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Ralph provides complete asset lifecycle management for both data center and back office equipment. Track purchases, warranties, depreciation, and locations in a single unified platform.

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Overview

Asset Management in Ralph enables you to:
  • Maintain a complete inventory of all IT assets
  • Track asset lifecycle from purchase to liquidation
  • Manage asset assignments to users and locations
  • Monitor depreciation and warranty periods
  • Generate detailed asset reports and analytics

Data Center Assets

Servers, racks, network equipment, and infrastructure components with detailed specs and location tracking

Back Office Assets

Laptops, desktops, printers, mobile phones, and accessories assigned to users

Asset Models

Organize assets by manufacturer models with shared specifications and properties

Lifecycle Tracking

Monitor assets through purchase, deployment, maintenance, and retirement phases

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Asset Types

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Data Center Assets

Data center assets include physical hardware deployed in server rooms and racks:
  • Servers - Blade systems, rack servers, tower servers
  • Network Equipment - Switches, routers, load balancers
  • Storage - SAN, NAS, and storage arrays
  • Accessories - Patch panels, PDUs, KVM switches
Each data center asset can be positioned in racks with specific U-level positioning and visualized on the DC floor plan.

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Back Office Assets

Back office assets are equipment assigned to individual users:
  • Laptops and desktop computers
  • Mobile phones and tablets
  • Printers and scanners
  • Monitors and accessories
  • Access cards
These assets can be assigned to users and tracked through various statuses like “in use”, “loan”, “in service”, or “liquidated”.

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Key Features

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Asset Models

Models help you organize multiple identical devices efficiently:
  1. Create Model - Define manufacturer, category, and specifications
  2. Set Type - Choose between data center or back office
  3. Reuse - All assets of the same model share common properties
Define models for your most common equipment types first. This makes adding new assets much faster - you only need to enter the barcode and assignment details.

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Required Fields

To add a new asset to Ralph, you need:
  • Model - The device model (can be created on-the-fly)
  • Barcode or Serial Number - Unique identifier
  • Service Environment - The service and environment (prod/test/dev) this asset supports

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Service Environment

Service Environment groups assets by their business purpose:
  • Service - Business function (e.g., “Load Balancing”, “Email Systems”)
  • Environment - Deployment stage (production, testing, development)
  • Owners - Business and technical owners responsible for the service
  • Support Team - Team managing the infrastructure
Service Environments are used throughout Ralph for organizing assets, generating reports, and controlling access permissions.

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Asset Properties

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Core Information

  • Inventory Number - Internal tracking ID
  • Hostname - Network hostname
  • Status - Current lifecycle status
  • Owner/User - Person responsible or using the asset
  • Warehouse/Location - Physical storage location

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Financial Information

  • Order Number - Purchase order reference
  • Invoice Date & Number - Purchasing details
  • Price - Purchase price and depreciation
  • Budget Info - Cost center and budget allocation

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Technical Details

  • Model - Hardware model and specifications
  • Serial Number - Manufacturer serial
  • Firmware Version - Current firmware/BIOS version
  • Configuration Path - Configuration management tool integration

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Inventory Management

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Warehouses

Ralph supports multiple warehouses for storing assets:
  • Track assets before deployment
  • Enable stock-taking processes
  • Manage asset transfers between locations
  • Generate warehouse inventory reports

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Stock-Taking

Simplify physical inventory verification:
  1. Enable stock-taking for a warehouse or region
  2. Users review and confirm their assigned equipment
  3. System records confirmation tags and timestamps
  4. Export reports for audit compliance
Users can self-report their equipment status through the “My Equipment” view, dramatically reducing the time required for inventory audits.

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Asset Hierarchy

Ralph supports parent-child relationships for complex configurations:
  • Blade Server → Blade Chassis
  • Virtual Machine → Hypervisor
  • OpenStack VM → OpenStack Tenant
  • Disk → Storage Array

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Custom Fields

Extend asset records with custom metadata:
  • Define custom fields for any asset type
  • Support for strings, integers, dates, URLs, and choice lists
  • Use as configuration variables for automation tools
  • Filter and report on custom field values
See Custom Fields for detailed configuration.

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Bulk Operations

Perform actions on multiple assets simultaneously:
  • Bulk status changes
  • Mass assignment to users or locations
  • Batch export to Excel or CSV
  • Multi-asset transitions and workflows

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Integration

Asset data integrates with:
  • Licenses - Track software licenses assigned to hardware
  • Supports - Vendor support contracts linked to assets
  • Networks - IP addresses and network configuration
  • Configuration Management - Puppet, Ansible integration via API
  • DCIM - Physical location and power management

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Reporting

Generate comprehensive reports:
  • Asset inventory by location, service, or status
  • Depreciation and financial summaries
  • Upcoming warranty expirations
  • Asset assignment history
  • Custom reports via REST API

Next Steps

Learn how to visualize your data center assets in Data Center Management

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