DataCenter Asset Tracker (DAT)

A hardware lifecycle management API that tracks datacenter assets from arrival to disposal, with automated validation checks.

Architecture

POST /assets (register hardware)
        ↓
  Asset: Pending
        ↓
POST /assets/{id}/status → Validating
        ↓
  Hangfire background job
  ├── Ping check (device reachable?)
  ├── Firmware check (approved version?)
  └── Duplicate check (serial/MAC unique?)
        ↓
  Pass → Approved → Deployed → Retired
  Fail → Pending (re-validate after fix)
        ↓
  All transitions logged to AuditLog

Stack

• C# / ASP.NET Core 8 — REST API
• Entity Framework Core — ORM
• PostgreSQL — asset store and audit log
• Hangfire — async background validation jobs
• Docker + Azure Container Apps — deployment
• GitHub Actions — CI/CD

Quick Start (local)

# 1. Clone and start services
docker compose up -d

# 2. API available at
http://localhost:8080

# 3. Swagger docs
http://localhost:8080/swagger

# 4. Hangfire dashboard
http://localhost:8080/hangfire

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/health	Liveness check
POST	/api/assets	Register a new asset
GET	/api/assets	List assets (filter by status, type, location)
GET	/api/assets/{id}	Get asset with audit log and validation results
PATCH	/api/assets/{id}	Update asset metadata
POST	/api/assets/{id}/status	Transition lifecycle status
DELETE	/api/assets/{id}	Retire and remove an asset

Lifecycle States

Pending → Validating → Approved → Deployed → Retired
                ↓
             Pending (on validation failure)

Invalid transitions are rejected with a 400 response.

Validation Checks

When an asset transitions to Validating, three checks run automatically:

• PingCheck — verifies the device is reachable at its registered IP
• FirmwareCheck — compares firmware version against a configurable approved list per asset type
• DuplicateCheck — ensures serial number and MAC address are unique in the catalog

Configure approved firmware versions in appsettings.json:

{
  "ApprovedFirmware": {
    "Server": ["2.1.0", "2.2.0"],
    "NetworkInterface": ["4.5.2", "4.5.3"]
  }
}

Azure Deployment

Set the following GitHub Actions secrets:

Secret	Description
AZURE_CREDENTIALS	Service principal JSON
AZURE_RESOURCE_GROUP	Resource group name
ACR_LOGIN_SERVER	Azure Container Registry URL
ACR_USERNAME	ACR username
ACR_PASSWORD	ACR password

On merge to main, GitHub Actions will build, push, and deploy automatically.