managing servers...

[Scot L. Harris]

On Fri, 2005-05-27 at 13:18, bruce wrote:
> hi..
> 
> i'm trying to get my hands around the issue of managing servers. in
> particular, i'm trying to get a better understanding of how people manage
> their servers when it comes to installing/upgrading apps.
> 
> i imagine most people simply do the install via rpm/yum/apt-get.. however,
> if you really want to manage multiple servers, you need some way of knowing
> that what you're doing want screw up something else on the server. you also
> need some way of managing the software assets on the different boxes/etc...
> 
> so, assuming you have multiple servers, how do you deal with these issues?

You have to implement a change control process.  This process controls
everything that is modified on your servers.  Part of this process is to
test all changes prior to implementation and to develop back out plans
in case something does not work as expected.  Such a process documents
everything about your servers.

You will not find a simple tool or set of tools to do this for you.  It
is difficult to do.  If it was easy then anyone could do the job.  :)

You may want to read up on ITIL.  It is a documented method for
implementing such processes.  

-- 
Scot L. Harris
webid at cfl.rr.com

Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
		-- Sextus Aurelius