The purpose of this document is to help you establish a Documentation System to model the Network Infrastructure that Microvellum will operate. If you already have a Documentation System in place to document your Network Infrastructure, then this document does not apply.

Infrastructure is referring to the components that allow information to be shared and used in various parts of your company. These components include individual computers, network cables, switches, servers, and others. This document will focus on the basic components to model infrastructure, but you can expand on the items demonstrated to model the Network Infrastructure for the entire company.

This type of documentation has tremendous value for managing, planning, budgeting, and evaluation purposes. The most significant advantage is that if the worst happened and computers were destroyed or stolen, with well-documented Network Infrastructure and a set of Backups, you would be able to rebuild your entire company’s Engineering and Production System along with others in days, once replacement equipment arrives. Without said materials, this process could take weeks or months to rebuild a functional system equal to what was previously deployed and make or break a company in a short amount of time in the event of a disaster.

Key Information to Document

1. Server – The term Server refers to a computer that hosts Shared Folders or SQL Instances. The Server may or may not be an actual Server depending on the equipment you have available. Microvellum recommends that Shared Folders and SQL Servers not be served from workstations used for daily operations and prefer that they are served from the actual Server when available.
   
2. Primary Workstation – Microvellum recommends that there be a single workstation designated as the Primary Workstation to serve as a management hub to be able to access all key areas required to maintain data and projects. All changes or updates deployed specifically for Microvellum originate from this location.
   
3. Production Workstations – Workstations that will only be used for Engineering and Production.
   
4. Testing / Training Workstations – Workstations that will only be used for Testing and Training purposes.
   
5. NIC Settings - IP Addresses, DNS Settings in the properties for the TCPIP4 Protocol when not managed by a Server. This information is more critical for Peer to Peer Network Environments.
   
6. Computer Information - Computer Serial Numbers and Users for all workstations running Microvellum Software is helpful for tracking software activations and which User uses which workstation.
   
7. Shared Folders – Documenting Shared Folders and the Mapped Drives Microvellum uses to access these folders is important information to have for standardizing configurations across multiple workstations.
   
8. SQL Server – Knowing the name of the computer name and the SQL Instance name that houses the Microvellum Database is important information to have for standardizing configurations across multiple workstations. Include additional User name and Password when using SQL Authentication.
   

Documentation System

There are a variety of ways to document Network Infrastructure. They can range from scratch paper notes in a binder to elaborate diagrams. There is also a verity of software to generate such documentation ranging from Note Pad to Microsoft Visio and beyond.

Since most of us in the Microvellum world use AutoCAD for drawings, we can use AutoCAD also to generate infrastructure documentation as well. For a quick representation, one can draw rectangles and add notes to them as multi-line text. Add notes to the items listed above that apply.

Network Infrastructure can be complicated and hard to follow at times, so Microvellum does offer services to help you get a network environment up and running and documented for future reference. You may consult your Account Manager or Technical Support Agent for more information.

Microvellum Technical Support is limited to troubleshooting and resolving issues related to network issues, such as permissions, DC, DNS, DHCP, routing, and other server-specific configurations. Having such information available will allow our support team to provide better suggestions and direction for resolving the issue.