documenting systems....

[Sid Shapiro <Sid.Shapiro@gecapital.com>]

Hello,

Every time I go to a new job I have the need to document the configuration
of the systems under my control. I've done this in a number of ways over
the years, but I've never been entirely happy with any of the ways. I've
done it in databases with tables for different types info - disk, tape, cpu,
etc, I done similar things in flat files using the file system hierarchy as
part of  the "schema". I've done it in spreadsheets, I've toyed wth the
idea of hypertexted tables with visio or image maps of the systems and/or
racks and card-cages, but nothing seems satisfactory.

The idea would be to capture as much info on a system as possible -
hardware config including models, serial numbers, controllers, disks,
tapes, cpus, maybe even slot-info, software installs, uses, tech support
info, backup schedules, etc., but to do it in a form that is "easy" to
navigate, you can pull reports out of, and can easily be kept up to date.

I've seen it done (and done it myself) in logbooks that are kept by each
machine, which is handly for making notes in, but uselss if you want to see
lots of logbooks at the same time to produce some sort of report.

Although it would nice if some or all of the information could be pulled,
stored and updated,  programatically, it is most unlikely that this is
do-able. Much of the information will have to be generated, stored, and
mantained by hand.

So my question is - how do you do it? I'm looking for ideas on "best
practices" for system documentation.

Thanks!
/ Sid /