Using Checklists

Niclas at Aspiring Sysadmin has an article about using checklists. It's solid advice. I typically call them procedures instead of checklists, but it amounts to the same thing.

I'd just like to add that Wiki's are the perfect tool for creating procedures and checklists.

First, I find it a lot easier to search and find things on a wiki than it is on a file server or my home directory. This is important because chances are you'll be doing it more than once. I've had to migrate data centers 4 times in 8 years and I've been able to recycle my procedures and documentation a few times now.

I've blogged before about creating a page per server. I'll include a procedure common to a server right on it's page. I also like to build 'knowledge bases' (I'll have to blog on this later) right into the wiki. Often times, my server maintenance entries include links to the central procedure, along with any places I had to deviate.

Wiki's typically have formating options for blocks of code, like shell scripts. That's handy for making them readable and copy/paste-able. Word processors typically don't work well for this as they like to mangle special characters. Text documents don't manage your ordered lists and aren't as readable for large procedures. Most wikis also format well for printing -- hard copies are important when you're network is down.

Of course, you can easily update a procedure on a wiki. You can add notes and change steps while you're working through the list if you find inaccurate information. It keeps track of the changes you've made, in case you want to go back to an old one, or at least see what it was.