Getting Started with Spiceworks
By Darren Schoen and Nitish Kumar
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Book preview
Getting Started with Spiceworks - Darren Schoen
Table of Contents
Getting Started with Spiceworks
Credits
About the Authors
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Free Access for Packt account holders
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Errata
Piracy
Questions
1. Setting Up Spiceworks
Installing Spiceworks
Troubleshooting installation issues in Spiceworks
Logging in and setting up Spiceworks Admins
Spiceworks users defined
Setting up Spiceworks Admin users
Getting into the Spiceworks Community
Summary
2. Configuring Network Inventory in Spiceworks
An overview of the Spiceworks network inventory
How Spiceworks scans your network
What else does Spiceworks scan?
Setting up a scan in Spiceworks
Scanning and Active Directory
Configuring IP range scans
Scanning credentials
Best practices and kicking off your first Spiceworks scan
Scanning best practices
Navigating the Spiceworks inventory
Navigating the device inventory
Navigating other inventories
The Software inventory
The People inventory
Customizing groups and scan schedules
Resolving unknown devices
Summary
3. Configuring the Spiceworks Help Desk and User Portal
An overview of the Help Desk interface and User Portal
Setting up Spiceworks users, permissions, and e-mail
Configuring the e-mail settings in Spiceworks
Configuring User Portal
Standard and Custom Attributes
Creating a ticket in Spiceworks
Working a Help Desk ticket in Spiceworks
Mobile clients
Extending the User Portal and Help Desk using plugins
Summary
4. Configuring Other Spiceworks Features
Reporting in Spiceworks
Network monitoring and alerts in Spiceworks
Purchasing features in Spiceworks
Mobile Device Management in Spiceworks
Other Spiceworks features
Spiceworks Knowledge Base
Spiceworks cloud services dashboard
Using the network map in Spiceworks
Summary
5. Taking Spiceworks to the Next Level
Connecting with other IT pros and vendors
SpiceCorps and meeting other IT pros in your area
Other groups in the Spiceworks community
The virtualization group
The mobile group
Spiceworks extensions in the community
Plugins
Reports
Scripts and Language Packs
Real-world Spiceworks events
Spiceworks University
The SpiceWorld user conference
Summary
Index
Getting Started with Spiceworks
Getting Started with Spiceworks
Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the authors, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: August 2013
Production Reference: 1160813
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
Livery Place
35 Livery Street
Birmingham B3 2PB, UK.
ISBN 978-1-78216-684-9
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Suresh Mogre (<suresh.mogre.99@gmail.com>)
Credits
Authors
Darren Schoen
Nitish Kumar
Acquisition Editor
Kunal Parikh
Commissioning Editor
Sruthi Kutty
Technical Editors
Ruchita Bhansali
Amit Ramadas
Pragati Singh
Aniruddha Vanage
Copy Editors
Gladson Monteiro
Sayanee Mukherjee
Adithi Shetty
Laxmi Subramanian
Project Coordinator
Amigya Khurana
Proofreader
Katherine Tarr
Indexer
Monica Ajmera Mehta
Production Coordinator
Adonia Jones
Cover Work
Adonia Jones
About the Authors
Darren Schoen has always been passionate about technology. He realized this the first time he logged into Prodigy with his DeskPro (through DOS of course). He has come a long way since those amber screens. Although he spent 16 years in another career, in 2001 he decided to pursue this passion and jumped into the IT field. Today, he is the Director of Technology Infrastructure at Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Ft Lauderdale, FL along with being an official Spice Trainer where he travels around the U.S. educating users on Spiceworks. He is on the board of several organizations, always keeping technology and innovation in focus. If that doesn't keep him busy enough, he is also an active speaker around the U.S. and has written a variety of blogs and articles for many publications. Darren is always plugged in, but when he gets some free cycles, he is known to be an avid gamer, a Doctor Who fan, and enjoys reading Hugh Howey and watching live music. Although technology is his life, he does take time out to watch the moon rise on the beach with his wife, Thais, and walk his Boston Terrier, Rocky.
First and foremost, I would like to thank my wife, Thais, for her unconditional support and understanding while I was writing this book. Next, I would like to thank my family, who has always encouraged me to pursue my wildest dreams, no matter how crazy they sounded at times! I wish to also thank my contacts at Packt Publishing: Amigya Khurana and Ameya Sawant, along with my co-author Nitish Kumar, for such an amazing experience while writing this book. I would like to thank my friends and associates who understood when I had to devote time to this project: Dave Schleuter, Tim Weeks, Ricky Lawton, Peter Sze, and Ruth Hinds.
I want to also thank every user or presenter I have come into contact with the past few years, whether I was attending, presenting, or educating, I have learned something from every one of you.
Lastly, I want to thank everyone at Spiceworks and Spiceworks University because if they didn't create this awesome piece of software, this book would not be possible; the founders of Spiceworks, Scott Abel, Jay Hallberg, Francis Sullivan, and Greg Kattawar; the incredible team at Spiceworks itself (and these are only a few): Jen Slaski, Nicole Tanzillo, Ashley Connell, Jessica Noland, Raychelle Geggatt, Sheryl Floyd, and Todd Dorroca, and the great team of Spice Trainers that have taught me so much, including Bob Beatty, Grey Howe, Justin Davidson, and Philip Moya.
Nitish Kumar is a Wintel Lead at HT Media Ltd. and an independent tech blogger about various technologies. He has been working on several Microsoft technologies and open source solutions (including but not limited to Spiceworks, ManageEngine Products, Zabbix, MS Active Directory, MS Exchange Servers, and so on) for the past eight years, of which the last couple of years have been spent on bringing cost-effective solutions to corporates to simplify their complex requirements and to improve time management for their staff. He is a technology enthusiast and has been an active participant at various corporate events and public webinars. Mobile technologies have been of special interest to him and he has often written about various gadgets and their respective technologies. Nitish holds an MS degree in Software from the JK Institute of Applied Physics and Technology, and his areas of interest include Microsoft technologies, open source software, and mobile gadgets. He occasionally blogs at http://nitishkumar.net and can be reached over e-mail at
A huge thanks to my wife, Pooja, and colleagues for being there, and to my kiddo for enduring through the process of writing this book. Of course, thanks to the whole Spiceworks team and community, especially Jason himself for helping me out for smaller details; this book would not exist without them. Thanks to the team at Packt Publishing for their persistence and patience; it surely was hard to work with a chaotic person like me.
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Preface
Automated network inventory, full self-service help desk, robust reporting, system monitoring and alerts, Mobile Device Management, software and warranty tracking and inventory, dynamic network map and knowledge base, and also the vibrant online community to share/download content and tools are some of the features on system administrators' and IT pros' wish list, which will help them automate and make their daily tasks more efficient. There is a single product that over two million IT pros have installed that does all these and more. No more separate data silos where you have to export/import to see a comprehensive overview. No more having to manually monitor an e-mail box to track user issues. No more installing clients throughout your network to collect even the most basic information from your desktops and servers. If you are struggling with any or all of these challenges, Spiceworks is your solution.
This book provides a walkthrough from installation to configuration of all these topics and more. The screenshots illustrate important areas of the application and guides you throughout. In only an afternoon, you can traverse installation, network inventory, help desk, reporting, and more with the result being a fully