At 11:18 AM 4/16/02, Neil Moore wrote: >You can do a snmpwalk on the router to grab that info. >-Neil
That's a good idea. Regarding baselining and network documentation, I cover it in Top-Down Network Design. It think it is of utmost importance. A lot of "real engineers" are sick of hearing about it though. They think they can gut out any network downtime with hard work and perseverance. ;-) It's a personality thing. Some people don't even balance their checkbooks. When talking to these "real engineers," try to avoid all the buzz words they've heard before. Make sure not to sound like you're coming from the ivory tower or that you learned your style from Catbert. Keep the discussion focused on the practical consequences of not having documentation and baselines. There is also a new book out from Cisco Press called "Network Consultants Handbook." I haven't read it, but it looks good and seems to cover what you want. To quote Cisco Press, it is "a complete resource for assessing, auditing, analyzing, and evaluating any network environment." You can download templates for documentation that the author developed from Cisco Press's Web site. Priscilla >On Tue, 16 Apr 2002, Tom Scott wrote: > > > Tim Champion wrote: > > > > > I have recently been asked to document the various IOS images used within > > > our network to be used as a baseline. Has anyone had experience in >putting > > > together this kind of document? > > > > Good question. I hope someone takes the time to answer. Documentation is >one > > of the > > most important, and most neglected, aspects of the networking profession. > > Establishing > > a baseline is a good start. It includes not only traffic statistics but >also > > configurations, cabling, logical and physical topologies, and anything else > > that might > > make the job of maintaining and troubleshooting a network an enjoyable > > challenge > > instead of the headache it can be without documentation. > > > > I have a potential customer who refuses to acknowledge the need for > > documentation. He's > > got an AVVID network that "works just fine without having to hire a > > consultant to draw > > a bunch of diagrams" as he puts it. The guy who installed it told him it >was > > zero > > maintenance, and nothing I've said thus far can convince him otherwise. So > > I'm > > preparing a slideshow about network documentation and baselining. I'd > > appreciate any > > suggestions, horror stories, success stories, etc. > > > > My philosophy is: Plan for failure. I don't mean that in a pessimistic way. > > It's just > > that, given enough time, all networks fail in one way or another. Some > > events are > > disasters, others only an inconvenience that can be worked around and coped > > with by > > non-technical users. But in the long run, something serious will happen, > > It's our job > > to be prepared for that and to reduce the negative impact as much as > > possible. > > > > How do we convince clients to invest in baselining, contingency plans and > > the like? > > Does anyone have a good book on this? other than the usual ones, like the > > CIT cert exam > > preps and Semester 8 from the CNAP curriculum? Is there any specific book >or > > chapter or > > website that gives a template for baselining, network documentation, > > contingency > > planning? > > > > -- TT ________________________ Priscilla Oppenheimer http://www.priscilla.com Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=41634&t=41577 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
