Educational institutions, Government organizations, Hospitals etc… are being computerized nowadays. The usage of computers has become more a necessity than a need. The maintenance and security of hardware has become an important aspect for senior management. Considering the security aspects, it is necessary to understand the Application Program Interface, more commonly known as API.
An API is a software-to-software interface, not a user interface. With APIs, applications can talk to each other without any user knowledge or intervention. For e.g., when you buy movie tickets online and enter your credit card information, the movie ticket website uses an API to send your credit card information to a remote application that verifies whether your information is correct. Once payment is confirmed, the remote application sends a response back to the movie ticket website and permits the issue of tickets.
The API supports tasks including reading temperature or voltage sensors built into a processor, configuring hardware registers, accessing system inventory information like model numbers and serial numbers, and performing more complex activities, such as upgrading system firmware or diagnosing system failures. In order to secure the hardware, its details are initially captured into the system. Whenever the computer enters the network, the hardware specs are examined via an API and if there is any change in the hardware, the designated members are given an alert.
The API uses the Media Access Control (MAC) Address to communicate with the nodes in the network. To find the MAC address of your machines follow the steps; Windows key + R key, type cmd and type ipconfig/all and enter. The row named PHYSICAL ADDRESS describes the MAC address of your machine.
In the same way, system details can be collected and whenever any change occurs on a particular node, it can be pointed out and alerts can be triggered to the concerned personals. Moreover, these also can be used for the Maintenance of Assets and to Track Assets.
