Routine IT Tasks

Our consultant wants me to document all of our routine IT tasks for all of our companies. I got a pretty good list going of what to do and how often to do it, but I hate documenting stuff and I'm sure I'm missing standard IT things he'll be looking for.

I mean, if everyone could document everything they do, then we could all just get a book and be whatever we wanted.

Does anyone out there have anything they've done like this I could use as a guide? Anything online you know of that might help? I would appreciate it much.

Why don't you start by providing the list you have, then we can add to it. You don't want us telling you stuff you already have writen down... :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ya_know

Why don't you start by providing the list you have, then we can add to it. You don't want us telling you stuff you already have writen down... :p

---

Good idea, he did say he already has a list started!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 3FS

Good idea, he did say he already has a list started!

---

Well ok...but it ain't much.

I got a lot of stuff about backups - always important.

-check logs weekly
-clean drive monthly
-replace tapes yearly
etc.

Weekly:
-Check server event logs
-Check Antivirus reports, make sure updates are working

Monthly:
????

Semi-Annually:
-Check disk space on server
-Check & test server UPS

Yearly:
?????

You might add,

All other minor issues: Reboot!

the downloads section of Tech Republic is well worth a look. you need to register (free) to download stuff. The resource documents and templates and checklists section are probably where you want to browse.

I would stick with writing templates and checklists rather than step by step how-to's, not only to be cautious of 'writing yourself out of a job' but also avoiding alotta unnecessary work to have 'how to update virus definitions' or 'how to open event viewer'.

Depending on the backup drive you might not want to clean it monthly. Some backup drives are designed to ask for the cleaning tape only when they need it. Any more will ruin the heads.

Put fancy stuff in there:

Audit user permissions
Perform defensive ports scans
Check for firmware updates on routers
Image server Hard Drive
Create System Restore points
Test server response times

and the more common:

Scandisk
Defrag
Adware removal
Windows Update
Compressed air cleaning of systems
Printer aintainance
User education


This document will be telling you boss how important you are to the company. He should read and think, "I'm glad we have Darkstar to do all this stuff."

You've seen Office Space. It's not good when consultants come in and tell you that you need to document your benefit to the company.

I would document every little thig I did and present it in the most concise and professional format I could. You want them to think it would be hard to find somene else who could be more thorough.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by silencio

Depending on the backup drive you might not want to clean it monthly. Some backup drives are designed to ask for the cleaning tape only when they need it. Any more will ruin the heads.

---

True, but there are some drives that require a cleaning after so many hours of use...typical small business, that's as often as once, even twice a week. Best bet is to determine what is required by the manufacturer of the drive...

Plan a disaster recovery drill yearly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by a d e p t

Plan a disaster recovery drill yearly.

---

Amen. An untested backup solution is no good at all. You must not only peridically read and verify backup media but you should have a list of critical data and a schedule of restore tests for that data.

Ideally each backed up machine should also be the subject of a test rebuild on a separate hardware platform (perhaps a hot spare server) but that can take a great deal of time. Last company I worked for did an in place upgrade of a mail server using backups that had never been tested (this is 7 or 8 years back now). It turned out that none of the hidden files on the server had EVER been backed up and no one ever noticed. All of the mail stores were in files with the hidden attribute set. A simple comparison of the size of the backed up data against the amount of space in use on the server's hard drives would have highlighted the problem immediately. No one had ever thought to test or verify complete server backups though. Individual file restores were tested but not entire server restores.

As a result, the server was rebuilt in place, and all it's hard drives were overwritten. There was no data on the backups, going back into the history of the backups there never was a single successful backup. Half of the company email went bye bye. That was not good.

A backup test plan and verification process should definitely be part of your routine.

All good ideas. Much appreciated.

And craigmodius, you said what I was thinking. I'm not writing for non-technical people so there's no need for a basic "click here" type of approach. I really think my boss is clueless and needs that in case I leave, but that's not my fault.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jimmm33

Put fancy stuff in there:

Audit user permissions
Perform defensive ports scans
Check for firmware updates on routers
Image server Hard Drive
Create System Restore points
Test server response times

and the more common:

Scandisk
Defrag
Adware removal
Windows Update
Compressed air cleaning of systems
Printer aintainance
User education


This document will be telling you boss how important you are to the company. He should read and think, "I'm glad we have Darkstar to do all this stuff."

You've seen Office Space. It's not good when consultants come in and tell you that you need to document your benefit to the company.

I would document every little thig I did and present it in the most concise and professional format I could. You want them to think it would be hard to find somene else who could be more thorough.

---

Also good ideas. Some questions:

-What do you use to audit user permissions. I think we need to do this.
-Do you defrag your workstations or just your servers? How often?

Get with the general manager type person and determine what users and groups should have access to what resources on the network. Confirm user rights in Active Directory and also by going to workstations and testing. Try to organize the groups in a logical order if they are not already. Disable old accounts. Ensure that only the proper users have remote access. I don't know of any software that does this, you just have to do it manually.

I dont really work on networks big enough to do this, but it sounds important to the boss and consultants, so I would put it in your documentation.

I would recommend defrag the servers and workstations.

I was in a Dr.s office today. They where complaining about the server being slow. It had 400MB free space (18GB SCSI drive) and 53% fragmentation. Cleaned up and defraged and everything is running great. None of the workstations reported needing to be defragged but I did it anyway.

I would do it about once a month.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jimmm33

Get with the general manager type person and determine what users and groups should have access to what resources on the network. Confirm user rights in Active Directory and also by going to workstations and testing. Try to organize the groups in a logical order if they are not already. Disable old accounts. Ensure that only the proper users have remote access. I don't know of any software that does this, you just have to do it manually.

I dont really work on networks big enough to do this, but it sounds important to the boss and consultants, so I would put it in your documentation.

I would recommend defrag the servers and workstations.

I was in a Dr.s office today. They where complaining about the server being slow. It had 400MB free space (18GB SCSI drive) and 53% fragmentation. Cleaned up and defraged and everything is running great. None of the workstations reported needing to be defragged but I did it anyway.

I would do it about once a month.

---

Do you kick the users off for an hour while you defrag their workstations??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Darkstar

Do you kick the users off for an hour while you defrag their workstations??

---

Only in 9x...

Most networks I deal with are 2-10 machines. Defrag as the employee leaves for the day or at lunch, or any way it can be done. In a big network with dedicated IT staff, I don't know if the boss would like that. For the purposes of documentation, you may want to schedule defrag once a month during after hours.

I guess it comes down to you companys needs. If you find that after a month, then machines are only 5-10% fragmented then check after two months. Maybe schedule defrags for every 3 months on workstations.

Point is to pack the documentation full of duties you perform to prove your value.

If they are not technical, they're gonna look at your list and think you sleep. We went through this a few years ago and looked light duty on paper. If your list looks thin, get the "other" list ready that has: spent two days patching for new virus, troubleshoot connection issue, fix failed back up, run restore, all day phone with vendor for repair, bust hump, ect.

Unless your a showman, they rarely remeber this.

Our "they"s have a bigger list of duties then they know what to do with now that we use a help desk package.

And that cost them 30 to 60 minutes a day per tech for work tickects.

I have had to document the "who to call" list for emergency and routine on call procedures.

Also a complete inventory of all IT assets to determine availability and lease return/replacement schedules. This can be an annual inventory or more frequent.

How do you guys run printer maintenance if you're not a printer tech...we have 3 HP laserjets...2 of them have print servers installed....so what sort of maintenanc do you do? Physical, or self -running...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ScorpioIlya

How do you guys run printer maintenance if you're not a printer tech...we have 3 HP laserjets...2 of them have print servers installed....so what sort of maintenanc do you do? Physical, or self -running...

---

Cleaning and install maintenance kits when needed. Should include transfer roller, fuser, and pickup and feed rollers for HP products. I don't know about other brands...

Anything beyond that, I take them outside, blow them out with a little compressed air, looks for ware on gears...paper shrapnel caught in paper paths. Check paper drawers for missing or broken pieces, and test all paper paths.

Then if it's something I can't fix with any of the above, call a local certified printer repair company. Let them handle it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ya_know

Cleaning and install maintenance kits when needed. Should include transfer roller, fuser, and pickup and feed rollers for HP products. I don't know about other brands...

Anything beyond that, I take them outside, blow them out with a little compressed air, looks for ware on gears...paper shrapnel caught in paper paths. Check paper drawers for missing or broken pieces, and test all paper paths.

Then if it's something I can't fix with any of the above, call a local certified printer repair company. Let them handle it!

---

Okay but how often do you replace all that? Once a year? 2 years?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ScorpioIlya

Okay but how often do you replace all that? Once a year? 2 years?

---

Maintenance kits are to be replaced after a certain page cycle, most are around 100,000. That doesn't mean that they have to, but the manufacturer recommends it. I typically go until the printer shows troubles with bad product, or difficulty picking up pages, or pieces of the fuser drum coming off :eek2: . As long as you get it before it causes serious problems with the printer, such as grinding gears or serious mechanical issues, you should be alright. I’ve made it well over 200,000 between kits on a 5si…

You should inspect the printer every time there is an issue with it, and if you rarely have to look at it, at least twice a year clean it up inside, and do your inspections them...and keep track of the page count between major maintenance, and check that periodically.

Lastly, it's important to know when to draw the line. If you don't know what you are doing, it is cheaper to call someone in to do a repair then mess things up, and have to replace more parts...

Be Careful! Maybe I am just being paranoid, but usually there is a reason behind the Powers that Be asking for such things. Oh, like all the passwords to the server. Seen this happen to a few friends of mine where they were asked to document everything and once they turned it in, they got a check and a smile to leave and let a consultant take over their job.

This doesn't always mean it is going to happen, but it just helps to keep your ear to the ground when things like this are in the air.