Network Inventory Management

A third subcategory within the overall category of infrastructure management tools involves
the processes of discovery and inventory management. For a network management system to
operate effectively, it must utilize an accurate database that lists all the network’s physical
resources, including hardwired sections of the network as well as network elements, and that
provides a full accounting of where and to whom available bandwidth, telephone numbers,
and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are allocated. In a small operation with a few dozen customers,
the network operator may well be able to memorize such information, but in a fully
evolved metropolitan network with hundreds or thousands of customers, that is clearly impossible.
Thus, inventory management software becomes a virtual necessity.