best practice for documenting configurations

[dampfnudel]

Hello,

I am fairly new to Windows Server administration and I come from a Unix background. I am used to making changes to text files (*.conf) to configure software and services. I have gotten in the habit of regularly checking these text files into source control (CVS) so that I have a good historical record of the initial setup and any changes. I can easily set up a second server with the same configuration by referring to these files.

Windows, however, uses a GUI for everything and I haven't found a way to export the settings - how do you document your current configuration and on-going changes? I'd like to avoid taking screenshots.

Thanks!

 

[Breakerfall]

are you trying to document Policy Changes?
or system-wide configurations?




Breakerfall
®º°¨¨°º can you ping me now...GOOD! º°¨¨°º®

 

[dampfnudel]

I'd like to document both. For example, I just made some changes to the Group Policy -> Password Policy and now I'm going to make a bunch of changes in other places. At some point it will work "perfectly" and I'd like to get a snap-shot of what I had to do to get it in that condition.

Another example is DHCP and DNS - I go into Properties, click on tabs, checkboxes and fill out fields - does this get recorded in any text files? I can't find a way to export these settings.

Thanks

 

[Breakerfall]

try

http://www.NetIQ.com

Search for "NetIQ GPA" (stands for group policy administrator) on the list of products.

cheers



Breakerfall
®º°¨¨°º can you ping me now...GOOD! º°¨¨°º®

 

[Breakerfall]

when googling, I also found this:

http://www.amtsoft.com/fazam/

good luck.





Breakerfall
®º°¨¨°º can you ping me now...GOOD! º°¨¨°º®

 

[Zelandakh]

those only cover gpo bits.

you can't beat good old word document - my build notes run to 22 pages and are separate to the serial nos and ignore boring build stuff. I detail full disaster recovery settings by hand including any notes taken since. Covers reinstallation troubles (how did i do that) and DR (i gotta get this done quick) and keeps the insurance man happy too.

 

[billieT]

I pretty much agree with Zelandakh, although I use HTML and make pretty webpages (nicer to link from a "Contents" type page, I think).

Group Policy-wise though, the new Windows 2003 Server (.NET that was) GP Management Console is FANTASTIC for reporting. It works fine with Windows 2000 group policies. It outputs all your Group Policy settings into HTML format for viewing (and the formatting works ok in Mozilla and well in Opera). You can general Resultant Set of Policy info as well, if you have Windows XP clients. Here's some info, with a link to the download on the right:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/gpmc/gpmcwp.mspx

 

[MSMVP]

With all due respect, bag Fazam, NetIQ, and any of the other products out there. Microsoft released the GPMC (Group Policy Management Console) which just absolutely flat ROCKS!

It's a freebie, and it does everything that you want it to do, except make the changes for you. It will document to HTML or to XML, and is a great tool in a multi-domain environment where you need to, well basically 'copy' a GPO from one domain to another.

Very cool tool - Get it right here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/gpmc/default.mspx

HTH!



Rick Kingslan MCSE, MCSA, MCT
Microsoft MVP - Active Directory
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone

 

[dampfnudel]

Thanks everyone - those are some helpful tips. I'm starting to work with Windows Server 2003 so I'll definitely try the GPMC.

As for Exchange, DNS, DHCP, etc. settings, I guess I'll resort to screenshots and note-taking.

Thanks again