Programs with custom services, virtual environments, config files in different locations, programs creating datas in different location…
I know today a lot of stuff runs in docker, but how does a sysadmin remember what has done on its system? Is it all about documenting and keeping your docs updated? Is there any other way?
(Eg. For installing calibre-web I had to create a python venv, the venv is owned by root in /opt, but the service starting calibre web in /etc/systemd/system needs to be executed with the User=<user> specifier because calibre web wants to write in a user home directory, at the same time the database folder needs to be owned by www-data because I want to r/w it from nextcloud… So calibreweb is installed as a custom root(?) program, running in a virtual env, can access a folder owned by someone else, but still needs to be executed by another user to store its data there… )
Despite my current confusion in understanding if all of this is right in terms of security, syntax and ownership, No fucking way I will remember all this stuff in a week from now… So… What do you use to do, if you do something? Do you use flowcharts? Simple text documents? Both?
Essentially, how do you keep track?
code forges are great for management tasks. host an internal forgejo, and create repos for your servers and services. use issues for keeping track of initial setup, config changes and upgrades. have a longer term issue for whenyou just want to record a little change but too lazy to open a full issue for it. you can also store config in the git repo, and write docs as wiki pages for things that are more stable or important aspects of your systems