Checklist for server infrastructure

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  1. System administration
    • Application management
    • Operating system administration
    • Messaging administration
    • Database administration
    • Web server administration
  2. Configuration management
    • Identify & document components & their relationships
    • Document which applications are running on each server
    • Document the service pack level for all applications & the server operating system
    • Document all critical application level settings, such as the path to databases and transaction logs
    • Document all DNS, WINS and DHCP settings.
    • Document which services are used on each server
  3. Capacity management
    • Business capacity management
    • Service capacity management
    • Resource capacity management
    • Planning, sizing and controlling business, service solution and resource capacity such that it satisfies business unit user demand.
    • Performance levels established in the capacity plan and service level agreements.
  4. Workforce management
    • Adequately skilled and trained workforce.
    • Recruiting
    • Skills development
    • Knowledge transfer
    • Competency levels
    • Team building
    • Process improvements
    • Resource deployment
  5. Service continuity management
    • Manage disaster recovery sites and services.
    • Reduce single points of failure on business critical systems.
  6. Integration with Service Desk
    • Monitoring service desk performance
    • Manage costs and charges
    • Reporting to management
    • Comparing actual performance to commitments & industry benchmarks
    • Optimizing staffing levels
    • Monitoring & continually assessing & improving service desk workflow & business processes
    • Monitoring & continually assessing & improving tools & technologies used in automating service desk activities
    • Integration with Incident Management
    • Integration with Problem Management
    • Integration with Change Management
  7. Security administration
    • Maintain a safe computing environment
    • Ensure data confidentiality
    • Ensure data integrity
    • Ensure data availability
  8. Release management
    • Facilitate the introduction of software & hardware releases
    • Ensure that all changes are deployed successfully
    • Coordinate & manage all releases
  9. Storage management
    • Servers, storage hardware, storage software, storage networks, tools & operational processes
    • Ensure that business can reliably safeguard their data
    • Ensure that these systems and stored data kept operating
  10. Print and output management
    • Management of printer and print types
    • Screen standardisation
  11. Network administration
    • Integrate components with the network.
    • Maintain networking standardisation.
  12. Service monitoring and control
    • Process heartbeat
    • Job and queue status
    • Server resource loads
    • Response times
    • Transaction status and availability
  13. Service level management
    • Creating a service catalog
    • Identifying and negotiating service level requirements for service level agreements
    • Ensuring that service level requirements are met within financial budgets
    • Setting accounting policies
    • Monitoring and reviewing support services
  14. Job scheduling
    • Ensure that SLAs & user requirements are met
    • Available capacity is used most effectively (the workload running at any given time does not exceed the acceptable capacity levels)
    • Workloads are organized by time periods (daily, weekly, monthly, annually) & jobs are scheduled for execution according to business needs, length of job, storage requirements & associated dependencies
    • Schedules are set up and maintained, conflicts & problems pertaining to scheduling are managed & special needs (for example, as-needed jobs) are accommodated
    • Jobs & batches are executed according to the work schedule, run priority & job dependencies
  15. Financial management
    • Controlling the overall IT costs that business incurs
    • Financial management activities include budgeting, IT accounting, charging (or charge back models) & system decommissioning
    • Budgeting which consists of predicting & controlling the spending of money within the enterprise
    • Ensure that any service solution proposed to meet the needs identified from a request for change is justified from a cost and budget standpoint
    • Charging by billing Business Unit users for services
    • System decommissioning or retirement is critical so that systems can be assessed over time to consider not only upgrades and new functionality, but also replacement
  16. Directory service management
    • Document which domains are included within the forest
    • Document which domain controllers are responsible for performing which Active Directory roles
    • Document any external trust relationships that exist
    • Document any site links that may exist and which servers are acting as the bridgeheads
    • Document each OU and the computers, servers, and groups contained within them. Users are optional
    • Document the rights assigned to each group. Documenting group membership is optional
    • Document the location & name of each group policy
    • Document the settings within each group policy
  17. Availability management
    • Ensure that Business Unit users can use a given IT service when required
    • Ensuring high availability for a service solution must begin early in the software or service development process
    • Ensure that designing for availability, reliability, manageability, and maintainability occur & are documented in the specification of the product or service
    • Support the service with solid operational processes & skilled people

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