# machine documentation



## pbd (Dec 1, 2009)

Hi,

in which form do you keep documentation about machines you administer (network configuration, running services, software versions, network topology, ...)? Is there any tool made for keeping this informations about 50 - 100 machines?


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## SirDice (Dec 1, 2009)

It's called asset and configuration management (ITIL).

And it could be as simple as a database with a nice little web front-end. I'm sure there's something already build but I couldn't find anything quickly in the ports tree.


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## Ruler2112 (Dec 1, 2009)

I use a series of rudimentary electronic drawings of each area of the building to ID each station, then a spreadsheet to detail each station.


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## rbelk (Dec 1, 2009)

Documantation:
Rule #1 -  Always keep it simple! The easiest and quickest for me is either a text file or a wiki. I perfer a Wiki nowadays because you can attach files.
Rule #2 - Always keep the data current, if you don't it's useless to document!
Rule #3 - Remember, the more sophisticated the product is, the harder it will be to use and it will not be used much!

Version Management:
For version management I use devel/rvi. I have the following alias for root.


```
vi rvi "!:1" vim
```

So anytime you "su -" or even "sudo vi" the file will be under version control. This little trick has saved me at least 50 times! If you have a lot of servers you might want to consider centralized version management with bazaar or subversion. There are tons of web links describing how to do this. Just Google it.


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