Chapter 24. Documenting a Windows Server 2003 Environment

In This Chapter

• Benefits of Documentation

• Design and Planning Documentation

• Migration Documentation

• Active Directory Infrastructure

• Network Infrastructure

• Administration and Maintenance Documentation

• Disaster Recovery Documentation

• Performance Documentation

• Security Documentation

• Training Documentation

Many of the previous chapters discussed the importance of documentation in a Windows Server 2003 environment. This chapter looks at the many different types of documentation and discusses the benefitssome of which are obvious, some not.

There are several main types of documentation, including the following:

• Historical/planning (who made which decision)

• Support and maintenance (to assist with maintaining the hardware and software on the network)

• Policy (service-level agreements)

• Training (for end users or administrators)

It is also critical that any documentation produced be reviewed by other stakeholders in the organization to make sure that it meets their needs as well, and to simply get input from other sources. For technical procedures, the document also must be tested and "walked through." With a review process of this sort, the document will be more useful and more accurate. For example, a server build document that has gone through this process (that is, reviewed by the IT manager and network administrator) is more likely to be complete and useful in case the server in question needs to be rebuilt in an emergency.

Documentation that is not historical and that is intended to be used for supporting the network environment or to educate on company policies should be reviewed periodically to make sure that it is still accurate and reflects the current corporate policies and processes.

The discipline of creating effective documentation that satisfies the requirements of the appropriate support personnel as well as management is also an asset to the company and can have dramatic effects. The material in this chapter gives a sense of the range of different documents that can have value to an organization and should help in the process of deciding which ones are critical in the organization.