NIS Introduction

Note: This software is FREE for personel use.
License: This software is released with license. OSI-Approved Open Source » GNU Library or Lesser General Public License version 3.0 (LGPLv3)
Sourcecode: is available in /var/www/html and /root directory after ISO is successfully installed.

NIS - Server Installation Guide

Windows Cloning & Bulk Deployment over Network Guide

Bulk Windows Image Capturing & Deployment over Network Guide

API Guide - Integration Guide

User Guide

OS Image Capturing Video Tutorial

OS Image Deployment to bulk machines Video Tutorial

Inventory Video Tutorial part 1/2

Inventory Video Tutorial part 2/2

NIS Screenshots and Images

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What is NIS - "Automated" Network Computer Hardware Inventory - Software

NIS Network Computer Hardware Inventory software is a complete server based solution that automatically creates inventory of computer hardware machines (desktops / Laptops / servers machines) without installing any software, automatically prints barcode self adhesive thermal labels and generates comprehensive detailed reports. NIS also able to capture generalized Microsoft Windows image for redeployment to bulk machines over network. Windows Image capturing and deployment and cloning is fully automated. See below general NIS dashboard.

Why NIS differs from other Inventory Software available in the market.

NIS is a true OS less automatic inventory solution. NIS performs automatic inventory regardless of OS whether installed in the inventory item (laptop / desktop / server) or not. Also NIS performs inventory regardless of hard disk drives whether installed in the inventory item (server / laptop / desktop) or not. NIS is also capable of capturing generalized windwos image for deployment to bulk machines. NIS can deploy captured windows images to large number of machines currently. See below windows image capturing dashboard.

NIS is a server / network solution, server is the intelligent brain that does all the inventory, image capturing and image deployment tasks automatically over the network.

NIS is unqiue and differs amongst all inventory software. Almost all the other inventory software available in the market requires an operating system installed on the inventory item (laptop / desktop / server) and some also requires a probe software to be installed on the inventory item that collects data and reports back to the server. Some software utilizes SNMP or WMI interface to gather hardware component information from the workstations. But NIS is a unique computer inventory solution that works out of the box, no software installation is required at all. NIS does not utilize any probes and does not utilize SNMP or WMI protocols. NIS also works out of the box and does not even require the Hard Drive to be present in the workstation. Also works without any storage devices attached to the workstations.

Best of the all NIS - "Network Computer Hardware Inventory Software" collects all the information from inventory items, stores it in a database and automatically prints a self adhesive thermal label for each inventory item. NIS is a multi tasking system. It allows you to connect multiple inventory items (desktops / servers / laptops) to the network to be processed concurrently. NIS provides access to performance metrics, graphs and large number of reports regarding inventory, machines, hardware, os capturing, os deployment, list of software installed in each machine and etc,. See below an example of Image capturing detail dashboard in progress.

For example if you have connected 100 inventory items (laptops / desktops / servers) to the NIS network and booted all into PXE, NIS will collect hardware information from all 100 inventory items (laptops / servers / desktops) concurrently and will also print self adhesive labels concurrently for all 100 at the same time. If you wish NIS to install Windows 10 Professional on all 100 machines, it is also capable of installing Windows to all 100 machines concurrently. There is no human intervention all tasks are fully automated.

How NIS Works?

Case Scenario 1.

A computer recycling company has received approximately 2,000 Dell, HP and Lenovo dekstop and laptop computers that needs to be recycled or resold in the market. But before they do anything to this lot, company requires a complete and comprehensive detailed information for each item such as serial number and hardware components installed. Also the company want to know the breakdown of information by components, such as how many workstations with 4GB DDR3 ram, and number of dekstops with 500GB HDDs, number of workstations that has i5 processor and etc., None of the desktops and laptops have any operating system installed. HDDs were wiped cleaned before the systems arrived at the recycling warehouse. Customer also want the ITAD handler to install Windows 10 Professional in all 2,000 machines.

Checking the system health and recording component information from each workstation manually and installing Windows 10 Professional would be an extremely difficult task and it may take several weeks if not months to complete.

NIS is specifically designed to address these issues. If using NIS - Network based Computer Hardware Inventory Software, you may be able to complete creating inventory for all 2,000 systems, including installation of Windows 10 Professional in just less than a day, including breakdown reports, collecting all serial numbers and components installed in each machine.

The question arises, how it is possible to a complete a task in just less than a day that normally takes several weeks to completely manually.

NIS - Network Computer Hardware Inventory Software does all the inventory work for you automatically. All you have to do is to connect the NIS server to an isolated network, connect the ZPL compatible thermal label printer to the NIS server machine, and you are all set to begin automatic network inventory and automatic installation of Windows Operating System..

See below an example of NIS - Automated Network Computer Hardware Inventory Software - network diagram.

Before you begin with automated inventory, initiate the "auto inventory task" from the management console.
You can then connect your inventory items (servers, desktops, laptops) to the network and power-on, boot the workstations into PXE network. Your workstations will boot from the network automatically, will capture all the hardware information and will automatically print the barcode label. Printed barcode labels can then be attached to the inventory items (servers / desktop / laptop). All collected information is automatically stored in a central databases. Once inventory is auto-performed and labels printed, you can remove this workstation and process the next one. The whole process takes approximately 1 minute per machine. After capturing hardware information, NIS prompts you to choose whether you want NIS to install or capture operating system to / from this machine. Please refer to NIS OS Capturing and Deployment guide.

If you attach 100 machines together to the network, all 100 machines boot from the network at the same time; NIS will take approximately 1 - 2 minutes to process all 100 machines concurrently, including installation of Windows operating system. There is no hard limit, theoretically you can attach upto 65,350 machines concurrently to the network and boot concurrently.

See below an example of the workstation booting up from NIS - PXE network and performing the auto-inventory.

Also see below ZPL printing automatically printing the pre-selected self adhesive barcode label. NIS currently supports 6 different size of barcode labels, below 76x25mm label and 102x152mm labels can seen automatically printed.

See below an example of dashboard showing Windows Image Deployment in progress to a machine.

Another example of dashboard showing multiple Windows Image Deployment in progress to several machines.

Another example of dashboard showing multiple Windows Image Capturing in progress from several machines.

Another example of reports showing image capturing details.

Another example of reports showing image deployment details.

102x152mm Label.

Labels can then be attached to the desktop / laptop.

See below various examples of different size of labels.

Label size 50x25mm attached to the workstation

Label size 76x25mm attached to the workstation

Label size 76x50mm attached to the workstation

Label size 76x50mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x50mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x50mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x76mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x152mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x152mm attached to the workstation

Label size 102x152mm attached to the workstation

Once inventory is completed, you can access the detailed reports from the management console.

Example Reports

------- End of Case Scenario 1 ------

User guide is available at following URL.

https://sourceforge.net/p/nis-network-inventory-software/wiki/User%20Guide/

Please stay tuned for
Troubleshooting Guide
FAQ.