Network Infrastructure

Network configuration documentation is essential when you're designing technologies that may be integrated into the network, when managing network-related services such as DNS, when administering various locations, and when troubleshooting. Network environments usually don't change as much as a server infrastructure. Nonetheless, it's important to keep this information current and accurate through periodic reviews and analysis.

Documenting the WAN Infrastructure

Network configuration documentation also includes WAN infrastructure connectivity. Consider documenting the following:

• Internet service provider contact names, including technical support contact information

• Connection type (such as frame relay, ISDN, OC-12)

• Link speed

• Committed Information Rate (CIR)

• End-point configurations, including routers used

Enterprise networks can have many different types of WAN links, each varying in speed and CIR. This documentation is useful not only for understanding the environment, but also for troubleshooting connectivity, replication issues, and more.

Network Device Documentation

Network devices such as firewalls, routers, and switches use a proprietary operating system. Also, depending on the device, the configuration should be documented. Some devices permit configuration dumps to a text file that can be used in the overall documentation, whereas others support Web-based retrieval methods. In worst-case scenarios, administrators must manually document the configurations.

Network device configurations, with possibly the exception of a firewall, rarely change. If a change does occur, it should be documented in a change log and updated in the network infrastructure documentation. This allows administrators to keep accurate records of the environment and also provides a quick documented way to rebuild the proper configurations in case of a failure.

Note

Step-by-step procedures for rebuilding each network device are recommended. This information can minimize downtime and administration.

Configuration (As-Built) Documentation

The configuration document, often referred to as an as-built, details a snapshot configuration of the Windows Server 2003 system as it is built. This document contains essential information required to rebuild a server.

The following is a Windows Server 2003 as-built document template:

Introduction The purpose of this Windows Server 2003 as-built document is to assist an experienced network administrator or engineer in restoring the server in the event of a hardware failure. This document contains screen shots and configuration settings for the server at the time it was built. If settings are not implicitly defined in this document, they are assumed to be set to defaults. It is not intended to be a comprehensive disaster recovery with step-by-step procedures for rebuilding the server. In order for this document to remain useful as a recovery aid, it must be updated as configuration settings change. System Configuration     Hardware Summary     Disk Configuration         Logical Disk Configuration     System Summary     Device Manager     RAID Configuration     Windows Server 2003 TCP/IP Configuration     Network Adapter Local Area Connections Security Configuration         Services         Lockdown Procedures (Checklist)         Antivirus Configuration Share List Applications and Configurations