Besides the obvious components of a disaster recovery plan, such as good backups and emergency repair utilities, documentation is a key point in the disaster recovery puzzle. Windows Server 2003 includes some utilities that make the gathering of information quick and easy in order to help administrators keep up with this important task.
The System Information utility enumerates information regarding the hardware, BIOS, original installation, and network. To access it, type systeminfo at the command prompt.
Here's sample output from the Components section of this tool:
Host Name: W2K3
OS Name: Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
OS Version: 5.2.3790 Build 3790
OS Manufacturer: Microsoft Corporation
OS Configuration: Primary Domain Controller
OS Build Type: Uniprocessor Free
Registered Owner: Sample User
Registered Organization
Product ID: 99999-999-9999999-99999
Original Install Date: 9/13/2003, 11:43:32 PM
System Up Time: 0 Days, 1 Hours, 15 Minutes, 21 Seconds
System Manufacturer: VMware, Inc.
System Model: VMware Virtual Platform
System Type: X86-based PC
Processor(s): 1 Processor(s) Installed.,[01]: x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 1 AuthenticAMD ~2009 Mhz
BIOS Version: PTLTD - 6040000
Windows Directory: C:\WINDOWS
System Directory: C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device: \Device\HarddiskVolume1
System Locale: en-us;English (United States)
Input Locale: en-us;English (United States)
Time Zone: (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Total Physical Memory: 255 MB
Available Physical Memory: 56 MB
Page File: Max Size: 876 MB
Page File: Available: 465 MB
Page File: In Use: 411 MB
Page File Location(s): C:\pagefile.sys
Domain example.com
Logon Server: \\W2K3
Hotfix(s): 3 Hotfix(s) Installed.,[01]: File 1,[02]: Q147222,[03]: KB828750 - Update
Network Card(s): 1 NIC(s) Installed.,[01]: AMD PCNET Family PCI Ethernet Adapter, Connection Name: External network, DHCP Enabled: Yes,
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.1, IP address(es), [01]:
192.168.1.103
You can also redirect the output to a .csv file to easily import it into Excel. This is especially useful if you have a lot of servers and want a consistent way to keep track of them. To export to a .csv file, use the following command: systeminfo /fo > filename.csv
To obtain information from a different system, use the /S (system), /U (user), and /P (password) parameters. For example, the following command will attach to the server named "server" with the username "domain\user" and the password "password."
systeminfo /s server /u domain\user /P password