System and Process Standardization

Configuration and process management are subjects unto themselves . For purposes of this high availability discussion, the cornerstone of configuration management is to develop a standardized base configuration for all classes and types of servers. Although servers will need to be deployed that deviate from your standard, the standard is still useful because it sets a minimum expectation of performance, as well as a guide to where to find everything and what settings you can assume are in place. Anything that varies from the standard can then be documented with less effort. This is a simpler approach than trying to remember numerous server configurations individually. Similarly, administrative processes across groups can be derived to ensure a consistent, repeatable, and reliable experience.

Standardization can be accomplished through the establishment of technical specifications for products, working methods , and similar components to create system uniformity . Use of the standard specifications can be made mandatory for subordinate organizations. Ideally, you want to create standards for everything (although dont make that a laborious process in itself) and then simply reference the qualities of a system that diverge from the standard. This is much simpler than documenting each individual system separately.

Standardized administrative and support strategies, standardized directories, drive letters used, and hardware configuration make it possible to come closer to ideal manageability. The real advantage to having a standards-based system is that decisions can be made more reliably and more accurately based on familiar standardizations.