Ask Slashdot: Documenting a Tangle of Network Devices?

LoudMusic writes "One of the many tasks of a network administrator is documenting the network so that other members of the administration and support teams can find devices on the network. Currently my organization uses Excel spreadsheets to handle this, and it's invariably error ridden. We also save a new file with the date in the name each time an update is made. I'd like to move this to a more intelligent database system, but the driving force for keeping it in spreadsheets is the ability to take the document offline, edit it, then upload this new revision to the file server when we have a connection again. Our clients often don't have reliable internet connections, especially when we're tearing their network apart and rebuilding it. The information we're currently documenting about an individual device are: device name, device model, description, IP address, MAC address, physical location, uplink switch & port, and VLAN. What tools exist that would allow us to have multiple users make updates both online and offline simultaneously, and synchronize changes into both the online and offline copies?"

If you are a customer site working on their ...

[Skapare]

... currently broken network trying to fix it, you should be using a smartphone app to access the database (not spreadsheet) of network configuration info.

Depends on the Size

[GeneralTurgidson]

For most small businesses an excel file is fine. Medium business, use a wiki or something. Large enterprise networks need some kind of CMDB. I use Racktables, but other ones like iTop exist too. There are also paid offerings like Cisco Prime, or Orion. One really interesting offering is this software called Blueprints by pathway systems. It's more about dependency mapping, but it does network documentation too.

been there done that

[v1]

this is an internet classic that should be a Right of Passage for any budding network admin.

http://www.vibrant.com/images/cables/lopsa/do-not-touch.jpg [vibrant.com]

And not once, not twice, but thrice I've had to deal with said tangles. My solution was the same in all cases. Set aside some time and COMPLETELY document it. I use excel and conditional formulas to create cross lists for separate panels, to catch errors while trying to document.

Then once I'm certain I have it right, develop a new organization, then pull everything and start over.

My first experience with this removed multiple token rings, at least FOUR loops, and consolidated twelve hubs (not switches) and installed a master switch. Boot times on the floor went from 30 minutes to 45 seconds, and daily network problems vanished never to return. The morning after the rebuild we experienced an entire day of jaw-dropping throughout the building.

Do it. It's so worth it.

Also another hint. If you have to deal with a lot of unmarked jacks throughout the building, enlist a helper or two and use wireless headsets. One person at the rack with a keen eye for a light going out, and another one or two elsewhere briefly unplugging ethernet cables from live machines. Makes identification of jacks actually quick and easy.

My Brain Just Exploded

[Gorobei]

Um, you're a technologist in charge of a network of computers, and you want to use a manual system to document your own network so that "other members of the administration and support teams can find devices on the network"?

This is like some dystopian sic-fi satire.

That "network" thing you have, with all its "devices," can actually tell you what it's doing! Better yet, some of those devices can "execute code," which is technology talk for stuff like generating lists of devices and their attributes, putting the results in a spreadsheet, etc.

Google "ping" and "traceroute." Then work your way into the 1990s, then the 2000s, then take a look at some of the tools we have today.

I call BS

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullcrap. I'm a moron and yet I can differentiate between the two. QED

Re:SharePoint

[DarkOx]

I have to agree with this. Sharepoint is actually a pretty darn good CMS / collaboration tool. What's great about it is that is a large complex framework that offers tons of flexibility what's terrible about it is that is a large complex system.

There is another problem with Sharepoint, its way to easy to get started with and not know anything about it. This is typical of most Microsoft Solutions actually. If you are never going to have more than 20 people using it occasional it probably run fine forever, but as we all know things rarely stay that way. If its good for your group some other group in your org will want to start using it, than another and so on and so forth. Pretty soon your basic point click one box deployment on SQL Express is in real trouble.

Don't kid yourself Sharepoint aint easy. Good Sharepoint support and development people have lots of knowledge about Sharepoint, and they will have worked pretty hard to get it, it won't have come with trial and error running a box part time. You most likely won't have time to just pick it up yourself. You are going to end up hiring people to run it. Sharepoint is only a good solution if you have people to support it or your really know and I mean really know that its going to stay a small simple environment.