This survey should ideally be done through an automated process on a regular 

base to allow history of data. It also can be done as a one time scan for a 

migration purpose. IBM eGatherer technology and the Asset Depot offering can 

help implementation. For more details, see the IBM Redpaper 

Using Asset Depot 

for Inventory Management:

http://publib b.boulder.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/redp3763.html

?Open

Questions to ask in this area are:

What is the hardware you are running on (vendor, type, model)? If this results 

in a large, diversified list, then consolidation is something to consider, 

regardless of which platform you are using.

Is the hardware standardized? If all the machines are the same, then things 

like driver support and software distribution should be relatively simple 

already and will remain so under Linux.

What are the local attached devices currently installed and required by users? 

This includes any type of printers, scanners, and special function keyboards 

required for business types of transactions. It would not include the 

convenience type of hardware an executive gets, just because she is 

important and a nice device needs to sit on her desk.

Is support for Linux included in current requests or proposals to hardware 

vendors when buying hardware?

Which key components of your hardware are currently required by users? For 

example, machines might have sound cards installed, but drivers are not 

installed, because users are not supposed to have sound. Therefore support 

on another operating system is not required as well.

IBM, for example, provides information on supported desktop hardware for their 

current models, so customers can check on both officially supported hardware as 

well as available drivers. Information can be found at:

http://www 306.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR 48NT8D.html

A sample client hardware survey table may look like Table 4 1 on page 41.

40 

Linux Client Migration Cookbook   A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux