What Do All These Servers Do?

[mwadmin]

I'm a junior Sysadmin, I've been doing the job for around 4 years now and have identified a recurring problem:

 

"Hey Bob, what does server_x do?"

 

I've gotten the hang of checking out the file shares. Domain Controllers are pretty easy to identify, and there are easy-to-Google articles on how to find the FSMO roles and such. But for the other stuff--SQL servers, web servers, etc, how do you figure that out if Bob doesn't know either? Network maps are nice, when they exist and are accurate. So what I'm really asking is the following scenario:

 

You are hired on, and after completing paperwork the morning of your first day you go to lunch with the entire system administration team. You stop to take a call while crossing the street, making you the sole survivor when they all get hit by a bus (the first and last annual school bus drifting competition was in town, sad story ). You're the only one left. You have your domain admin account, full rights to everything on the network etc, but there are no network maps and the only servers with relevant names are the domain controllers (foobarsoft-dc01, foobarsoft-dc02, etc). You are not authorized to rebuild the domain in a manner of your choosing, it has to stay as is for the time being.

 

What are your tricks for finding out what each server does?

[mwadmin]

And I'll start with my own easy-as-crap tricks. I've trained admins from very little base knowledge, so some of this might be a no-brainer to more senior admins.

 

DNS and DHCP

Easy enough to find both at once, and is a good jumping-off point:

Start, Run, CMD, ipconfig/all on your workstation. This gives us the DHCP server, the DNS servers, and the IP address for our switch (the Default Gateway).

We also get our domain, and maybe the subnet mask will imply the size of your network to some degree. Ping-a on any of these addresses will also provide some insights into the naming scheme which might help a bit too.

 

Finding Servers

Once you have DHCP, you can add the server to that snapin (Admin Tools, DHCP). With a bit of luck the servers will have DHCP reservations in the low or high end. Regardless, even if servers aren't always named helpfully, they tend to at least have some indicator that they are servers in the name.

 

Finding File Servers

Hopefully you have the standard file servers mapped to your account, and can just hit up "My Computer" to find those names. Even so, it wouldn't hurt too badly to start up a Remote Desktops MMC, add in all the servers you've found, and log in once. It'll at least add your profile to the machines, and while you're at it? Right-click on "My Computer" in each one, hit Manage, and open the "Shared Folders/Shares" folder. Anything that doesn't end in a $ sign is, to some degree or another, a public share. Even on the domain controllers. Never underestimate the poor choices necessity can force.

 

Finding IIS Web Servers and SQL Servers

While we're in the Computer Management console, open up "Service sand Applications." If you have "Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager", you've got a web server. If you have "SQL Server Configuration Manager," you've got an SQL Server. The IIS might be for Exchange, the SQL Server might be for WSUS or Backup Exec or whatever (before long your web browser will "need" one, for no apparent reason), but you've got them.

 

Alright, that's all the time I have for documentation (aka forum posts) today.

[sabe75]

Actually, DNS will give you pretty much everything; if your advertising a service it is being advertised from the DNS svr records....

 

It is more the network infrastructure which is a little more complex, e.g. switches and routers; but start from layer one and follow the cables; you'll find everything pretty soon

 

Kind Regards