Microsoft KB Archive/328779

= XGEN: Hardware and Software Records =

Article ID: 328779

Article Last Modified on 2/27/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q328779



SUMMARY
To recover a server quickly, it is important to maintain software and hardware records for all computers in your organization. Maintaining these records minimizes the time it takes to resolve hardware and software configuration problems that can occur while attempting to recover a server.



MORE INFORMATION
For easy access to your hardware and software configuration records, create a folder for each server's configuration information and store the folder on a shared server in your network. Alternatively, you can store this information in notebooks next to each server in your Exchange 2000 organization.

Hardware Records
Maintain current hardware configuration records, including:
 * List of hardware manufacturer's point-of-contact information, such as support numbers, e-mail addresses and Web pages for online support.
 * List of the hardware on each server with firmware update versions and hardware driver versions (you can find this hardware information in Device Manager in Windows 2000 Server).
 * List of the BIOS information, IRQ settings, hard disk configuration information, and jumper settings on your server's hardware.

Software Records
Maintain current software records, including:
 * Lists of software vendor's point-of-contact information, such as support numbers, e-mail addresses and Web pages for online support.
 * Lists of software upgrades (such as service packs), software updates, and so forth that are installed on your servers. This list should be organized by date and include the dates backups are made.

Caution: A Windows 2000 System State backup includes operating system files that correspond to the hardware and software configurations on your computer (for example, Windows 2000 registry files and DLL files). When you restore the System State data, it is possible that the System State data you restore, including the DLL files, will be out of sync with the software program versions that are currently installed on the server. However, by maintaining a log of your software update installations, you can restore the software updates to your operating system in the order they were installed.

The following example illustrates the importance of maintaining a list of software upgrades and updates. Table 1 illustrates a simple software logbook for a server. Table 2 illustrates a logbook for the restoration process of that server. Note that the event processes appear in the same order in both tables.

Table 1 Exchange &quot;SERVER01&quot; Logbook -| Date     | Event                                       | -| 1/10/2001 | Windows 2000 Advanced Server installed      | 1/10/2001 | Antivirus software version 4.0 installed    | 1/10/2001 | Video Driver update version 1.5 installed   | 1/11/2001 | Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 installed       | 1/11/2001 | Internet Explorer 5.5 installed             | 1/12/2001 | Microsoft Office 2000 installed             | 1/12/2001 | System State backup                         | 1/12/2001 | Exchange 2000 installed                     | 1/13/2001 | Exchange 2000 Service Pack 1 installed      | 3/11/2001 | Server hit by lightning! Hardware destroyed.| -|

Table 2 Exchange &quot;SERVER01&quot; Recovery Logbook ---| Date     | Event                                             | ---| 3/11/2001 | Windows 2000 Advanced Server installed            | 3/11/2001 | Antivirus software version 4.0 installed          | 3/11/2001 | Video Driver update version 1.5 installed         | 3/11/2001 | Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 installed             | 3/11/2001 | Internet Explorer 5.5 installed                   | 3/11/2001 | Office 2000 installed                             | 3/11/2001 | System State backup restored                      | 3/11/2001 | Exchange 2000 installed in Disaster Recovery mode | 3/11/2001 | Exchange 2000 Service Pack 1 installed            | 3/11/2001 | Databases mounted and Exchange server back online | 3/11/2001 | Databases mounted and Exchange server back online | ---|