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TBC - This document is just starting and being driven by Harry. Roderick and Harry Tin I am sure will have some input. |
In a delivery oriented world, systems often get built without documentation. This happens, especially in smaller IT organizations. Here's the gist (this can be written better),
- Wait too long and you are constantly catching up.
- Use a Knowledge Management System
- This Section Provides a Good Template to Organize Your Information
Without Without proper server documentation, management of a server becomes more onerous and difficult. The documentation should describe what the server is used for, who owns it, the SLAs, and the software and versions it is running. Having a common template makes it easier to fill in the particular attributes of a server. I envision some sort of automated task that would run on every server to collect the requisite details and send them to a common space where the information is aggregated and a server documentation page is automatically generated, It would solved the current problem of missing or outdated information whenever server documentation is prepared manually. It would guarantee consistency and facilitate currency and correctness. The The server documentaion page would also describe the applications, ownership, SLAs and any other pertinent information necessary for it's proper maintenance.
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| Descriptor | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Server Name | the physical name of the server (not the domain name) | |
| Environment | eg. Test, Pre-Prod, Prod, Backup | |
| IP Addresses | ||
| Operating System | ||
| Operating System Version | latest release and patch level | |
| Software1 | ie. Apache Web server | |
| Software1 Version | ie version # | |
| Software1 Instance | multi-instance support, 0,1,2? | |
| SoftwareX | ie. Apache Tomcat server | |
| SoftwareX Version | ||
| Business Continuity | Link Business Continuity Steps |
Hand in hand with the collection of server details, automation could be enhanced to gather status about the the software that is installed on the server such as it's state (running or not running). This information would be sent to a system dashboard where that the information is refreshed on a periodically to provide the foundations of server monitoring. Here is some information that could be collected:
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