Documenting the Enterprise

So far, we've discussed what computing services make up the environment, what types of failures to plan for, and which services must be made available first when multiple failures occur or when a site disaster is encountered. Now it is time to start actually building the disaster recovery toolkit that a qualified individual will use to recover a failed service, application, or server. To begin creating the toolkit, the current infrastructure must be documented completely and accurately.

Note

For complete information on documenting the Windows Server 2003 environment, refer to Chapter 24, "Documenting a Windows Server 2003 Environment."

Server Configuration Documentation

Server configuration documentation is essential for any environment regardless of size, number of servers, or disaster recovery budget. A server configuration document contains a server's name, network configuration information, hardware and driver information, disk and volume configuration, or information about the applications installed. A complete server configuration document contains all the necessary configuration information a qualified administrator would need if the server needed to be rebuilt from scratch and the operating system could not be restored from backup. A server configuration document also can be used as a reference when server information needs to be collected.

The Server Build Document

A server build document contains step-by-step instructions on how to build a particular type of server for an organization. The details of this document should be tailored to the skill of the person intended to rebuild the server. For example, if this document was created for disaster recovery purposes, it may be detailed enough that anyone with basic computer skills could rebuild the server. This type of information could also be used to help IT staff follow a particular server build process to ensure that when new servers are added to the network, they all meet company server standards.

Hardware Inventory

Documenting the hardware inventory on an entire network might not always be necessary, but it can be beneficial nonetheless. Many tools are available, such as Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), that can assist with hardware inventory by automating much of the process of gathering and recording the necessary information. These tools are especially useful in larger organizations. The amount and type of information the organization collects will vary, and can include every system or device, select network environment components, or specific information such as serial numbers or processor speed.

Network Configurations

Network configuration documentation is essential when network outages occur. Current, accurate network configuration documentation and network diagrams can help simplify and isolate network troubleshooting when a failure occurs.

WAN Connection

WAN connectivity should be documented for enterprise networks that contain many sites to help IT staff understand the enterprise network topology. This document helps the staff figure out how long an update made in Site A will take to reach Site B. This document should contain information about each WAN link, including circuit numbers, ISP contact names, ISP tech support phone numbers, and the network configuration on each end of the connection. It can be used to troubleshoot and isolate WAN connectivity issues.

Router, Switch, and Firewall Configurations

Firewalls, routers, and sometimes switches can run proprietary operating systems with a configuration that is exclusive to the device. Information should be collected from these devices, including logon passwords and current configurations. When a configuration change is planned for any one of these devices, the newly proposed configuration should be created using a text or graphical editor, but the change should be approved before it is made on the production device. Also, a rollback plan should be created first to ensure that the device can be restored to the original state if the change does not deliver the desired results.

Recovery Documentation

Recovery documentation, such as the server build document mentioned previously, can become reasonably complex and focused on a particular task. Recovery documentation aids an administrator in recovering from a failure for a particular server, server platform, specific service, or application. Recovery documentation will be covered in Chapter 33, "Recovering from a Disaster."

Updating Documentation

One of the most important, yet sometimes overlooked, tasks concerning documentation is the updating of documentation. Documentation is tedious, but outdated documentation can be worthless if many changes have occurred since the document was created. For example, if a server configuration document was used to re-create a server from scratch but many changes were applied to the server after the document was created, the correct security patches may not be applied, applications may be configured incorrectly, or data restore attempts could be unsuccessful. Whenever a change will be made to a network device, printer, or server, documentation outlining the previous configuration, proposed changes, and rollback plan should be created before the change is approved and carried out on the production device. After the change is carried out and the device is functioning as desired, the documentation associated with that device or server should be updated.