[geeks] documenting the environment

[Brian Dunbar]

Frank Van Damme wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> many of you are probably familiar with the topic of documentation. I
> mean the process of documenting a network of IT environment, including
> servers, routers/switches/firewalls, physical and virtual hardware, ip
> addresses and ranges being used, ports occupied on network hardware,
> SAN, physical locations etc.
> 
> There must be a dozen ways to do this, but I was wondering how people
> cope with this problem in real life , and if some methods turn out to
> work better than others. I am also dreaming of a method allowing me to
> track changes to the documentation as the environment changes/expands.
> 

At the day job we don't have a technical hack for documentation - it's
all been files in a directory.  Lately we switched over to a wiki, which
at least makes it easier to get at and edit.

>From experience - whatever you do, the boss has to be it's cheerleader.
 Time must be built into projects for documentation, and that can't be
negotiable.  If the boss doesn't ask about documentation, it won't get done.

Also from experience - it's better to get something, anything, than
spend years without anything while you fool around with this system or that.


-- 
Brian Dunbar
System Administrator


brian.dunbar at liftport.com
aim: bdunbar1967

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