Asset Inventory Management

Relevant source files

The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:

• README.md
• IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md
• AGENTS.md
• Cargo.toml
• crates/cli/src/main.rs
• crates/error/src/response.rs

Introduction

Asset Inventory Management is a core pillar of the Horizon Configuration Management Database (CMDB) system. It is designed to provide comprehensive visibility into an organization's IT infrastructure by automatically discovering and cataloging hardware assets, software installations, and their complex interdependencies. The system leverages a lightweight, cross-platform agent to ensure high-fidelity data collection with minimal manual intervention.

Sources: README.md:15-18, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:16-19

The primary scope of this module includes hardware discovery, software tracking, relationship mapping, and lifecycle management. It serves as the foundational data layer for other system capabilities such as Network Flow Mapping, Vulnerability Management, and Business Impact Analysis (BIA).

Sources: README.md:44-55, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:280-285

Architecture and Data Flow

The architecture follows a three-tier model where the asset data originates from distributed agents or manual imports, is processed by a central API server, and is persisted in a PostgreSQL database with Redis for caching.

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:45-48, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:104-106

Data Collection Lifecycle

Asset data is collected through several primary mechanisms:

• Automated Agent Discovery: A Rust-based agent (<50MB memory) performs platform-specific scans for CPU, memory, storage, and network interfaces.
• Manual Entry/Import: Support for bulk data ingestion via CSV, Excel, JSON, and XML formats.
• API Integration: RESTful endpoints allow external systems to register or update asset metadata.

Sources: README.md:46-51, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:112-114, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:470-475

Data Model and Schema

The asset inventory is structured around several key entities defined in the database schema. The system distinguishes between "Asset Types" (templates) and "Assets" (instances).

Core Entities

Table	Description	Key Fields
asset_types	Defines categories of assets and their metadata requirements.	name, slug, metadata_schema, icon
assets	The primary record for a hardware or logical asset.	inventory_number, serial_number, status, last_seen_at
asset_relationships	Maps dependencies and connections between assets.	source_asset_id, target_asset_id, relationship_type
asset_history	Maintains a full audit trail of every change to an asset.	field_name, old_value, new_value, actor_id

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:375-410

Relationship Mapping

Assets are not isolated; the system tracks relationships using a directed graph model. This includes identifying the "strength" of a relationship (Strong, Medium, Weak, Unknown).

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:400-405

Agent-Based Discovery

The Horizon Agent is the primary driver for automated inventory. It performs platform-specific detection for Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Collection Modules

1. Hardware Inventory: Enumerates CPU (cores, frequency), Memory (total, slots), Storage (disks, SMART status), and Peripherals.
2. Network Inventory: Captures MAC addresses, interface speeds, and IP address assignments.
3. Software Inventory: Collects installed packages via system managers (dpkg, rpm, brew, chocolatey, winget) and enumerates running services.

Sources: README.md:46-48, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:455-485

Secure Communication

Communication between the agent and the server is secured using mTLS with server-issued certificates. Data is transmitted using compressed Protocol Buffers (Protobuf).

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:112-114, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:490-495

API and Search Interface

The system provides a RESTful API for asset management, supporting standard CRUD operations and advanced search.

Key API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/v1/assets	List assets with filtering, pagination, and sorting.
POST	/api/v1/assets	Manually create a new asset record.
GET	/api/v1/assets/{id}/history	Retrieve the audit trail for a specific asset.
POST	/api/v1/assets/search	Full-text search across metadata using PostgreSQL FTS.

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:390-395, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:415-420

Full-Text Search

Horizon implements a powerful search engine indexed on name, description, serial_number, manufacturer, and model. It supports search result highlighting and autocomplete suggestions.

Sources: README.md:52-53, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:415-420

Audit and History Tracking

Integrity is a strategic goal of the project. Every modification to an asset, whether via agent update or manual edit, is recorded in the asset_history table.

History Metadata

• Actor Types: Identifies if the change was made by a user, agent, system, import, or api.
• Diffing: Stores both old_value and new_value for the specific field_name that was changed.
• Reasoning: Includes an optional change_reason for manual modifications.

Sources: IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:20, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:405-412

Conclusion

Asset Inventory Management in Horizon provides the essential visibility required for modern IT governance. By combining automated agent discovery with rigorous history tracking and relationship mapping, the system ensures that the CMDB remains a "single source of truth" for hardware, software, and infrastructure dependencies. This data serves as the critical input for security compliance, vulnerability correlation, and business continuity planning.

Sources: README.md:23-28, IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md:16-20