[olug] Logging

[Dave Hull]

On Wed, 26 Feb 2003, Eric Penne wrote:

> I never log anything at home.  I usually find the tips through google
> then bookmark the site.  I later reformat and loose my bookmarks. :) 
> At work though I log almost every thing I do on production machines. 
> Especially now at my temporary position where I have a decent chance of
> not being there in a couple weeks/months.

At my day job, we have a "change control system" in place whereby we have to 
submit information about what changes we are going to make to production 
machines. These changes are reviewed and approved (99% of the time) and are 
kept on record both electronically and on paper forever.

It's quite helpful for troubleshooting purposes. Of course, there are times 
when a problem comes up over the weekend and changes have to be made 
immediately in order to return a machine to production. In these cases, we 
make the changes and then file the "sys change" after the fact.

I took a different position two and a half years ago, switching from system 
administrator to programmer. I inherited a half dozen home grown applications, 
all of which were poorly documented (and that's giving too much credit).

Since taking this position, I have implemented WebRT 
(http://www.bestpractical.com) for my department and use it just about 
everyday to document all the work I do. It has been an incredible time saver 
when having to deal with problems that occur once or twice a year. I search 
the database for information about the problem and can have the solution in a 
matter of seconds rather than having to rack my brain to remember what was 
done last fiscal year, etc.

-- 
Dave Hull
http://insipid.com

Robustness, adj.:
	Never having to say you're sorry.