How do you manage software serial keys, licenses, etc?
My company is trying to find a tool that will track serial keys for software we have purchased (such as Office), as well as software that we write and sell.
We want software that will allows us to associate a particular computer with the software on that computer and the serial key(s) and license(s) for that software. We'd also like to track history of the computer, such as when software is removed from a computer and moved to another computer.
I've looked around Google and various software sites, but all of the results I've found are for licensing software and creating serial keys, not managing the serial keys that those tools generate. I know this problem has been solved; many companies license software and keep records of the serial keys they generate. So I'm curious if any of you have solved this same problem without writing your own custom software?
Edit: I forgot to mention, I am not asking about the merits of licensing software -- the software we write is not COTS and purchases are controlled at a contractual level. Still, we need to manage how serial keys are generated.
Answer
Take a look at SpiceWorks:
It does a lot more than just inventory / asset management and is free.