automatic documentation: feature spec for ubuntu server

[Matt Darcy]

Koen Noens wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> System Administrators know they need to document their systems, but 
> often don't. In large environments, there are professional tools to
> automate this, but these are usually overkill for home users or SOHO / 
> Small Business environments.
>
> I was working at some sort of 'automatic system documentation' script 
> for my own servers, and found it turned out quite well, so I thought 
> maybe the ubuntu server team would be interested in having a look at it 
> and maybe use it in Ubuntu Server.
>
>
> I've made a blueprint in Launchpad, with some pointers to rationale, use 
> cases, design, and a working proof-of-concept script, a.o.
> I don't know if you'll get notified automatically, hence this e-mail to 
> draw your attention to it.
>
> https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/automaticsystemdocumentation
>
>
> regards,
> Koen Noens
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>   
Hi Koen,

having read through your blueprint, what you suggest as a concept seems 
solid, however is a shell script the best way to do this ?

There are tools available, one mentioned in a previous reply that will 
do this in a much neater format, such as cfg2html, and is employed 
already by enterprise tool kits,

SME's may have multiple machines running multiple distros/unix varients 
, therefore is a shell script the way to take this forward ?
Your shell script is not dynamic and does not account for any additional 
auditing, such as Ldap authentication (just an easy example), or a 
central repository, for a one server environment your concept seems spot 
on, but then a one server environment - would you need to do this ?

Monitoring tools such as nagios are also invaluable for displaying the 
status of certain real time environments and hardware.

I can see the goal your suggesting, but for it to be useful to SME's it 
needs to be more generic and more of a tool in the same way nagios is, 
for multiple distros and bigger scope for customisation, application 
listing, authentication options, etc etc.

Matt