Guide
Record a server as an asset and link it to its database and application
Step by step to record a physical server with its inventory number and link it to the database and application that run on it. Afterwards the device data and its dependencies are on one page.
8 min read
Guide
Prepare devices for the assignment: relations and network identifiers
How to connect devices to services, store network identifiers such as hostname or IP address so monitoring and interfaces recognize them, and use columns, sorting and CSV in the configuration management tables.
7 min read
Guide
Link the maintenance contract on a system: accept the suggestion from the reference
How to turn the maintenance contract reference on a server, storage or network device into a real contract link with one click, and then see supplier, term and notice date right on the system.
4 min read
Guide
Get warned before a system's end of support and end of life: maintain the dates, open the warning, choose the e-mail
Step by step to timely warnings for servers, databases and other systems: enter the end of vendor support and the end of life on the system, open the warning in the bell and decide whether and when the e-mail comes.
7 min read
EOL and legacy register
Guide
Request continued operation of a legacy system: exception with risk assessment
Step by step to a request in the EOL/legacy register: pick the system, record the reason and compensating controls, and rate the risk of continued operation with and without controls.
7 min read
Guide
Approve or reject exceptions for legacy systems: depending on residual risk
How to decide as the second person on a request in the EOL/legacy register: from the bell to the request, confirm the residual risk, give a reason from level high, or reject with a reason.
6 min read
Guide
Reassess approved exceptions and maintain the modernization plan
What to do when the risk of a legacy system changes: reassess the exception, prove the history of versions and decisions, maintain the modernization plan and close the exception.
7 min read
Guide
Evaluate the EOL/legacy register: add missing assessments, filter, export
Add missing risk assessments to older exceptions, filter the register by state and residual risk, export the selection as CSV for audits and understand the read-only role.
6 min read
Data model and classes
Documentation
Understand the configuration data model: classes, fields, relation types
What the configuration data model defines, where to view and change it, and how classes, fields, required data and relation types work together.
6 min read
Guide
Derive a class from a standard class: adjust fields, required data and required relation
How to create a new class from a standard class such as server in one step and adjust fields, required data and required relations before creating it.
7 min read
Guide
Create your own class without a template: required core fields and custom fields
How to create a brand-new class such as load balancer, make criticality required and add your own choice field.
5 min read
Guide
Create your own relation type: direction, allowed classes and effect on outage assessment
How to create your own relation type such as replicates to, name both reading directions, limit the allowed classes, decide on the effect on outage assessment and recognize delete protection.
7 min read
Guide
Record a system by the class rules and connect it: required data, relations, further relations
How to record a system of your own class, read the collected message about missing required data and connect the system to other objects under the relation rules of the classes.
8 min read
Guide
Change a field later and read the model history
How to change the label and choices of a field after creating it, see beforehand how many objects are affected, and trace every change in the model changes tab.
5 min read
Guide
Set core fields for all classes: required, hidden, label and default value in one place
How to define once which core fields every configuration item must carry, what they are called and how they are pre-filled, and how single classes deviate from that.
5 min read
Software inventory
Guide
Import the software inventory: record installed and used software
Step by step to the software inventory: open the Software tab, prepare and import the inventory list, correct rejected rows and read in the list when a program was last found and last used.
9 min read
Guide
Check the software inventory: read assignment, version and edition consistently
Step by step check what knooing normalises during the import: find and resolve uncertain assignments to applications, read version and edition with their labels and re-import after a change of the version catalogue.
9 min read
License position
Guide
Balance device licenses: import installations, add a lot, keep it current
Step by step to a license position for software licensed per device: import installations from an inventory list, read the hint about missing licences, add a lot, correct a wrong quantity and reconcile uninstalled software.
10 min read
Guide
Balance named user licenses: import people and reconcile with the full list
Step by step to a license position for software licensed per person: add a lot with the named user metric, import the assigned people from a file and reconcile them with the current full list.
7 min read
Guide
Balance cores and other metrics: record consumption as a reading
Step by step to a license position for licenses by cores, processors, nodes or data volume: add a lot, record the reading and understand why a value above the threshold only counts after approval.
7 min read
Guide
Approve or reject a reading: the four-eyes principle for values above the threshold
Step by step for the second person: open the notification about a reading above the threshold, check the value, approve it or reject it with a reason and look up the decision under recently decided.
6 min read
Guide
Evaluate the license position: overview, states and audit evidence
Step by step to an evaluation of all licenses: refresh the overview, read the states, understand early warnings, find missing data and store a fixed state as audit evidence.
7 min read
Guide
Use license early warnings: spot scarce and expiring licenses in time
Step by step to timely purchases: open the notification about an early warning, read the warning in the license position, buy more licenses when they run short and extend an expiring license with a follow-up lot.
8 min read
Guide
Create audit evidence: generate, read and hand over a license report for an audit
Step by step to evidence for a license audit: generate an unchangeable report for one program, read its content, download it and record the checksum that lets anyone verify later that it is unchanged.
8 min read
Guide
Find audit evidence again: present an earlier license report unchanged
Step by step to earlier evidence: list the reports of a program, open the report of the requested day and download it again, compare the checksum and add today's state next to it.
6 min read
Guide
Record concurrent user licenses: add the entitlement and compare the peak
Step by step to a license position for users who work at the same time: add an entitlement lot with the concurrent user metric, enter a reading by hand and compare the peak with the entitlement.
6 min read
Guide
Import concurrent user readings: reading file or session log
Step by step to an import from the license server: choose the source, load a file with readings or a session log and check how the peak in the license position changes.
6 min read
Guide
Evaluate concurrent user licenses: reference period, sources and audit evidence
Step by step to an evaluation of concurrent use: show the peak of a product, choose the reference period, trace the sum of the sources, create audit evidence for the vendor and spot overuse.
6 min read
Guide
Revoke wrong readings: one by one or as a whole delivery
Step by step to correcting concurrent use: revoke a wrong reading or a whole delivery with a reason and look up in the history what was revoked.
4 min read
Software authorization
Guide
Maintain the authorization list: allow, restrict or forbid software
Step by step to your own list of allowed and forbidden software: open the Autorisierung tab, allow an approved program, forbid all other programs of that kind, allow software only with approval and check the effect in the Software tab.
9 min read
Guide
Detect and report new software: import the inventory list, open the notification, choose the e-mail
Step by step to having knooing report new unauthorized software at once: import the current inventory list, open the notification in the bell and decide whether and when the e-mail comes.
7 min read
Guide
Handle findings of unauthorized software: take over, decide, have it removed
Step by step from a reported finding to a closed case: view the open findings with device and version, take one over, confirm it or close it as no violation and reconcile with a complete list after the software has been removed.
9 min read
Guide
Detect unlicensed software: resolve programs without a license and license overdeployment
Step by step to software that lacks licenses: open the hint in the license position, read the license findings in the Autorisierung tab, add lots for licensed programs and close free programs as no violation.
9 min read
SBOM and libraries
Guide
Import an SBOM: attach a software bill of materials to a system
Step by step to SBOM management: open the SBOM tab, choose the system, import a CycloneDX or SPDX file, read the result, check the component inventory and add further systems.
8 min read
Guide
Find affected systems: search by library and version when a vulnerability is reported
Step by step from a security advisory to the list of affected systems: search for the library, narrow the affected versions with a range and read for every hit whether it is an asset and which service runs on it.
6 min read
Guide
Update an SBOM: import the new state and read the import history
Step by step after an update: import the new SBOM for the same system, check with the reverse search that the system is no longer affected and prove in the import history which file was imported when.
5 min read
Disposal with certificate
Guide
Dispose of a server or other system: submit the certificate for review
How to dispose of a server, storage system or other configuration item with a certificate: open the system in the inventory, choose Entsorgen and submit the details and the file of the erasure or destruction certificate.
4 min read
Guide
Review a disposal certificate: approve it or reject it with a reason
How to review an erasure or destruction certificate as the second person: from the bell to the review, check the certificate against the item, confirm all five checkpoints and complete the disposal or reject it with a reason.
7 min read
Guide
Evaluate disposal certificates and document legacy disposals afterwards
How to keep track of all erasure and destruction certificates: filter reviews by status, export them as CSV and document items that were disposed of without a reviewed certificate.
6 min read
Baselines and point-in-time view
Guide
Take and open a baseline: record the state of all systems
Step by step to take a baseline of the configuration inventory before you change something, and to open it later to see which details and relationships were recorded back then.
5 min read
Guide
Compare two states of the inventory: what changed since a baseline
Step by step to compare a baseline with a second baseline or with the current state and see which systems were added or are missing and which details and relationships changed.
5 min read
Guide
Compare the inventory before and after a change: use the automatic baselines
How knooing takes a baseline before and after every change by itself and how you see with one click what the change actually altered in the inventory.
5 min read
Guide
View a system at an earlier point in time: details and relationships back then
Step by step to show the state of a system at any point in time, with all details and the relationships valid back then, and to see how reliable the answer is.
5 min read
Costs and TCO
Guide
Read the costs and TCO of a system: acquisition, maintenance, licence and operations at a glance
Step by step to the total cost of a server or storage system: open the system in the inventory, read the costs and TCO table for the current year and the useful life, and check the contract shares.
8 min read
Guide
Add missing cost data: complete the TCO of a system
Step by step to a complete TCO: read the yellow notice in the costs and TCO section, enter annual cost and cost type on the contract, record acquisition data and own operating costs, and check that nothing is missing any more.
9 min read
Guide
Allocate costs: asset costs per service or organisational unit, with CSV export
Step by step to the cost allocation of a calendar year: open the costs and TCO tab in the inventory, read the costs per service, check the itemised list, allocate by organisational unit and download the result as CSV.
8 min read
Device management (MDM)
Guide
Register your device management (MDM) as a source and get the template
You set up your device management as a source once. You register the source, set how often it delivers and download the template with the MDM columns.
6 min read
Guide
Import MDM data and link it to your devices
You import the export of your device management as a file. The preview shows which device is linked via its inventory number, and you can undo a wrong delivery.
9 min read
Replacement and stock planning
Guide
Evaluate the replacement budget: sums per year and currency, spotting gaps
Step by step to the replacement budget of the coming years: open the refresh planning, read the sums per budget year and currency, recognise incomplete years and see which devices make up a sum.
9 min read
Guide
Plan replacements and fill in missing details: cost estimate, currency and planned replacement
Step by step to a complete replacement budget: show the objects without a cost estimate, enter the estimate with its currency, set a planned replacement and plan devices without a date.
9 min read
Guide
Set stock targets and spot understock: target, reserve and rating
Step by step to a stock that fits demand: set a target per class, enter target, reserve and threshold, and read understock and overstock in the refresh planning.
7 min read
Stock-take and annual coverage
Documentation
Stock-take: count the inventory, resolve deviations, prove annual coverage
Overview of the stock-take in knooing: how an inventory round works, how you capture codes with a hand scanner, camera, RFID or NFC, what each result means and how you prove the annual coverage.
6 min read
Guide
Creating an inventory round: classes, location, due date and yearly repetition
Step by step to your first inventory round: open the stock-take tab, choose classes and location, set due date and repetition, and start the round.
5 min read
Guide
Recording devices in a stock-take: type the code or read it with a hand scanner
Step by step to record devices in an inventory round: open the round, choose the location, capture codes by keyboard or hand scanner and read each result correctly.
6 min read
Guide
Stock-take with a smartphone: read barcodes and QR codes with the camera
Step by step to count with a smartphone: bring the round to the phone with a QR code, read labels with the camera and use a photo of the label when no camera is available.
5 min read
Guide
Stock-take with RFID and NFC: read many tags at once
Step by step to count with an RFID reader, import a reader file and read NFC tags with a smartphone, without repeats counting twice.
5 min read
Guide
Closing an inventory round and recounting missing devices
Step by step to close an inventory round: confirm the close, read missing devices and open cases, and recount them with a follow-up round.
5 min read
Guide
Resolving stock-take cases: apply the location, assign the code, resolve
Step by step to work through the cases of a stock-take: filter the list, apply wrong locations or book returns, assign unknown codes to a device and close the remaining cases with a justification.
6 min read
Guide
Planning the annual stock-take and proving coverage: what was confirmed in twelve months
Step by step to check the annual coverage and file it, manage the recurring round and set up the reminders for due and overdue stock-takes.
6 min read
Acquisition, book value and sustainability
Guide
Record acquisition and book value of a system: price, useful life and straight-line depreciation
Step by step to record purchase price, purchase date, useful life and residual value of a server and read the estimated book value that knooing calculates from them on a straight-line basis. Including special cases and the change history.
7 min read
Guide
Record the sustainability of a system: energy, CO2e and reuse with a source
Step by step to record energy consumption, CO2e footprint and reuse of a server, upload the source document directly and set the collection date. Plus a completed reuse on a disposed system.
8 min read