We have an internally written app that allows us to either find where in
the data center a server is, or pull up a rack and see what's in it. It
wouldn't be a very big leap to assign each rack a bar code and have an app
(you could even write it as a smartphone app) that scans the bar code and
looks up what's in the rack. Of course, without access to (authentication
is required) the web app front end for the database of what's where, just
scanning the bar code wouldn't get you anything but a rack serial
number...so you don't have to worry about random people scanning the rack
bar code.
BTW...a friend who works for a mostly failed .com patented something like
this some years ago. I think his patent was actually for a system in
which a bar code on the front of a server could be scanned by a portable
device, and you'd get current system health information for that system.
On Wed, 13 Jan 2010, Matt Simmons wrote:
That would be excellent for both the administrator, and anyone walking
down the row with a wand in their pocket.
On Wed, Jan 13, 2010 at 12:21 PM, Barry Shein <b...@world.std.com> wrote:
On January 12, 2010 at 23:03 valdis.kletni...@vt.edu (valdis.kletni...@vt.edu)
wrote:
> On Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:50:37 PST, Bill Stewart said:
> > A password recovery method I've found very frustrating is to use the
> > serial number or similar value that's on a label on the bottom of the
> > equipment.
>
> Related pet peeve: Inventory and asset control people that stick a sticker
on
> hardware and then expect to be able to scan the barcode at a later date.
Works
> fine if the barcode sticker actually ends up facing the front or the back of
> the rack. But occasionally, the sticker ends up stuck on an empty space on
the
> printed circuit board of a upgrade blade that's plugged into a chassis...
>
Sounds like RFID FTW!
Actually, I have no idea if it'd work, maybe someone else does. Seems
like it'd be nice to be able to just wand a rack and poof out comes a
list of everything in it.
--
-Barry Shein
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