[wplug] documenting network layout

[Carl Benedict]

On Sat, 2004-11-20 at 09:19, John Harrold wrote:
> The subject may be incorrect since I'm not really sure what I'm looking
> for. This is the situation. I'm a grad student in a theoretical research
> group, and I've responsible for managing our computers. At some point in
> the near future I'm going to graduate. I've been slowly teaching someone
> the ropes to prepare for when I leave. Our network isn't complicated by
> most standards, but for someone who is a novice sysadmin I imagine it could
> be confusing --- especially since it was setup by a novice sysadmin. 
> 
> So I want to find some way to document the network layout: which services
> are running on which computer, the location of backups and which scripts
> control them, where software exported to the workstations is installed,
> etc. I started to type something up in LaTeX; outlining what I thought
> would be important, organizing information in a what I felt would be a
> logical fashion, and at some point I thought to myself: "surely someone has
> done this in the past and developed some standard for this".
> 
> So has anyone ever been in this position? Can anyone offer any advice about
> how to go about documenting this?

I don't know of any "official standard" for something like this.  I
think most organizations come up with their own procedure to document
these things.  That is, if they document it at all. (tisk, tisk) :)

It sounds like you may need multiple things here (depending on
preference).  Most larger organizations will have a network topology map
/ diagram, normally created in something like M$ Visio.  This could be
achieved thru any vector drawing app, but there are a few Visio clones
for Linux already.  I've included some examples below that I found via
Google.  I'm sure that you could find a set of stock icons/graphics for
things like routers, firewalls, servers, etc.

As for the specifics you mentioned for different machines/servers, I
would think that a detailed procedural or informational doc for each
could be written up.  I don't think there is anything wrong with the way
you were doing things.  As long as your document is complete and others
can understand it AND update it, there shouldn't be a real problem.

Visio Clones
http://www.gnome.org/projects/dia/
http://www.thekompany.com/projects/kivio/

Example of "typical" network diagram:
http://www.simplywireless.com.au/cebit/images/network.jpg
http://www.vccs.edu/its/projects/iptv_test_network_design_21jun99.gif
http://www.rensysgroup.com/fileaccess/Thin%20Network%20Diagram.jpg

-- 
Carl Benedict
Pittsburgh Techs
Main:  724-741-0233
http://www.pittsburghtechs.com
cbenedic at pittsburghtechs.com