Tool to describe information about infrastructure

Question

I'm looking for something to describe existing infrastructure of working applications. What I need:

The ability to create new entities, add/edit properties of entity. Example of entity is Windows server with properties such as IP address, server name etc. Another example is application with properties: name, location etc.

Create dependency between entities. Application depends on server where it's installed and running. Dependency can be different type: vital, high impact, low impact.

Search. User should be able to find entity by property and see all entities related to the entity.

Interaction. Optional. Could be good to have the ability to change the state of entity, f.e. shut down the server and see what application will be impacted and how.

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '09 at 13:20

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Visio can do all that using the data attributes on objects which can be fully customised and has nice base images to make it very visual.

answered Jul 23 '09 at 13:20

Robert MacLean

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You mean you can set dependencies and change appearance based on those dependencies? For example, if server B depends on server A and I change status of A to shutdown, could B be automatically painted red? – Vinko Vrsalovic Jul 23 '09 at 14:28
You can do that via the data link options to have it automatic, if needed. – Robert MacLean Jul 24 '09 at 06:55
is it possible to filter objects somehow in Visio? – Jul 24 '09 at 16:37
It is possible to filter out objects – Robert MacLean Jul 25 '09 at 08:18

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 26 '09 at 12:58

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Have you considered any of the tools from Solarwinds? They're all Windows-based, so I haven't gotten too much use from them, but they looked pretty impressive when I played with them.

http://www.solarwinds.com/products/

answered Oct 26 '09 at 12:58

Matt Simmons

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score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 23 '09 at 13:19

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What you are looking for is a configuration database. You can certainly use System center configuration manager and or the up and coming System Center Service Manager

answered Jul 23 '09 at 13:19

Jim B

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Tool to describe information about infrastructure

3 Answers3