Network Admin - Whats Needed?

[Smeat]

Hi All

I'm not sure i'm in the right forum here but this one seemed closest for this question.

Our net admin will shortly be leaving the company and I need to make sure we have documentation covering everything he is responsible for. The problem I have is that I have no knowledge of network administration and therefore do not know what documentation to ask him to produce.

Furthermore, I expect that I will not receive anything I do not explicitly ask for.

We are an Internet software developer and host our products on our own servers in house. These servers are all running Windows 2003 server with .NET framework V1.1 and SQL Server 2K, we also have our own email server, etc.

Can somebody please provide some hints/tips as to what I should be asking for in terms of documentation.

TIA

Smeat

 

[cyberspace]

I do the following (may not all apply to you but it has certainly proved useful to me)

- Noted all IP addresses of Servers & Hosts, aswell as IP Scheme, be it static or managed dynamically via a DHCP server (for example, the firm I work for is reasonably small, with 2 servers, an Exo Server, and 28 hosts, with a static IP addresssing scheme.) These I have kept in a spreadsheet.

This helps because when you hook up a new machine to the network, you know what settings to enter - this may not make sense to you, but you will need to make sure that you know what default gateway, subnet mask and DNS server is used for the hosts. Depening on the size of your network and how it is set up, this may differ.

Find out also what the address/name of the email server is.

I also make a note of any issues that arise, and then add the solutions to them, which I keep adding to, making a large "FAQ" type document, covering all issues and their solutions - your guy may have made such a log, certainly worth asking.

Also, make sure you have all administrator passwords, and any passwords that you need for software such as antivirus, backup etc, thus allowing the new guy to be able to access and manage all software without encountering any problems with lost passwords.

It's also worth finding out where this software is installed on the server. For example, we use Sophos antivirus enterprise edition, which is controlled centrally from one of our servers. If updates cannot roll out automatically, or if software wont install, i will open the directory from the pc, pointing to the server, and then run the setup.

There is probably alot I have missed, but they are certainly some of the fundamentals.

This of course may involve duties that your guy does not cover, as they include all aspects of systems admin as opposed to exclusively networking.

Hope this helps!

 

[Smeat]

Thanks cyberspace

Your notes will help me to ensure I get a solid handover.

Smeat

 

[JOAMON]

Make sure you also get usernames and passwords for network devices, switches and routers...password recovery can be costly. Also make sure to get things like Cisco smartnet user account and password and/or other types of accounts related to computer equipment. Also make sure he makes you aware of any and all outside access he has into your company. You will need to sever these after he leaves. If you do not ask for these he may not offer it and thus leave an open door for him. If you have outside VPN users it would be a good idea to rotate passwords after he leaves. Good Luck.....be very careful if this person is not leaving on good terms.

 

[PalmTest]

Another issue is the archive with all contracts/licenses with all vendors.
Did he use an escallation list, including names and telephone numbers?


Software:
Serial Numbers
License files
Support account

Hardware: (routers/switches)
Inventory
Used firmware levels
port speed settings of special machines
Full configuration files of all routers and switches