System documentation (was: Re: MYSQL Mapping Tool?)

[mike.patterson at unb.ca (Mike Patterson)]

lists at truthisfreedom.org.uk wrote on 7/22/09 2:47 AM:
> I've inherited a system that uses mysql_nss and therefore it's running  
> MySQL on all servers.
[..]
> I want to try and map which "slave" replicates from which "master" so  
> that I've a better idea of what links to where in the hope that I can  
> simplify the schema and setup multi-master replication for HA purposes.

Previous admin was canned for incompetence, right?  Setting up machines
without documenting the data flow?

While I can't help you with anything specific (I avoid mysql whenever
possible), I think this highlights a point frequently overlooked.  I set
up some RADIUS and postgresql instances to assist with wireless
authn/authz here, and documented which machines did what, what services
to look for, and how to restart them.  Nothing big, a couple of pages to
talk about half a dozen services on 3 physical hosts.  The comment was
made that "we wish everybody who handed machines over to us would give
us even half this information."

So my challenge to sysadmin types: today, find a machine for which you
are responsible.  Document it for your successor.  Your successor might
be you in a year, trying to remember what the #!#$% you were thinking
when you set it up.

Once you've got a collection, you get to decide where to keep them and
how to search them.  :)

This sort of thing is absolutely essential when it comes time to do a
PCI or other sort of audit anyway.

Mike