Full Disclosure mailing list archives

Re: server administration


From: Ron DuFresne <dufresne () winternet com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2004 09:27:18 -0500 (CDT)


as a tool in the implimentation, have a look at rsync.  It's still
supported and updated.  Only has troubles with files of multi gig size,
and works under/through ssh.

But, you are going to find there is not single tool to do all you seek.
You are going to end up crafting a number of tools together, some off the
shelf, some hand crafted to accomplish the tasks at hand, and this
includes storage of the info. to which a database of some sort will need
to be tossed into the mix most likely, unless you can deal with
traditional directory/file storage methods.

I once not too long ago worked for a company that did all system configs
in cvs, which was a fine way to push common setups to various platforms
and servers in quick order.

I'll leave you to the script/code, test and redo mode you must be nearing
after your research...

Thanks,

Ron DuFresne

On Mon, 21 Jun 2004, harry wrote:

hi all,

i know this is not really a security thing, so if someone could tell me
where the correct place to ask is... i would really appreciate it...

but for the question now (this could be interesting for a lot of people
i think):

we have some 100+ servers here, and we would like to make an inventory
of all the servers. each server has a service tag etc... all servers
have one or more services running on it.

the idea is: we would like everything (config, static information,
dynamic info,...) on a central server in a secure intranet.
the first problem:
how do you collect the data, how do you store it,what software do you
use to get info out of a server (static info as wel as dynamic info).
                                  ^^^^^^                ^^^^^^^
                                  a script?               snmp
second problem:
what soft can you use for pushing the config to the servers and
restarting servers, without having to log in to each one individually
(something like rdist?) sshkeys?

all has to be as easy as possible off course ;)

at first i was thinking of a wiki and rdist, but wiki is not the best
way to go for documentation i think, and rdist is ... well... old
(latest news: 23/10/2001)

anyone some ideas?

ps. for operational status checks, we use nagios, for graphs: cacti
and sorry for the off-topicness, i really don't know where else to ask
--
harry
aka Rik Bobbaers

K.U.Leuven - LUDIT             -=- Tel: +32 485 52 71 50
Rik.Bobbaers () cc kuleuven ac be -=- http://harry.ulyssis.org

"\x4e\x65\x76\x65\x72\x20\x74\x72\x75\x73\x74\x20\x61\x6e\x20\x6f"
"\x70\x65\x72\x61\x74\x69\x6e\x67\x20\x73\x79\x73\x74\x65\x6d\x20"
"\x79\x6f\x75\x20\x64\x6f\x6e\x27\x74\x20\x68\x61\x76\x65\x20\x73"
"\x6f\x75\x72\x63\x65\x73\x20\x66\x6f\x72\x2e\x0a\x00"

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