RackTrack
RackTrack guide

Turn physical racks into verified infrastructure data.

Capture racks, devices, ports, cables, topology, and audit evidence, directly from physical infrastructure, with one simple phone sweep.

Getting in

Create an organization

Use this the very first time your company touches RackTrack. Whoever creates the organization becomes its administrator, so it is usually the person who will look after the account, invite the rest of the team, and connect it to your other systems. You only ever do this once per company - everyone who joins afterwards uses an invitation (task 2), not this screen.

How to
  1. On the welcome screen, tap Get Started.
  2. Fill in your Email, a Username, your Organization name (this is your company, and it is what your teammates will see), and a Password, which you type twice so a slip of the finger cannot lock you out.
  3. Watch the little meter under the password box as you type. It never nags you with a list - it names the single thing still missing, one step at a time: “Need a digit”, then “Need a special character”, and so on.
  4. When the meter finally reads “✓ Strong password” and the second box reads “✓ matches”, the Continue button switches on.
  5. Tap Continue. RackTrack sends a six-digit verification code to the email address you entered.
  6. Type that code into the six boxes and tap Verify. This proves the email is really yours.
  7. You land on the Waiting for approval screen. Your organization now exists, but a real person still has to approve it before anyone can scan - see task 5 for exactly what that screen is telling you.

The code expires after one minute. Open your email inbox before you tap Continue so you are ready to read the code the moment it arrives. If the minute runs out, tap Resend and use the fresh code straight away.

A password that RackTrack will accept needs all five of these at once: at least 8 characters, one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter, one digit, and one special character (such as !, ? or #). The meter is just checking off that list for you.

Create an organization
The password meter must read “Strong password” before Continue turns on.

Join a team you were invited to

This is how most people join RackTrack. Someone at your company (an administrator) sends you an invite link. You are joining their organization, not starting a new one - so you will not be asked for an organization name.

How to
  1. Open the link the administrator sent you. It shows exactly what you are joining, for example “Join Acme · London as Member”, so you can check it is the right team and the right role before you go any further.
  2. Your email address is already filled in and cannot be changed - the invitation was issued specifically to that address, which is how RackTrack knows the link is meant for you.
  3. Choose a username you will remember.
  4. Create a password - the same five-part strength rule from task 1 applies here.
  5. Tap Join.
  6. That is it. You are signed in immediately and dropped straight onto the scan screen, ready to work.

Each invite link works only once, and stops working after 7 days. If your link has already been used, or it is too old, ask your administrator to send you a fresh one - an expired link cannot be revived.

RackTrack does not send invitation emails itself. Your administrator generates the link and passes it to you personally, so it might reach you by email, by chat, or even read out over a call. If you were expecting an invitation and nothing arrived in your inbox, ask them to send you the link directly.

Sign in

How to
  1. Enter your Username or email and your Password.
  2. Leave the Organization box empty. You will only ever need to fill it in if your username happens to exist in more than one organization - which is rare.
  3. Tap Sign in.

Where you land depends on who you are:

Where you landWho
The Organizations consoleYou are an administrator or the platform owner
The scan screenYou are anyone else

Once you are in, you stay signed in for 30 days, so you will not be typing your password every visit. Losing signal does not sign you out either - RackTrack keeps working in the parts of a datacenter where there is no reception, and syncs back up when you have a connection again.

If you see the words rate_limited, it simply means the app has seen more than ten sign-in attempts from you in a single minute and is asking you to slow down. Wait a full 60 seconds and try again - nothing is broken and your account is not locked.

Sign in
The Organization box is optional - most people leave it empty.

Reset a forgotten password

If you cannot remember your password, you do not need an administrator - you can sort it out yourself from the sign-in screen.

How to
  1. On the sign-in screen tap Forgot password? and enter the email address on your account.
  2. RackTrack emails you a six-digit code. Type it in and tap Verify code.
  3. Now choose what you actually wantYes, change password lets you set a brand-new password there and then.No, take me to the app simply signs you in and leaves your existing password exactly as it was.

Choose No, take me to the app if your password was actually correct and you just mistyped it a couple of times. This signs you straight in, so you do not have to invent and remember a brand-new password.

Your code lasts for one minute only, and the timer does not pause - even while you are sitting on the “Code verified” screen deciding what to do next. Finish resetting your password straight away, or you will need to request a new code.

Reset a forgotten password
RackTrack always says a code is on its way - check your spelling.

You are stuck on Waiting for approval

A brand-new organization cannot scan until the platform owner (the person who manages RackTrack) approves it. This only ever happens once, right after your organization is created. You do not need to do anything - this screen checks automatically every few seconds and lets you straight through the moment you are approved.

Here is what the screen might be telling you, and what to do about each:

What it saysWhat it meansWhat to do
Waiting for approvalNobody has looked at your request yet.Wait. The screen will let you in by itself the moment it is approved.
Request not approvedThe platform owner has declined the request.Contact them to discuss it. Nothing you tap in the app will change this decision.
Organization deactivatedYour organization was switched off after previously being active.Contact the platform owner. It comes back on its own if and when they switch it back on.

Nobody is emailed when you sign up. The platform owner only discovers a pending organization by opening their console and looking. So if you are stuck waiting, the fastest fix is almost always to message them directly and ask them to approve you - do not assume an automatic alert has told them you are there.

Scanning a rack

Find your way around

RackTrack has a small, steady set of navigation that never moves, plus a few extra links that appear only once you have a rack open.

Three tabs sit along the bottom of every screen at all times: HOME, SCAN and PROFILE.

The middle SCAN tab is also the camera shutter. There is no separate round shutter button anywhere on the screen - you press SCAN itself to take the photo. This is the single thing new users hunt for and cannot find, so if you are staring at the camera wondering how to take the picture, that is your answer.

These extra rack links disappear when you refresh the page or start a new scan - that is expected, and it keeps them pointing at whatever you are working on right now. To reopen a rack you scanned earlier, go to Profile → Recent Scans instead - that list never disappears.

Once you open a rack, a navigation bar appears with six sections for that rack: Overview, Ports, Topology, Network, Switches and Drift. On a small screen this bar sits across the top of the result, with the two you'll use least - Network and Drift - tucked behind a More button to keep things tidy.

The Scan tab is where every rack capture starts.

Take a photo the app can read

The quality of your photo decides the quality of your result - a clear photo gives a clean, complete map of the rack, and a poor one leaves devices missing. To make a good photo easy, the camera puts a guide box over the picture and shows one short line of text that tells you the single most important thing to fix right now.

If it saysDo this
“Move closer so the rack fills the frame”Step forward until the rack fills the guide box.
“Move to better lighting”Move yourself, or change your angle, so a bright light behind the rack is no longer washing out the picture.
“Hold steady - keep still for focus”Brace your elbows against your body and wait a beat for the camera to settle.
“Looks great - tap the shutter below”You are ready - take the photo.

The shutter will not fire until all three checks (framing, lighting and steadiness) pass at once. So if tapping SCAN seems to do nothing at all, the app is not frozen - read the hint line, because it is telling you exactly which of the three still needs fixing.

Rules of thumb for a photo that reads cleanly:

  • Stand square to the rack, straight in front of it, not off to one side.
  • Hold the camera level with the middle of the rack, not tilted up or down.
  • Get the whole rack in the frame, from the top rail to the bottom rail.
  • If cables are draped across the front and hide the equipment, take a couple of extra photos from the left and from the right, so the app can see past the bundles.

Scan a rack

This is the core of RackTrack: one photo in, a fully mapped rack out.

How to
  1. Open SCAN.
  2. Choose Camera to take a photo right now, or UploadSINGLE to use a photo you already have saved.
  3. If you are using the camera, line the rack up until the hint reads “Looks great”, then tap the middle SCAN tab to fire the shutter (remember, SCAN is the shutter).
  4. Tap Analyze Rack.
  5. Wait a few seconds. When it finishes you land on the rack's Overview - your photo, with every device boxed and named.

The progress bar is a rough guide to how long scanning usually takes - it is not tracking the exact work happening behind the scenes. It can appear to pause for a few seconds near the end while RackTrack finishes its analysis. That is completely normal, not a freeze.

Scanning the same rack twice costs you nothing. RackTrack recognises when you have handed it an identical photo and instantly returns the earlier result - with any corrections you made last time still applied - instead of doing all the work again.

Upload takes a photo you already have; Camera takes one now.

The app rejected your photo

Before it spends time reading a photo, RackTrack checks that the photo is actually good enough to read. When a photo is too small, too blurry, tilted, or so buried in cables that the equipment is hidden, it stops and offers you two buttons: Retake and Proceed anyway.

MessageWhat it means and what to do
“Please take the photo from the front of the rack…”You are shooting side-on, or it is too dark to make out the rack. Stand square to the front and retake.
“Please upload a clearer photo of the rack…”Fewer than three rack units were readable - usually the rack is too far away. Get the whole rack to fill the frame and retake.
“The image appears tilted…”The camera was not level. Hold it straight and retake.
“This rack is heavily covered by cables…”Cabling is hiding the equipment. Add extra photos taken from the left and right of the rack.
“Camera access denied…”RackTrack has not been given permission to use the camera. Allow camera permission in your device settings, or use Upload instead.

Proceed anyway switches the safety checks off and analyses the photo exactly as it is. If the photo really was bad, the result will show it - devices may be missing, or the rack could even come back empty.

Scan a rack too tall for one photo

Some racks are simply too tall to capture in a single frame without standing so far back that the labels become unreadable. For those, take several photos and let RackTrack stitch them into one.

How to
  1. Open SCAN.
  2. Tap the MULTI tab.
  3. Choose Upload to select your photos.
  4. Tap Select photos and add between 2 and 8 photos that overlap each other, together covering the whole rack from top to bottom.
  5. Tap Stitch & Analyze. RackTrack joins the photos into one tall image and then reads it as a single rack.

Aim for 20–40% overlap between each photo and the next - that shared strip of detail is what lets the app line them up correctly. You do not have to take or select them in order; RackTrack works out the sequence for you.

MULTI mode is for one tall rack. To capture a whole row of separate racks in one go, record a video instead - that is the next task.

MULTI mode. Order does not matter - RackTrack works it out.

Scan a whole row of racks with a video

Instead of photographing racks one by one, simply upload a video panning across the whole row. RackTrack automatically finds each rack in the footage and picks the best frame for each one - the clearest, sharpest shot - then analyses it just like a normal scan. You get full device results for every rack in the row, from a single video.

How to
  1. Open SCANUploadVIDEO.
  2. Upload a steady pan across the row, anywhere from 1 to 120 seconds long. Walk slowly and keep the camera level.
  3. Tap Analyze Rack.
  4. You land on the first rack's results - every device found and labelled, just like a normal scan - and a rack strip now runs across the top of the screen, one button per rack the video found.

Tap any rack in the strip to jump straight to it. As you move between racks, RackTrack keeps you on the same sub-page you were viewing, so you can, for example, compare the Ports of one rack against the next without re-navigating.

VIDEO mode - drop a rack video and let RackTrack pick the best frames.

Scan two racks together

Sometimes you only need a pair of racks tied together, not a whole row - a switch stack and the rack it uplinks to, for example. The Two Racks flow gives you two ways to capture them, so you can pick whichever suits you: one photo of each rack, or a single video panning across both. Either way, RackTrack links the pair into one group you can move between with a tap.

How to
  1. Open SCAN and choose the Two Racks option.
  2. Choose how to capture them: Two photos - take one photo of each rack yourself - or One video - pan slowly across both racks in a single clip. Pick whichever is easier for you.
  3. Tap Analyze Rack. RackTrack analyses each rack exactly as it would a single scan, so each one gets its own full set of devices, ports, topology and report.
  4. You land on the first rack's results, with a rack-switcher strip across the top. Tap either rack in the strip to jump to it - RackTrack keeps you on the same view (Ports, Topology, and so on) as you switch.
  5. Open Combined 2D or 3D to see both racks together in one shared scene - a flat wiring-style diagram in 2D, or a fully interactive scene in 3D - with the cables that run between them drawn in.

Linking a scan to an incident (a support ticket) turns multi-rack off. A ticket is about one specific rack, so when a scan is tied to one, RackTrack analyses only that single rack instead of the group.

The Inter-rack connections panel under the combined view lists every cable that crosses between the two racks - which rack and device it leaves, and where it lands on the other side.

If your two photos turn out to be the same rack photographed twice, RackTrack flags this instead of quietly creating a group of one - so you always know if something needs reshooting.

Add a photo for each rack, then build the combined view.

Using your results

Read the rack overview

Every scan lands you here - this is the results hub, and it is the doorway to every deeper view. Your own photo comes back with a coloured box drawn around each device the app found, and each box carries the device's name.

How to
  1. Tap a box to select that device and see its details.
  2. Tap it a second time to zoom right into it and hide everything else, so you can study just that one device.
  3. Tap Back to rack any time to return to the full picture.
  4. Pinch, scroll, or use the on-screen zoom buttons to get closer. Once you are zoomed in, drag to move around the image.

Empty rack slots, blank panels, and anything RackTrack is not confident about are deliberately left without a box. In other words: no box means there is either nothing there, or RackTrack is not sure enough to guess. This keeps the photo easy to read - every box you do see is something RackTrack is confident about.

From this one screen you can branch out to every other view of the rack - live ports, cable tracing, the 3D map, firmware, change history and the shareable report - all built from this same reading of your photo.

Read the rack overview
Your own photo, with every device the app found boxed and named.

Find a specific port

You often already know which port you need - for example, a ticket might say “port 12 on the top switch.” This task shows you exactly how to find that port on your rack and put your hand on the right socket.

How to
  1. Choose the device from the Device list - or simply tap it in the photo.
  2. Pick the port type: RJ45 (copper), SFP (fibre), Console, or USB.
  3. RackTrack only offers the types that device actually has, showing the count of each - so you cannot pick a type it does not own.
  4. Type the port number you are after.
  5. Tap Find Port.

RackTrack then zooms your photo straight to that exact port and dims everything around it, so the socket you want is the only thing lit up. Tap the picture to cycle between three views: the whole rack, the single device, and the tight close-up of the port. What it tells you about the port:

ReadingWhat it means
StatusConnected (a cable is in it), Empty, or Unknown.
Cable / ColorThe connector type and the cable's colour - genuinely useful when you are trying to follow a run by eye across a messy rack.
Linked endpointWhat is on the other end of the cable, asked of the switch itself rather than guessed from the photo. It is marked LIVE precisely because it was read from the live network.

When the app is not certain, it says so plainly, for example “Not fully sure about this cable (42% confidence)…”. Treat that as an honest hedge: trust your own eyes over a low-confidence reading, and then correct it (the next task) so RackTrack gets it right for you next time.

Device picker
The DEVICE list - every device found on the rack, tap one to select it.
Typing a port number
With U14-SW01 selected: type a port number, then tap Find Port.
Port located
Port 2 found and highlighted, with its status, cable type and colour.

Correct the app when it is wrong

RackTrack does not ask you to trust it blindly. It checks its own work by asking you plain, single questions like “Port 7 on Switch. Right?” with simple Yes / No buttons. Answering No does two good things at once: it fixes your result on the spot, and it teaches the model so it is more accurate on your equipment next time.

The questionAnswer No when…What happens
Port N on <device>. Right?The highlight landed on the wrong port.Type the real port number. The app re-numbers the device and moves the highlight to match.
Cable colour is <colour>. Right?The colour is wrong.Tap the correct colour from the colour options shown.
Detected as <type>. Right?It called a firewall a switch, or similar.Choose the real device type from the list.
Detected N ports. Right?The port count is off.Type the real number. The app re-counts the device and redraws it.

Any value you have fixed is flagged with a “Your correction” badge, so you can always tell your input apart from the app's guess. Your corrections are sticky - RackTrack remembers them and reuses them, so you never have to make the same fix twice for the same rack.

It is worth the ten seconds. A correction fixes your result immediately, and it is also fed back into training so the model steadily gets better at recognising the exact kit you work with.

Correcting a port number does not just rename the socket you are looking at. RackTrack remembers that this device's numbering is shifted, and from then on it always shows you the correct port when you ask for that number again.

Each check is a simple Yes or No - answering No corrects the record on the spot and retrains the model for next time.

Share a result, or open the switch console

At the bottom of every result is a row of buttons. Use these to send your results to someone else, or to connect directly to the switch itself.

Sending the report
Enter a recipient and an optional message, then send the report.
Choosing a share format
Tap Share to choose Teams or Outlook.
Full scan report
The full report for the selected device and port, including drift history.
ButtonWhat it does
ViewOpens the full scan report without leaving the page.
ReportOpens the report so you can view it, with a Download button to save a copy.
ShareSends it out by Teams or Outlook. Your address is remembered so you are not re-typing it every time.
ConsoleOpens a live SSH session to the switch, already focused on the port you were looking at.
FindLook up a different port number, still on the same device you are currently viewing.
New ScanStarts a fresh scan from scratch.

The Console is designed so you do not have to remember switch command syntax. Instead of a blank prompt, it gives you a menu of plain-English questions - pick one and it runs the right command for you. When you are done, tap Done and RackTrack assembles a Port Report with a plain-language verdict, such as “Link is DOWN - no device connected (or cable unplugged at the far end).”

Register the rack in your CMDB

If your organization has connected a configuration database (see task 28), RackTrack quietly compares every scan against it. When it finds a rack your official records have never heard of, it offers to do the paperwork for you rather than making you file it by hand.

How to
  1. After the scan, a message appears: “Rack not registered in CMDB”. Tap Raise Ticket.
  2. RackTrack opens a request that describes everything it found in the rack, and shows you the reference number so you can track it.
  3. Tap Approve to register the equipment.
  4. Successfully registered appears, listing every device, port and cable that was written into your records.

The offer appears once, only on a fresh scan, and only for about half a minute. If you tap Not now, RackTrack will not nag you about it again - but the rack stays unregistered until you scan it again and take the offer.

If no CMDB is connected, RackTrack simply never makes this offer, and your scan is completely unaffected. The feature only exists when there is a database for it to check against.

Going deeper on the equipment

See what is plugged in right now

Every other screen in RackTrack is built from your photo. This one is different. It logs in to the switch over the network and asks the device itself, right now, which ports are in use, which are talking, and which are genuinely free - so the answer is live fact, not a reading of a picture. The moment you open the Ports view a loader ticks up the seconds, so you can see it is really out probing the switch, not stuck.

At the top, an identity card shows the switch's model, firmware, uptime, management address and even its live power draw, with a small “live” dot. Below that, three summary tiles give you the headline numbers:

TileMeaning
In usePorts with a live link, out of the total.
AvailablePorts you can actually plug into today.
IdentifiedPorts where the far-end device announced itself, so RackTrack knows what is on the other end.

This screen can fail even when your scan was perfect - for example if the switch is unreachable from where you are, or its sign-in details have not been saved. That is a network or credentials problem, not a scanning problem, and the loader will turn into a short, readable reason with a Retry button rather than a raw error.

Below that is the faceplate - a picture of the switch's physical ports, laid out exactly like the real device, so a port on your screen sits exactly where it sits on the metal. Each port is colour-coded: green means a device is connected and active (Up), a second colour marks an Uplink (a port carrying traffic for many other devices), and the lightest colour means the port is Free and ready to use. You can filter the list below the faceplate to quickly find the ports you need.

The last good reading is remembered on your device, so the next time you open this view it appears instantly while a fresh read runs in the background. You are never staring at a blank screen waiting.

See what is plugged in right now
The faceplate mirrors the physical front of the switch.

See what is on the end of each cable

How to
  1. Open Ports and choose the Cables tab.
  2. Click any row to expand it into a trace that shows both ends of that cable.
  3. Where a single port feeds a whole downstream network, the trace lists every device sitting behind it, each resolved to the manufacturer that made it - so you can see not just “something is connected” but roughly what is connected.

RackTrack can only see what the switch can see. A patch panel or wall socket has no electronics of its own, so it does not show up here - the cable will appear to run straight from the switch to the device on the other end, as if the patch panel were not there. This is simply how networks work, not a mistake in the app.

Check whether something is reachable

This runs the reachability test from the switch, not from your laptop or phone. That distinction matters: it tests the path your equipment actually takes across the network, rather than the path your phone takes over the office Wi-Fi, so the answer reflects the real world of the rack.

How to
  1. Open Ports and choose the Ping tab.
  2. Type an IP address or a hostname you want to test - for example a device's address.
  3. Tap Ping. RackTrack asks the switch itself to reach that address, and tells you whether it can.

There is a ready-made 8.8.8.8 shortcut chip, so you can test whether the switch can reach the internet without typing anything.

Check whether something is reachable
A quick ping test, run from the switch itself.

Check a switch's firmware

This tells you two things: whether this switch is on the newest firmware the vendor ships, and whether your current version has any known security issues - checked against the vendor's release notes and the NIST National Vulnerability Database.

How to
  1. Open the rack → Switches and pick the switch's tab.
  2. If the card says Not detected, tap Enter make / model and type them in - the lookup needs both to know which product to check.
  3. Open the Firmware tab. If no version is recorded, tap Enter version and type the one the switch is running.
  4. Read the coloured status.
StatusWhat it means
Up to date (green)Your version matches the newest RackTrack could verify from the vendor.
Upgrade available (amber)The vendor ships a newer version than the one you are on.
Couldn't confirm (neutral grey)RackTrack could not read the vendor's latest version this time - it is not telling you that you are current.

The latest version is read live from the vendor's own site, and RackTrack understands version numbers as versions rather than as text - so it correctly knows that 16.12.1 is older than 16.12.10, which a plain letter-by-letter comparison would get wrong.

A grey “couldn't confirm” is never the same as a green “up to date”. It only means RackTrack could not verify the newest version - often because the vendor's page needs a login or blocks automated reading. When that happens, follow the vendor link and check the version yourself.

RackTrack lists any known security issues for your version - for example “4 known security issues were reported (1 critical, 1 high)” - alongside the currency check. It does not tell you whether a model has reached end-of-life. Follow the link to the vendor's own release notes for the full detail behind any issue.

The make, model and version you type here are saved in this browser only. They do not reach the server, your CMDB or your colleagues, and they are lost if you clear your browsing data or move to another device.

Specifications, Firmware and SFP Advisor - one tab per switch.
Your current version next to the newest one the vendor ships.

SFP Advisor

Given the empty SFP slots on your switch, this recommends transceivers that will fit - with a ★ TOP PICK, the price, and a link to buy.

Always check the recommendation against your switch's own compatibility list before you buy. When RackTrack cannot get a definitive answer for your exact model, it falls back to a general catalogue, and a general suggestion may not be the right brand for your particular switch.

It also suggests direct-attach cables (DACs), which replace the transceiver-and-fibre pair entirely for short runs inside a rack and are usually the cheaper choice for connecting two nearby switches.

A top pick, alternatives, and direct-attach cables.

See the rack as a diagram (Topology)

This is RackTrack's Topology view - a diagram of your rack instead of a photo. 2D shows a numbered column of unit slots with every device placed exactly where it sits in the real rack, similar to the paper diagram often taped inside a cabinet door. 3D shows that same rack in three dimensions, which you can drag to rotate and scroll to zoom.

How to
  1. Click any device and the panel below fills in with its details.
  2. Peer chips show which other devices this one connects to. If you see next to a neighbour, that means two separate cables run between them.
  3. The Ports table lists every port on the device: whether it is connected, which cable is in it, and what is on the other end.

The colours are consistent across the diagram:

ColourMeaning
GreenA connected RJ45 (copper) port.
CyanAn SFP (fibre) port.
AmberAn uplink - traffic leaving this rack.
GreyFree.

The diagram is drawn in the background just after a scan finishes, so it can lag by a few seconds behind the rest of the result. If you see “Topology is being prepared”, wait a moment and tap Retry - it is building, not broken.

Every device drawn where it physically sits, with its cables.
The same rack in 3D - drag to orbit, scroll to zoom.

See what the network says about the rack

The scan tells you what is physically in the rack. This view tells you what is electrically alive: which ports are genuinely up right now, which VLAN each one is on, and how many devices are talking through each.

How to
  1. Open the rack → Network.
  2. Check the pill at the top right reads Network View online - that confirms the network source is answering.
  3. Click a device that shows an IP address. Devices marked not in Network View cannot be opened, because the network has no record of them.
  4. Filter a device's ports with Live, Up, Down or All.

Patch panels never appear here. A passive panel has no electronics and so cannot announce itself to the network. Its absence is expected and correct, not a fault.

This view needs a Netdisco server, set up by an administrator. Without one, the page shows “Network view is being prepared” forever - and in that case the message means “not configured”, not “try again shortly”. If you never see it come online, ask your administrator whether Netdisco is set up.

Every device the live network recognises, with its port usage at a glance.

Find out what changed, and when

For a switch RackTrack watches continuously, a background job logs in on a schedule and records the state of every port. Drift is the record of what changed between one reading and the next - the gap between how the rack was left and how it is now. Because it only writes down real changes, you see the moments that mattered instead of a wall of identical readings.

How to
  1. Open Drift. The switch appears at the top with a Streaming / Paused status and a live dot, alongside its model, serial and firmware.
  2. Click the port you care about in the interface grid (each cell is coloured by that port's current state; disabled ports are dimmed).
  3. Open the Specs tab for the port's current values - operational state, admin state, speed, duplex, flow control, medium and description.
  4. Open the Timeline tab and pick a window - 1 hour, 3 hours, 12 hours, 1 day or 1 week. Each tracked value is drawn as coloured segments across time, so a change shows up as a visible seam. This is how you tell a one-off outage from a port that has been flapping for a fortnight.
  5. Open the History tab for the plain-English change log and a “what was this value an hour / a day / a week ago” table.
  6. Need a reading right now? Tap Poll now to trigger an immediate check instead of waiting for the next scheduled pass.
ChangeWhat it usually means
Link went down / came upSomething was plugged in, unplugged, or failed.
Port administratively disabledA person, or a config push, deliberately shut the port.
Speed changed 1 Gbps → 100 MbpsNegotiation dropped - very often a damaged cable or a dying optic.
LLDP neighbour changed: X → YThe important one. The cable now goes to a different device - somebody re-patched it.

Neighbour changes are given their own colour on the timeline, so a re-cable jumps out as a colour change without you having to read a single word.

A silent LLDP neighbour changed is the classic cause of “but it worked yesterday”. If a service broke overnight and nobody admits to touching anything, look here first - the switch remembers the re-patch even when the person who did it does not mention it.

Drift must be set up on the server by an administrator, and today it works with TP-Link switches. A brand-new monitored switch looks sparse at first because the history is built up over several polling passes - that is expected, not broken. If it is stuck on “Waiting for first poll…”, no switch is being monitored yet; ask an administrator to set one up.

Every port at a glance - green is up, red is down.
One port opened up: its state, its timeline, its change history.

Looking things up

Look up a datasheet

Open this from Switches on a rack you have already scanned - pick the switch, then open its Specifications tab. The make and model are usually already filled in from your scan; type them in yourself if a label was unreadable.

How to
  1. Open Specifications.
  2. Type the Make / Vendor and the Model.
  3. Tap Get specifications.

As you type the vendor, pick it from the suggestions rather than typing the whole name freehand. Choosing from the list guarantees the name exactly matches the one RackTrack searches under, which gives you a cleaner result.

You get back the port count, throughput, PoE support, power draw and form factor, along with a link to the vendor's product page so you can read the full datasheet.

Type a make and model to search.
Pulled from the vendor's own product page.

Check any firmware version

This is the same firmware check described under Switches → Firmware - you will find it there once you have scanned a rack. It checks your version against the latest the vendor ships, and flags any known security issues along the way.

How to
  1. Open Firmware Check.
  2. Type the make (suggestions appear as you type), the model, and the current version you are running - for example 16.12.1 or 22.4R3.
  3. Tap Check firmware. The button reads “Checking…” while it works.

You get a single coloured headline that is the whole answer at a glance:

  • “You're up to date.” (green) - you are on the newest version the vendor ships.
  • “An upgrade is available.” (amber) - there is a newer version.
  • “We couldn't confirm the latest version.” (neutral grey) - RackTrack could not read the vendor's latest version this time. This is not the same as a green all-clear.

Open Show details for the version-status card: your current version next to the latest detected, a status pill, and a source link straight to the vendor page the answer came from. If the latest could not be confirmed, ready-made search links give you a one-click path to go and find it yourself.

RackTrack reads the real latest version from the vendor's own site and never invents one. Alongside the version check, it also looks up any known security issues for your version from the NIST National Vulnerability Database. It does not flag end-of-life, and does not show a full changelog. When a vendor's page needs a login or blocks automated reading, RackTrack hands you the real vendor link to check yourself. For full release notes, follow the link to the vendor's page.

Enter a firmware version to check it against the latest release.

Getting help

Ask DOT when you're stuck

DOT is RackTrack's built-in help assistant. Type a problem in your own words - “I can't sign in,” “my scan came back empty,” “how do I export a report?” - and DOT looks for a real, checked answer. Unlike a typical chatbot, DOT is never allowed to make something up: every reply either comes word-for-word from RackTrack's verified knowledge base, or DOT honestly says it does not know and connects you with a person instead.

How to
  1. Tap the floating Assist button on any screen, or open the full-screen Help (DOT) page for a dedicated view with ready-made starter questions.
  2. Type your question in plain English - you do not need exact wording or button names.
  3. Read the small badge under the reply to see exactly how sure DOT is (see the table below).
  4. If DOT cannot help, tap Contact support under its reply. This opens the Contact page with your question already filled in and emails your support team, with replies coming straight back to you.
BadgeWhat it means
Verified answerA word-for-word answer straight from RackTrack's checked knowledge base.
Composed from documentationA short answer written from a few matched, verified entries - never invented.
Not sure yetDOT offers a short numbered list of possible matches; tap the one that fits.
No verified answerAn honest “I don't know” - DOT would rather admit this than guess.

Never paste a real password, API key or other secret into DOT. If you do, it stops immediately and shows a Security notice asking you to change that secret right away - DOT never needs it to help you.

DOT answers the same way for every signed-in user, member or administrator alike. It simply will not guess when nothing in the knowledge base matches your question - an honest “I don't know” beats a confident wrong answer.

You can ask up to 60 questions an hour, which comfortably covers a full troubleshooting session.

Ask DOT anything in plain English - it answers from the verified knowledge base or hands you to a person.

Your account

Reopen a scan you did earlier

Profile holds your account details, and - the real reason you will open it - your Recent Scans.

How to
  1. Open Profile.
  2. Scroll to Recent Scans. Every rack you have scanned is listed here, newest first, each showing its ID, how many devices and units it found, and how long ago you scanned it.
  3. Tap any one to reopen the full result exactly as it was, corrections and all. Show all reveals the older ones further down the list.

This is the way back to a rack you scanned last week or last month. The rack links in the navigation only ever remember your current rack and are cleared when you start a new scan - so Recent Scans is the permanent history, and the navigation is just a shortcut to whatever you are working on now.

What you see here depends on your role. Members see their own scans. Administrators see every scan across the whole organization.

Recent Scans - newest first.

For administrators

Connect your CMDB

Tell RackTrack where your equipment records live, so it can compare what it sees in a rack against what you believe is in that rack. This is done on the Data Sources screen.

How to
  1. Open Data Sources - you will find it in the menu (it is visible to owners and organization admins only).
  2. Tap Add connection.
  3. Give it a Name you will recognise (for example “My ServiceNow Dev”), choose the Type of system, and fill in the sign-in details.
  4. Tap Save & use. The connection is stored and becomes your active source right away.
SystemWhat you need
ServiceNow / CMDBYour instance ID (the part before .service-now.com), a username, a password.
NetBoxThe base URL, and an API token from your NetBox profile.
SolarWinds OrionThe host, a username, a password.
CA / DX SpectrumThe base URL, a username, a password.
Your own SQL databaseA PostgreSQL or MySQL connection string.
Your own REST APIA base URL, and a token if it needs one.

There is no “Test connection” button - saving is the test. Watch the message that appears right after you save. If the credentials are wrong, that is where RackTrack tells you.

Only one connection is active at a time, and every screen reads from that one active source. Switching the active connection switches the source of all your data at once - RackTrack does not merge two systems together. This makes it easy to keep, say, a “Dev” and a “Prod” connection saved and flip between them, but it means there is only ever one source of truth at any moment.

Credentials are stored encrypted and are never shown to you again - not even masked. When you edit a connection the fields open empty; leave a field empty to keep the saved value, or type a new value to replace it. That is also the clean way to rotate a password.

For a ServiceNow source, an active connection shows a Refresh data from this source button that pulls the latest incidents on demand. And separately from these personal connections, an organization admin can set one shared credential per system for the whole organization in the admin console, so every member's scans reconcile against the same source without each person configuring it.

Connections list
Every saved connection - only one is Active at a time.
Connect your CMDB
The fields change to match the system you pick.

Add people to your team

RackTrack is arranged in three layers: an Organization (your company) contains Sites (your buildings), and each site contains Members (your people).

How to
  1. Open the console, find the Site row you want, and tap Invite.
  2. Enter the person's email and pick their Role - Member or Site Manager.
  3. Tap Create invite link, then Copy.
  4. Send them the link yourself, by email or chat.

There are two ways to bring someone in:

MethodHow it worksUse it when
InviteRackTrack generates a link; the person sets their own username and password.The normal case - nobody has to share a password.
+ Add memberYou set their username and password yourself and hand them over.A shared or contractor account, or someone with no reachable email.

RackTrack does not send the invitation for you. If you do not copy the link and send it, nothing reaches the person. Each link works once and expires after seven days.

The console doubles as a filter. Click any person to narrow the scans grid to just their work, or click a site to narrow it to that site.

Add people to your team
People, sites and scans in one console.

Approve a new organization

When a new company signs up, it appears under Pending approvals and cannot use the app until you act.

ButtonWhat happens
ApproveThey get in immediately - their waiting screen lets them through on its own.
RejectThey are told the request was not approved, but their account survives.
RemoveThe organization and all its people, sites and invitations are deleted permanently.

Remove cannot be undone. Reject is the reversible choice - use it unless you are absolutely certain you want the organization gone for good.

Nobody emails you about a pending signup. You only find out by opening this console and looking, so make a habit of checking it - a new customer could be sitting on the waiting screen right now.

Sell surplus gear

How to
  1. Open Marketplace and tap + Sell something.
  2. Type the Vendor and Model - the listing title fills itself in.
  3. Choose a Category and Condition.
  4. Set a Price, or leave it blank so buyers see Make an offer.
  5. Upload a photo (JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 8 MB) and wait for Photo ready.
  6. Tap Publish listing.

There is no checkout and no messaging inside RackTrack. A buyer contacts you through your username, and the two of you agree price and shipping between yourselves.

Use Post a want for equipment you are looking for, so colleagues sitting on decommissioned kit can find you.

Browse listings, search partner marketplaces, or switch to Wanted.
Connect partner accounts to cross-post listings or push announcements.

Reference

Where each screen gets its data

Some screens read your photo, some read the live network, one is owner-only training, and one is a demonstration with invented data. Knowing which is which saves you from acting on the wrong thing.

ScreenSourceNeeds setting up?
Scan · Overview · Find a portYour photo, analysed by RackTrack.No
Topology · 3D viewsYour photo - the devices and cables it found.No
Switches · Firmware · SpecificationsYour photo for the model, then the vendor's own public site for specs and the latest firmware version.No
Ports (live switch)The switch itself, over SSH, right now.Yes - switch credentials
Drift / Port historyThe switch itself, polled by a background job on a schedule (about once an hour by default).Yes - a monitored switch (TP-Link)
Network viewNetdisco, your network discovery server.Yes - a Netdisco server
CMDB registrationYour configuration database, chosen on the Data Sources screen.Yes - a connected CMDB
MarketplaceRackTrack's own records. Real listings.No
/demo/topologyA demonstration. The racks, devices and IPs on that page are invented to show what an estate-wide view looks like.No - but it is not your data

Troubleshooting - find your symptom

#### Getting in

SymptomCauseFix
Stuck on Waiting for approvalYour organization is not approved yet.Tell the platform owner directly - they are not emailed about it.
You see rate_limitedToo many attempts in a minute.Wait 60 seconds.
“This account has been deactivated.”An administrator switched you off.Contact your administrator.
The six-digit code does not workIt expired - codes last one minute.Tap Resend and use the new one at once.
Your invitation link failsIt has been used, or is over seven days old.Ask for a fresh invitation.

#### Scanning

SymptomCauseFix
Tapping SCAN does not take the photoThe three quality checks have not all passed.Read the hint under the guide box and fix the one thing it names.
No shutter button on a big screenThe shutter is the bottom SCAN tab, which does not exist on a large screen.Use Upload on a tablet or computer.
Devices missing from the resultPhotographed at an angle, or cables hide them.Retake square-on; add side photos.
The rack came back emptyA bad photo was pushed through with Proceed anyway.Rescan properly.
Progress sits at 88%Normal - the bar is an estimate, not a measurement.Wait.

#### The live switch screens

SymptomCauseFix
“The switch didn't respond”You are not on the same network as the switch.Get off guest Wi-Fi and onto the right network.
“Lost the SSH session”Most switches allow one session at a time and someone (or a background read) has it.Tap Retry in a moment.
Network view never loadsNo Netdisco server is configured.Ask an administrator. It will never load without one.
Drift says “Waiting for first poll…” foreverNo switch is being monitored.Ask an administrator to set one up.
Drift looks sparse on a new switchHistory builds up over several scheduled polls.Give it time, or tap Poll now to add a reading.
A free-looking port says ReservedIt has a description, so somebody has claimed it.Check with the switch's owner before taking it.

#### Data that looks wrong

SymptomCauseFix
A switch shows Not detectedThe label was unreadable in the photo.Type the make and model in yourself.
“Couldn't confirm the latest version”RackTrack could not read the vendor's newest version. This is not “you are current”.Follow the vendor link and check the version yourself.
A cable seems to skip a patch panelPassive panels are invisible to the switch. Physics, not a bug.Nothing to fix.
The make/model you typed vanishedIt was saved in that browser only.Re-enter it. It does not travel between devices.

Glossary

TermPlain meaning
U / rack unitThe standard height slot in a rack. A 42U rack has 42 slots.
CMDBYour official record of what equipment you own and where it is.
Data SourcesThe screen where you connect RackTrack to your CMDB and other systems, and choose which one is active.
DriftThe gap between what your records say and what is actually there - or what changed on a port since RackTrack last looked.
LLDPHow a device announces itself to its neighbours. It is how RackTrack knows what is on the far end of a cable.
MAC addressThe unique hardware address of a network card. Seeing one on a port means something is alive there.
SFP / SFP+ / QSFPSlots that take a plug-in transceiver, usually for fibre. SFP+ is 10G; QSFP is faster.
DACDirect-attach cable - transceivers built into both ends. Cheaper than optics for short runs.
Firmware currencyWhether a device is on the newest firmware the vendor ships, and whether that version has any known security issues. RackTrack does not flag end-of-life.
PoEThe switch powering a device through the same cable that carries its data.
VLANA logical network. Two devices on one switch but different VLANs cannot talk directly.
UplinkThe port carrying traffic out of this switch to the rest of the network.

Limits and timings

ThingLimit
Photo or video upload size340 MB per file
Photos in a MULTI stitch2 to 8
Video length1 to 120 seconds
Scans per minute20
Sign-up and password-reset codesExpire after 1 minute
Invitation linksSingle use · expire after 7 days
How long you stay signed in30 days
How often drift polls the switchOn a schedule - about once an hour by default
Manual Poll now presses5 per minute
Marketplace photoJPG, PNG or WebP · up to 8 MB