows machine to run it. Other than that, can't beat it for the price

I just started using Spiceworks today. So far this is one of the best things I've seen in a while. Love the help desk feature and the ability for my users to created trouble tickets.

It can inventory and display info for Linux boxes. you can create plugins for spiceworks that can do virtually anything you can write a program to do. it does run on Windiows, But there are a lot of other apps that run on windows only. The reporting is also phenominal as you can either do drop down selections or use SQLite queies to create your reports. I like the alerts. They tell me when it is time to order ink and toner, when someones disk is getting low on free space, Lets me know when I need to purchase more Software licenses because I am aproaching my purchased count. And the community? it is people like you and I trying to keep our networks running and paying back by helping others do the same. The only drawback I see is they only have spiceworld in Texas.

We have Spiceworks set up at customers with critical reports automatically emailed to us it saves our customers on IT costs. Allowing us to be proactive even though we are not physically there every day, we are virtually there giving our client peace of mind.

i want to start to use spiceworks.But i want to now if its safe to run on XP and i want know if its secure enough.

Nice article, Jack. It certainly looks like a very nice tool that could replace multiple separate servers for me now (one server running SNMP tasks and another separate one running Alloy Navigator, a helpdesk/asset management package), but there are a things I'm curious about. In your testing with it, did you (or anyone else who uses it) know if:
-One can create a "Ticket Template" that will create multiple "sub-tickets" or "work orders"? For example, if a new employee starts we have 13 "Tasks" that need to be accomplished before the employee begins distributed among four people. Any idea if it had that functionality?
-Can it do a "Workflow" of tickets? Using the previous example again, if I submit a "New Employee" ticket and it creates the work orders, can they be set up in a manner that if Bob finishes one ticket it will alert David and assign him the next task?
-Is there any easy way to run "Reports" through this system? For example, if I want to generate a list of PCs with warranties that expire before 12/31/2011 or which PCs have Office 2010 installed.
-Is there a way to "Reconcile" software as being "Allowed" or "Unknown"? For example, we run a report of "Unknown/Unauthorized" software a couple of times a year. This report checks against a list of "Allowed/Recognized" software and only items that weren't on that list are on the report.

That's really all I can think of at the moment.
Thanks!

@AstroCreep
I've been using SpiceWorks for about 3 1/2 years now and while I am pretty sure you have the ability to create work order templates, I am not sure about workflows. I would suggest checking their website for additional information. They have alot of training and walk through videos that may answer your question. Also their support is very good. I am sure a quick e-mail will get you an answer. As for the reporting features. They are very good. Basically if Spiceworks knows about it you can create a report. Warranty information can be tracked, of course it has to be entered manually. You can then create reports. You can also report on software installed on some machines but not installed on others. There again, if Spiceworks knows about it you can report on it. I would recommend at least giving it a try. I don't think you will be disappointed.

If you use FireFox and NoScript extension you can effectively block ads served by SpiceWorks. Although I would wait until after you get it installed and set up (so you can login) before disallowing spiceworks.com. I run it this way and have had no problems with the functionality of the local Spiceworks installation.

I found Spiceworks when I was working for a small company with a number of server. I have recommended it anyone I meet how needs management and the bean counters will not fork out the cash.

Spiceworks won't solve it all. IT Outsourcing often fails.... here is why... http://info.remotehelpdesk.com/Blog-0/bid/53731/3-Reasons-Why-IT-Outsourcing-Fails

Adblock Plus extension to either Firefox or Chrome (I use ChromePlus.org, which doesn't feed all your traffic back to Google) can be used nicely to block adverts from Spiceworks.

(it works with Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer) but only on the Windows platform.

This is not true - the Spiceworks application runs on a Windows platform but you can access it via the web on any platform (Windows, Linux, Mac, Mobile, etc).

(Note: When you click the Spiceworks icon, it automatically opens in Internet Explorer even if your browser is set to default to Chrome or Firefox.)

This is an incorrect statement - I run a default web of Firefox on my Spiceworks server and it will open Firefox.


Check it out for yourself!! http://goo.gl/oN7uQ