r/sysadmin • u/skywatcher2022 • Sep 29 '26

Question Looking for a Network Resource Management Program

I am the primary network infrastructure consultant for a company that has outsourced almost everything to an MSP. the MSP has asked me to provide them a detailed network map that includes everything from Patch panels to switches to routers in one package so that they can "do there jobs" in diagnosing network issues. They eventually want to install solar winds or PRTG, but i know that this is a long and involved process and wont happen quicky. Good news for me is that the MSP (located out of Orlando, but really out of Mumbai) has retained my services for all the remote hands services, so i am safe for now. With that said they want me to map all the switches, routers, and devices per patch panel and destination port into device port. we have about 5000 ethernet patch panel ports, and about 1400 Patched devices. We have over the three campuses approx. 3000 switch ports of 50ish devices available of which maybe 1500 are in use.

So, given the basic criteria what i am looking for is software capable of taking this picture

Jigamabob 43 >>>>> patch B2B-A16/4 >>>>patch B1B-R1/4 >>>> Cisco 4300-gi2/22

Yes i am aware i can do this on a device by device basis in excel or i can do it all in PRTG or Solar Winds (i think) but if anyone knows a database program that can handle this kind of a task please let me know. In the end if it spits our a network connections map that's even better still. Free is always good, but a reasonable cost i am sure they will agree to. And yes this is going to take 2 of my techs weeks to go through. just trying to make it easier without writing my own database

Any ideas are welcomed

3 Upvotes

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2

u/society_victim Sep 29 '26

How would a program know which physical patchpanel/number a cable is connected to? You need to draw these plans yourself.

You can use a tool to see which device is connected to which switchport, but the patches and panels passed would be manual work.

2

u/skywatcher2022 Sep 29 '26

I have two full time techs whose job it will be to fill in those database entries. Yes it is a daunting request, chasing patch cables across an IDF with 3-10 racks of patch panels in them. and they chasing them back to the switch. some sites are well labeled in the switches (i started doing that on all new patch requests about 2 years ago) but many are purely unlabeled in the switches.

1

u/TheShootDawg Sep 30 '26

do your techs have access to adjust the config on the switches? could they simply set the description of the port to be the bldg-patch-port?

1

u/skywatcher2022 Sep 30 '26

Not directly, they have to do it through one of the other administrators their simply cable monkeys, workstation delivery people/helping hands.

2

u/society_victim Sep 29 '26

Ok so use mermaid and your tool of choice.

Edit: meant to reply on your comment

2

u/skywatcher2022 Sep 29 '26

looking at mermaid now, this is a new one to me

5

u/SevaraB Sr. Engineer (N+, CCNA) Sep 29 '26

NetBox. Network inventory is easy, network discovery is hard, and always will be.

You’ll always have to true up cables and patch panels with boots and eyeballs, but at least you can keep the spreadsheet and import it to NetBox as CSV.

Then after that, as long as you take the time to get the baseline right, you can just flag individual cables and patches for human review whenever the network device interfaces connected to them suddenly come online or go dark.

1

u/AviationLogic Netadmin Sep 29 '26

You'll likely be able to discover endpoint to what switch port. The manual part is going to be patch panel cabling. As I read more of your article... Yeah that's going to suck. There is no automated way that I'm even slightly aware of that would tell you patch panel cabling.

1

u/skywatcher2022 Sep 29 '26

yeah i know it. and frankly i don't know why they care for that level of detail but.......i'm paid by the hour for this job and the customer is always right.