Software for Tracking System Configuration Changes?

DingleyDon asks: "I am currently administering a growing Unix environment and am interested in better documenting changes such as upgrades, software installs, configuration changes, etc. to the hardware and software on those servers from a SysAdmin's point of view. Obviously, this could be done with something as simple as a text file stored on each system, or a spreadsheet, or any other number of ways. But what I envision is a database app (web-enabled) where I can easily keep all of this information in a centralized location and query on the history of any given server. Is there any such package out there? (free=even better!) What do other SysAdmins use to document changes made to their environment?"

Comments

Mailing List perhaps

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm going over the same thing at my workplace now. We run a change management system but using it is a bit of a kludge. What I'm looking for is a way of tracking the requests without having to go through the whole approval process (which is a good thing for a serious change management system).

All up I came up with using mailing list software to receive changes, and then have them archived on a web site, with a nightly mailout to all support staff of an index of the days changes logged. I'm wanted to break the change notes down by host in which case I would get users to enter the hostname in [] brackets as the first part of the subject line.

I'm still evaluating how I'm going to do this. Most good mailing list is on *nix, but we're a mostly MS shop here. The only thing I'd look at doing is writing a collection --> posting program to bring email from the MSExchange mailbox over to the *nix system.

If anyone has done something like this and has the software under GPL, I'd love to know.

HTH

Have alook at IRM

[freakkster]

Is not IRM something to look into and if it has the basics, to develop it further. I have looked at it and you could track software installed, although it needs humans entering the data.

Having said that, you could write an update script to update on installation of any new software.
irm.schoenefeld.org