Documenting a business' IT Configuration

Tesla

Tesla

Tesla

Soldato
Joined
19 Jan 2003
Posts
17,598
Location
Bristol, UK
Hi guys, I thought this forum would be most fitting for this sort of question. Hope it gets some response and proves me right, lol!

Anyway,

My home-IT support business is heading in the direction I was planning and branching out to small business. One business I look after have a bit of a messy hardware and software arrangement, no uniformity or consistency. Reason being they have had all sorts of people in chopping and changing things.

Everytime I visit I tidy up bits and bobs as I go.

It's quite a simple setup really and as all the staff are familar with it I don't wish to change the fundamentals.

They have asked me to document there computer system so what I am after is some sort of example documentation or templates. Basically what hardware they have, what software, any passwords, usernames, network addresses/ip's etc.

Perhaps you have done this kind of thing before and have a piece of work you are proud of which you would not mind me using as a template.

I am also after some book recommendations to learn about subnets and domains, basically proper networking.

If you could help that would be great.

Cheers,

Chris
 
It'll be a combination of documents in the end, usually a network diagram showing the layout of the network and attached devices and their internal / external IP addresses, how the firewall is setup and what ports are open. Then we have an asset register in excel listing all the hardware and software with the number of licenses for each.

No need to list all the hardware parts like motherboard, graphics card etc, just PC model number and maybe CPU speed. Depends how big the company is but you can also list what department the PC / software is in or who it's been assigned to.

It’s also a good idea to create a master password list and secure it with PGP or other security. Another good list is a support sheet with URLs for printer / PC manufactures and support telephone numbers. This can be combined with a disaster recovery plan (make sure you have an off site copy)

Add all that up and you'll have a nice little admin pack for the business

Edit: you probably know this already, but keep it simple as you'll be in charge of updating it.
 
Topology Diagrams.
Asset tags for the devices and a asset register.

Them two should get you started, there's no way this will be one document. You need to think about business processes and how you're going to keep the documents up to date. Do you want it updated every time a change is made? Will you do it monthly, quaterly? Remember to keep in mind any man hours overheads this might create.

How big is the business?
 
Many thanks for the excellent responses.

It's a small business and I estimate around 8desktop PC's and 10laptops with the majority of laptops constantly off site and never connected to or in anyway part of the office network.

I did study computing at college a few years back so I may crack out my text books to have a flick through but cannot remember studying anything on this.
 
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