I can’t express how important it is to make sure you not only document your network, but what a pain it is when you don’t.

6 weeks of planning and having to map out Active Directory comes to a head for myself this week as I take care of the last parts of the redesign. Of course a lot fo this time could have been prevented with the proper documentation.

And I don’t mean just listing out what harware you have and how its connected. Active Directory, Network Shares, Security on the shares, all of it should be documented. Not just in case you need to change things, but to show what work has been done, so others can understand what has been done, how things are set up, and more importantly why they are done that way.

It also help out when trying to track down potential causes of issues. It doesn’t matter if its SBS or not, it should be done. Use Visio, make a network notebook, whatever floats your boat, but just do it