How To Document IT Infrastructure

David Cuthbertson, Director

Square Mile Systems / AssetGen

david.cuthbertson@squaremilesystems.com

www.squaremilesystems.com

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• Help you understand techniques and practices that make documenting IT

infrastructure easier

– Data Centres

– Networks

– Applications, services (ITIL)

– Cabling, power connectivity

– Servers and hosts

– Other – Wireless, SAN, Voice, CCTV,

industrial automation

• Help achieve quick wins as well as long term gains

– Improve the use of existing toolsets – Visio, Excel

– See the difference with specialist toolsets such as AssetGen

Whitepaper Objectives

About AssetGen / Square Mile Systems

• We develop technology to make infrastructure management

easier

– AssetGen infrastructure database

– Visio utilities (free) for data centre / application / services

documentation

• Provide methods and processes for site audits, documentation

assessment, remediation (compliance) and managing complex

infrastructure changes

• Help organizations implement best practices around change

management and control in physical and logical infrastructures

– Supporting ITIL, ISO, ISA, TIA, BICSI, NIST and COBIT and

others

• Our projects are associated with data centre migration,

transformation projects, infrastructure baselining and automated

Visio diagramming.

A Question

What do you feel (or know) is the biggest problem of documenting

IT infrastructure?

1. Maintaining infrastructure documentation

2. Creating a baseline of shared infrastructure

3. Defining change processes across teams

4. Common understanding of the value of documentation

When Do We Create or Use Documents?

Requirements specification (verification or analysis)

Design or plan (proposal, specification)

Construction/build (implementation or coding)

Integration (build)

Testing and debugging (validation)

Installation / commissioning (deployment)

Maintenance and operational support (in life)

Post live, decommission and disposal

What Is The Top Reason To Change?

1. Manage project and operational costs

2. Improve situational awareness – faults, assessment

3. Reduce project delivery timescales

4. Assess risks of planned change and releases

5. Regulatory / contract needs – auditors/customers

6. Improve risk assessment and mitigation – DR, test

7. Increase organisational and individual flexibility

– Separation of roles and centralisation of control

8. Improve security management processes

– External / Internal attacks / Avoidance / Recovery

Kerplunk – Infrastructure Planning?

What is the change impact of removing a straw?

Are you more cautious removing multiple straws?

Is it more difficult if the straws are the same colour?

How would you communicate to someone else

which straw to pull?

Try it when planner and builder have blindfolds!

Different Focus Areas

1. Infrastructure management (data centres, networks, cabling,

servers)

2. Hardware and software asset management

3. Software development – Application Lifecycle Management

4. IT Service management (ITIL)

5. Major system (building, data centre, ship, oil rig, plane, car)

6. Hardware/software component manufacture

7. Many other forms in other industries

The principles are the same

The issues, techniques, reasons are different

Institutional Infrastructure Knowledge

Plan Build Operate Risk Dispose

Project and task Manage and Coordinate

Examples

Project documentation

Equipment lists

Visio/CAD diagrams

Test results

Examples

Asset and Inventory management

Business / service dependencies

Monitoring of performance, status

Risk and Recovery

Ease and speed of creation

Ease of distribution

Flexible to meet task needs

Limited training

Ease of use by many

Structured for integration & reporting

Support for multiple processes

Wide scope – the big picture!

-Projects

-Servers

-Networks

-Security

-Service desk

Request

Form

Infrastructure

Planning

Assess

Allocate

Change

Requestors

Project

Build

Documents

Local staff or

3rd Party

Contractors

Outline

Design

How should we manage change?

Document Overload!

1. Update asset/inventory list

2. Update rack diagrams

3. Update network diagrams/patching records

4. Update switch port usage and capacity

5. Update floor plan rack capacity

6. Update power usage spreadsheet(s)

7. Update storage / backup system documentation

8. Update systems architecture documentation

9. Update DR lists and documents

10. Update maintenance records

11. Update billing and charging data

12. Update project documentation with the “as built” details

After a project change, what should be updated?

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-Projects

-Servers

-Networks

-Security

-Service desk

Request

Form

Infrastructure

Planning

Assess

Allocate

Change

Requestors

Infrastructure

DatabaseInterrogate

Update

Project

Build

Documents

Local 3rd

Contractors

Outline

Design

How should we manage change?

Wouldn’t it be nice?

While you sleep

Changes to the IT systems and

infrastructure are updated into

various Visio diagrams and

Excel outputs overnight –

automatically!

Server Model OS Location Software Ser No. IP

Address

Server A IBM P770 Linux London Tax 99KU778 45.23.6.5

Server B DL380 Win2003 Rack 3 Email IT00045 45.23.6.6

45.33.7.5

Server C Series III Unix Computer

Room B

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Accounts

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Server D N/A (VM) Win2K3 Blade 1 Citrix N/A 192.168.0.2

Is this a good starting point?

A typical starting point - Excel

Server Model OS Location Software Ser No. IP

Address

Server A IBM P770 Linux London Tax 99KU778 45.23.6.5

Server B DL380 Win2003 Rack 3 Email IT00045 45.23.6.6

45.33.7.5

Server C Series III Unix Computer

Room B

Payroll V1.6

Accounts

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Server D N/A (VM) Win2K3 Blade 1 Citrix N/A 192.168.0.2

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Different Views - Different Symbols

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1. Standardised naming, conventions and formats

– Fixed infrastructure, active components, applications

– Connectivity power, network, SAN, data links

– Visio templates and stencils

2. Reduce multiple data sets to a reduced set – often database(s)

– Shared across project, operations, risk, asset, audit, platforms

– Collected and refreshed by manual and automated

processes

3. Produce multiple outputs from a few sources

– Rack and floor capacity management

– Visual views, rack, network, power, system, system, service

– Inventory and asset management

Infrastructure Configuration Management

Complex Devices - Chassis

Equipment build

- Chassis

- Cards

- Power supplies

- Connection types

- Firmware

- Software

Using Modular

Easy to add, move, re-use modules and connections

Not so easy to document, manage capacity and comprehend

A B C D

SAN 1 Ports 0-23 SAN 2 Ports 0-23

DATA 1 Ports 3/1 to 3/24 DATA 2 Ports 3/1 to 3/24

Cab A01 A Cab A01 BCab A02 A Cab A02 BCab A07 A Cab A07 B

Hmmm.. Naming.. Modules

A01 B01 C01 D01

A01 1. Slot name

A03 U39.A01 2. Rack/Panel and Slot name

DC1-A03 U39.A01 3. Room/Rack/Panel and Slot name

PFI-DC1-A03 U39.A01 4. Type/Room/Rack/Panel and Slot name

DC1-03-10 U39.C01 5. Destination far end and Slot

Hmmm.. Naming.. Modules

• Active Equipment - Easy

– Use logical name SWNZ66_F301

– Cards could be SWNZ66_F301.slot04

• Cabling Modules – Often uses location identifiers

Option A Where it is A05-U05.03A

Option BWhere it goes A07-U07.07A

Option C Both of the above A05-U05.03A to A07-U07.07A

Option D The end service

SWNZ66_F301.slot04:Ports 07>12

Plus module attributes – make, model, port type, orientation

ITIL Version 4 CMS

Project

Doc

Filestore

Project

Software

Definitive

Media

Library

Federated

CMDBs

Discovery

Asset Mgmt

& Audit Tools

Software

Config

Mgmt

Platform

Config

Mgmt

Enterprise

Apps

Portal

Change&

Release

View

Asset

Mgmt

View

Config

Life-cycle

View

Technical

Config

View

Quality

Mgmt

View

Service

Desk

View

Business

Impact

View

Compliance

View

(Cobit)

Query & Analysis Reporting Performance Mgmt Modelling Monitoring

Presentation

Layer

Knowledge

Processing

Layer

Data &

Information

Sources

& Tools

Information

Integration

Layer

Customer/User – Service –Application – Infrastructure mapping

Service Portfolio Service Package Integrated Asset & Config Service Change Service Release

Common Process Reconciliation Synchronisation Extract, Load MiningScheme Meta Data

Search, Browse, Store, Retrieve, Update, Publish, Subscribe, Collaborate

Data Integration

Prepare - Start With Quick Wins

• Town

• Building

• Room / location

• Computer rack

• Backbone fixed Infrastructure – patch panels/ /power strips

• Core infrastructure – network, SAN, voice, wireless

• Hosts and computing systems

• User area fixed infrastructure - floor boxes

• User devices – desktops, printers, voice

Few elements

Low rate of change

Lots of elements

High rate of change

CM For the Physical

Town, Country

Buildings

Rooms

Cabinets

Equipment

Equipment cards

Ports

Ports

A system suited to hardware

configuration management with

cabinets often also being

enclosures, desks, under floor

boxes, etc.

All have their own attributes and

conventions

The Logical Dependency View

The router has

one link to the

switch

Easy to Understand!

The Physical Connection View

Equipment RacksMDFInter Room ODFInter Room ODFMDFEquipment Racks

E10

Q02

Q03

H06

K23

K24

I02F02 I15

E26

E22

E23

N04

Wing Loft

ODF01ODF12E15

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U38 to E10

PPF-336-E22-

U40 to I02

PPF-336-E23-

U39 to I02

PPF-336/F02-U47 PPF-336/I15-U47

to ODF12PPF-336/I02-U47

to F02

PPF-336-I02-U40

to E22

PPF-326-I02-U39

to E23

PPF-336-I02-U38

to E20

PPF-326-H06-

U45 to E10

PPF-326-K23-

U46 to E10

PPF-326-K24-

U42 to E10

PPF-326-N04-

U41 to E10

PPF-326-Q02-

U44 to E10

PPF-326-Q03-

U43 to E10

PPF-300/ODF12-

U42 to 336/I15PPF-300/ODF01-

U47

PPF-326-E15-

U47 to 300

ODF01

PPF-326-E10-

U46 to K23

PPF-326-E10-

U45 to H06

PPF-326-E10-

U44 to Q02

PPF-326-E10-

U43 to Q03

PPF-326-E10-

U42 to K24

PPF-326-E10-

U41 to N04

Data Hall 1 Data Hall 2

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Comms A

The Physical Reality

Network Mapping

DMZ & Internet AccessInternal WAN Network

Data Centre Core & Server Switches

Commodities Trading Area

BT Wan Service VT Wan Service

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SW-BHAM-13 SW-BHAM-14 SW-BHAM-19

RTR-BHAM-01 RTR-BHAM-02

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RTR-BHAM-08RTR-BHAM-07

RTR-BHAM-03 RTR-BHAM-04

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Mapping Software and Services

Preparing For A Baseline Audit

1. Establish policies, standards and clarify ownership

Make it easy for engineers

2. Have project / operations use common terms & formats

Supply templates, naming system, labels, etc.

3. Reduce the numbers of documents / files to maintain

Consolidate into centralised systems and make easy to find - portal

4. Support multiple viewpoints from a set of data

Link or create Visio diagrams, reports, Excel from databases

5. Update operational systems as part of planning processes

Capture - The Audit Process

• Planning

– Scope, depth, schedule of visits

– Develop data capture tools

• Prototype the data capture

– Check the process works on a trial building, application,

environment

• Bulk data capture

– Capture/upload as soon as possible in case of data or process

errors

• Presentation of data

– Reports, diagrams, portals

• Reconciliation

– Gaps and inaccuracies across teams and cultures

– Use of other data sources

Capture - Desired Outputs?

1. Asset/inventory list

2. Rack diagrams

3. Network diagrams/patching records

4. Switch port usage and capacity

5. Floor plan rack capacity

6. Power usage spreadsheet(s)

7. Storage / backup system documentation

8. Systems architecture documentation

9. DR lists and documents

10. Maintenance records

11. Billing and charging data

12. Project documentation with the “as built” details

Are we just recreating the same problem we started with?

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Capture – Physical Infrastructure

1. Document / survey buildings and spaces and put into an

infrastructure database (AssetGen)

2. Capture racks and enclosures into spread sheet format.

Enables production of Visio floor plans and supports audit packs

3. Capture inventory into an upload spread sheet.

Creates rack diagrams, floor box layouts, architecture maps

4. Capture connectivity into an upload spread sheet.

Network, path and other topology diagrams

Capture – Logical Infrastructure

1. Define and capture Configuration Items (CIs) into a spreadsheet

format.

Enables upload of groups / classes into AssetGen SysMap

2. Map CI dependencies into a spreadsheet format.

Impact, virtual, service, data flow, batch process,

Physical

Virtual

Application

Service

Business Process

Logical Mapping

Create Multiple Outputs From Data

AssetGen

SQL / Visio

Integration

PlanningProjects, tasks, build docs

OperationsInventory, capacity, topology,

risk

Scheduled Updates On demand / overnight

One

Update

Visio

Visio

Excel

Visio

AssetGen Outputs

Monitoring feeds

Patching views

Floor / rack

diagrams

LAN/SAN/WAN

diagrams

Application &

System diagrams

ExcelInventory lists

Custom reports

Project Documents

Operations

& Capacity

Management

Infrastructure

Portal

Fixed Infrastructure(Cabling, Power, Cabinets, Rooms, Buildings)

Hardware InfrastructurePCs, Network, Servers, UPS, Storage, Other

Virtual InfrastructurePCs, Network, Servers, Storage, DBMS

ApplicationsPC, server, mainframe, SOA

ServicesEnd user, infrastructure, supplier

Business ProcessesDepartmental, Company

Asset & Connectivity

“Connect”

System & ServiceMapping

“SysMap”

SQL Server platform

The AssetGen System

One Device In Multiple Views

Claims

Processing

Payment Module

ACCOUNTS

Accounts Module

SVRWIN001

Accounts

Payable

Accounts

Receivable

PAYROLL

Sage Payroll

Payroll

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Floor Plan

Rack Position

Application/

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Power Supply

Network Connections

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Maintain - Infrastructure Knowledge

Plan Build Operate Risk Dispose

Project and task Manage and Coordinate

Ease and speed of creation

Ease of distribution

Flexible to meet task needs

Limited training

Ease of use by many

Structured for integration & reporting

Support for multiple processes

Wide scope – the big picture!

Record planning decisions in the operational system

Produce project docs for/from the operational system

Now You Know How It is Done

While you sleep

Changes to the IT systems and

infrastructure are updated into

various Visio diagrams and

Excel outputs overnight –

automatically!

Try to do one data capture exercise – and no more!

Verification checks only afterwards

Maintain infrastructure knowledge with less workload

Not by magic, but by a “systems” and best practice approach

Help you achieve the benefits of accurate documentation

Reduced time and cost to implement changes

Faster time to identify and resolve faults

Understand change risks and impacts with minimal effort

Manage the interfaces with technical teams and suppliers

Infrastructure capacity management and optimisation

Maintain risk management and recovery systems

The End Results