A common problem with data centers is that we have different types of systems coming from different vendors and we have different operators or engineers modifying and maintaining these systems under different projects and most of the time without having a common and secure Database to keep track of all the changes and to share the information. Usually we use tools that are most commonly available at the enterprise level to create a document management system such as email servers, file shares, paper notes, voice mail, etc. this approach has many problems in terms of efficiency, security, manageability, etc. and it will very quickly get out of hand living everyone with a certain amount of frustration. In order to address this issue, I started a new project that I called TDR (Technical Document Repository), it is an Apache web server with PHP support and a MySQL database, it provides a web interface that will allow to:
• Add/Modify/Delete system vendors.
• Add/Modify/Delete systems.
• Add/Modify/Delete departments.
• Add/Modify/Delete users.
• Add/Modify/Delete document types
• Add/Modify/Delete document entries.
• Attach/Detach different types of documents to a document entry such as PDF, JPG, PPT, DOC, XLS, etc.
• Add comment under a document entry.
• Search document entries by keyword.
• Search document entries by classification (document type and system, or document type and vendor, etc.)
• Secure document entry by the user or the group of users who are allowed to read or modify.
• Authenticate users against a local database or a RADIUS server (I am using RSA type of tokens too)
Now I am using this server to manage my configuration files, my configuration changes, my notes, my presentations, my contacts, I used also to track the different bugs I found while using the server. It is very useful for me and it is allowing me to get the information I need usually in no more than three or four clicks.
For more information send me an email to akochlef-at-gmail-dot-com)