Very nice, George.
Instead of scrape'n'paste though, I'd be inclined to put all the commands in
an array. Then you could write a little super-script routine that would
allow you navigate/search/index through them and select the one(s) you'd
like to execute, instead of s'n'p. Maybe that'd be overkill.
I'm not adept at s'n'p in terminal mode. I should probably learn. Can
someone go over this at a meeting?
George Toft wrote:
> George rambling on . . .
>
> Making Sure Servers Are Identical
> =================================
> I have a file called /root/changes that is actually a shell script of
> every command I issue to make a change on a box. If I need to make a
> change to httpd.conf, for example, I script it with sed or vi.
>
> Here's an example of how it worked: I built a web server in development,
> and tested it. Once we were happy with it, we deployed the production
> server and executed the commands in /root/changes by scraping and
> pasting the commands. It took 15 minutes to configure the prod server
> and 30 minutes to upload content. I could have executed the file, but
> chose to carefully view the results of each command instead.
>
> When we had to add mail functionality, I built qmail in development,
> added the instructions to /root/changes, and paste/scrape in prod.
> Easy-peasy. Then I updated /root/changes on the prod server :)
>
> Needless to say, I absolutely backup /root as my DR plan for that server
> is stored there :)
>
>
> Managing Multiple Servers Simultaneously
> ========================================
> If you need to make small changes to many machines, consider using an
> expect script called multixterm that allows you to spawn multiple xterms
> with one command window. This way, all you need to do is enter the
> command once in the command window, and it goes to every box you have an
> xterm on.
>
> DANGER *** DANGER *** DANGER *** DANGER *** DANGER *** DANGER
> You better type the command perfectly. If you make a mistake, you are
> magnifying your mistake exponentially.
>
> I used this method at IBM for the 100+ servers I admin'd. It drove
> management nuts, but I was 4x as efficient as most other SA's (by their
> metrics). Since the script was standard and well tested by the OS
> Engineers, I could update the servers as fast as I could log in and
> paste the commands.
>
> Ever try to manage 100+ xterms? I used icewm with 12 desktops on two
> monitors to logically group the xterms and position them so I could see
> the results of the commands. (It was actually icewm under cygwin on
> Windows XP.)
>
>
> Different Method
> ================
> When I was at a web hosting company in L.A., I developed a system where
> I could push out updates in the form of a script. Every hour, the
> recipient boxes would check for the update script and execute it. Yes,
> I made a mistake on one push and had to engineer a fix and push it out
> in under an hour. There is much to be said for *thoroughly* testing
> your changes as well as scrape and paste :)
>
>
> Cheers!
>
> George Toft, CISSP, MSIS
> 623-203-1760
>
>
>
>
> Dazed_75 wrote:
>> I find myself making the same alterations to a small number of systems
>> but some of them repeatedly as I try different distros. I try to keep
>> some notes but find they are inadequate and inconsistent. It is also
>> painful to always make the changes manually. I know that in large
>> environments there are tools such as source management systems, network
>> installers, etc. but they are serious overkill to the small network or
>> individual user such as I.
>>
>> It occurs to me that this is a situation many of you have faced and
>> perhaps conquered. My hope is that there are some best practices people
>> might be willing to discuss here and that the discussion might be useful
>> to others besides me. So if you have favored techniques or tools, lets
>> hear about them. For example, a tool/script/etc to scan for and
>> document changes from a base install, a format/method for noting changes
>> made (and when/how?), or a reasonable means for re-asserting those
>> changes after a system re-install or upgrade. Yes, it is a lot to ask
>> but not asking helps no one.
>>
>> --
>> Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't
>> matter and those who matter don't mind. - Dr. Seuss
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
--
-Eric 'shubes'
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