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Home  Best Practices  Best Practices

Server Build Documentation

Posted by IRJ on Mar 24th, 2015 at 2:59 PM

Best Practices

My boss has asked me to create documentation for

each VM we have. He is looking for information like
network, hardware, application, user accounts, services,
and any other helpful detail.
Is there a way to pull this kind of detail in a good looking
report. These are Vsphere 5.5 VMs. I am looking for a
free solution.

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OP IRJ Mar 24th, 2015 at 2:59 PM
DATIL
KRBTGT accounts

How do you do your server build sheet? View all topics

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jleblanc Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:04 PM
JA L APEN O

How many servers do you have? Komodo Newt

Professional has a trial version that grabs all this
information for up to 25 devices if I remember
correctly.

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zking Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:13 PM
CHI POTLE

I've used Belarc to do stuff like this in the past.

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Chris12321 Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:33 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

I made this sheet been trying to get my department

to use it

attach_file server_documentation1.xlsx 22.1 KB

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Dave4113 Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:34 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

I also have a VM farm where I documented

everything. How many servers do you have? I have
used Belarc and it does provide decent information
however it was usually tmi and I spent time cleaning
up what did not need to be there. All I did was create
an excel spreadsheet with the information I needed
and then used the VM web client to easily list all the
hardware and basic software need. After that I went
into each server and documented the users,
permssions, and shares. For me this was the
quickest way to document the 67 Virtual servers as
well as the Hardware information the servers are
sitting on.

When I get a chance I am going to check out the

Komodo Newt. I have heard good things about it
from others I just need to get a bit of free time to
work on it.

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Dave4113 Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:36 PM
TH AI PE PPE R
Nice form Christian123. So how successful are you
at getting the department to use it?

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Chris12321 Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:41 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

http://sydiproject.com/products/sydi-server/

this is also helpful it makes a word document

automatically

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Chris12321 Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:44 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

i been pushing for it but i just do it for myself. lol

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OP IRJ Mar 24th, 2015 at 3:47 PM
DATIL

I have PDQ Inventory Pro and I was able to build

reports with this information and so much more. I
am able to quickly pull reports of useful information
including all the basics and:

Windows Features and Roles installed on each

server
Scheduled Tasks, next run, successful or not, and
what user is running them
Services and user running them
All members of the "administrators" group including
local and domain users
IE version and settings
and much more

If Admin Arsenal sees this thread is it possible for

me to run these all on one report? I had to build
separate reports for each category which is kind of
annoying. I am planning to put the CSVs in separate
tabbed spreadsheets, but I would like a better way to
organize it.
It would be nice to be able to see all this information
for one server at a time. Each Report indicates server
name in first column, but it would be nice to be able
to split the servers up. I wouldn't mind creating a tab
for each server with all the information in one place.

local_offer pdq PDQ Inventory star 4.8

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S.Lee Mar 24th, 2015 at 5:18 PM
DATIL

Doesn't Spiceworks do some of this?

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Dave4113 Mar 24th, 2015 at 5:32 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

yes it does do some of it but not everything I need

and for me I need to have a document that shows
everything that I can have offline. If for some reason I
lose my virtuals (Spiceworks one of them) then I not
only lost the systems but I also lost the
documentation on how to rebuild them. I do not like
having all my eggs in one basket.

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Little Green Man Mar 24th, 2015 at 10:00 PM
PU RE C APS AICI N

PowerShell can grab info pretty quickly too:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Windows-
System-Inventory-9b27593e

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Kkyishkkii Mar 25th, 2015 at 8:46 AM
M AC E
 Little Green Man wrote:

PowerShell can grab info pretty quickly too:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Windows-
System-Inventory-9b27593e

I would also opt for Bill's suggestion

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dfiandrew Mar 26th, 2015 at 6:00 PM
SE RRA NO

Great build sheet Christian123. I'll 1up Belarc. I've

also used spreadsheets to document builds. Most
of my physical builds are actually re-builds, but most
deployments are virtual overall. I use a really simple
checklist to make sure my base is consistent, then
document any specific config or software that goes
on that system.

Simple is best, and use something your co-workers

can understand plainly as chances are you may not
be the person who has to do an emergency re-build
or recovery.

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sajib Mar 30th, 2015 at 8:08 AM
PIM IE NTO

many many thanks Christian123.

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Chris12321 Mar 30th, 2015 at 5:30 PM
TH AI PE PPE R

no problem at least someone is using it haha

http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/113638-
server-documentation-template
 make a kb for it (to share)

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