SYDI

If you’re living close to the fjords, or just pine for them this post is for you. Since SYDI-Server 2.0 it’s been possible to convert the xml files produced by SYDI-Server to a Word document. This is done by the script ss-xml2word.vbs.

The script takes a language file as argument and thanks to Stian Johansen we now have a language file for Norwegian. At the moment the language file is released as a patch and is located here. It will be included in the next version of SYDI-Server. Support for Italian was released a month ago.

To download SYDI go to the website.

If you want to support your native language, please contact me. Creating a language file is quite easy, just open the ones in the language directory and take a look, if you have any questions just ask me.

Tags: network documentation, norwegian, sydi, translation, inventory

Less than a week after SYDI-Server 2.0 was released a guy named Red Erik sends me an Italian language file, so now SYDI-Server has language files for English, Swedish and Italian.

If you want your native language to be supported just take a look at the language xml files and give it a try. All you need is notepad!

I will include the Italian language file in the next version of SYDI. For now I’ve uploaded it to the patch section, so you can find it here.
Thank you Red Erik!

Tags: sydi, network documentation, italian, translation, software, inventory

I have just released SYDI-Server 2.0, which is part of the Open Source SYDI project. The goal of SYDI is to help people document their networks.

SYDI-Server is written in vbscript, it uses WMI to collect information from Windows Servers and Clients and writes information to XML or Microsoft Word.

You can download SYDI-Server 2.0 here.

The most exiting update for this release is the script ss-xml2word.vbs. It enables you to;

1. Convert a SYDI-Server XML file to word: Useful in situations where you don’t have Word installed. On a DMZ or running a scheduled task from a server.
2. Keep your documentation updated: In combination with the XML file from SYDI-Server you can create an own file where you have the written documentation for the target system. The two files are combined to a final Word report.
3. Native Language: I’ve added support for English and Swedish (the only two I know), it’s very easy to edit the translation files to support your native language. Contact me if you would like to maintain your own language file.

I have also added support for IIS, on target computers running Windows Server 2003. In this version the script only collects the most basic settings; more will come in later versions.

The complete ChangeLog since 1.6:
- Added ss-xml2word.vbs
- Added basic reporting for Internet Information Services (IIS)
- Added Language: Swedish (through ss-xml2word.vbs)
- Added members of local groups
- Added Sound Cards
- Added CD-ROM Drives
- Added Tape Drives
- Added Startup Commands
- Fixed CPU count for HT systems (thanks to Thomas from www.makronet.dk)
- Added -D option which might be useful for reporting bugs
- Fixed issue with using -u and -p (thanks alexwoolsey)
- Fixed a bug related to storage
- Removed -o option from wrapper script (appeared in help but didn’t exist, sorry )

For more information about SYDI take a look at the website, or keep reading this blog.

Tags: sydi, network documentation, system administration, software, inventory, open source

The SYDI project has received a $50 donation and would like to thank SEO Company. They have decided to support open source and are donating money to a lot of open source projects.

If you want to donate to the SYDI project there are instructions on the SYDI website.

Tags: sydi, open source, donations

I got an email from a user asking if I could change fonts in SYDI. My answer to him was; you change them.

There are two ways of doing this in SYDI both of them are easy.

The first way is to edit the script source. Open up SYDI-Server.vbs in a text editor and scroll down a bit to this section;

strFontBodyText = “Arial”
strFontHeading1 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontHeading2 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontHeading3 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontHeading4 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontTitle = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontTOC1 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontTOC2 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontTOC3 = “Trebuchet MS”
strFontHeader = “Arial”
strFontFooter = “Arial”

Just change the font names to what you want. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty by touching the code there is a fancier way of doing this too.

If you’ve used the help menu, cscript.exe sydi-server.vbs –h, you might have seen the –T option. What the Template (-T) option does is that it uses a Word Template file .dot and uses the settings from that file when writing the report for SYDI. The .dot file you choose to use can be one of your company’s template files or you can create a template just for SYDI.

To get started, run SYDI against your machine to create a word document. When the report is created, go to the Format drop down and choose “Styles and Formatting”. I’m using an English version of Word 2003 but it should be similar in other versions. From the Styles and Formatting section, change show to “Formatting in Use”. Now you can see the different formats used in the report.

Create a new word document, go the Styles and Formatting section, show “All Styles” and scroll down to Body Text, right click and select Modify, change the font to the one you want. I’ll just change the Body Text now but you can change all the ones found in “Formatting in Use” from the SYDI report.

Choose File, Save As. Change the Save as Type to “Document Template (*.dot)” and save the file as C:\SYDI\template.dot (or to your favorite directory).

To test your new template:

Cscript.exe sydi-server.vbs –TC:\sydi\template.dot

Hint: If you save the template in its default location you don’t need to specify the path when using –T.

If you’re having trouble implementing this or anything else related to SYDI, don’t hesitate to contact me.

Tags: sydi, network documentation, system administration, software, inventory

I like SYDI a lot and love the feedback I’m getting. There are some issues that stop it from being really useful, a big one is the ability to update the documentation. There’s been an open feature request for this since September 2004 so it’s about time this gets addressed.

The problem is when you create a Word document from SYDI-Server and then change the document, as you should to complete the documentation, you are not able to run SYDI again and keep the changes you made. In a way this limits SYDI to being more of an inventory tool compared to one which helps you with documentation.

I have started coding on SYDI-Server 2.0 where I hope to solve this in a way which might not be perfect but it should serve its purpose.

The idea I have now is that you create an XML file from SYDI-Server, use the XML file in combination with another XML file where you have the written part of the documentation.

The syntax will be something like this:

cscript.exe sydi-[coolname].vbs –xServer1.xml –sServer1_docs.xml –llang-english.xml –oServer1.doc

So in addition to being able to update the documentation you will also be able to convert the SYDI-Server XML files to DOC files which is useful in scenarios where you are not able to create the DOC files from the beginning.

As you might have noticed I’m also going to add a –l option for a language file. So provided that I get help with translation you will be able to get a DOC file in your native language. I don’t know if those offers are still valid but I have been offered help for a German and Polish translation, and I’ll probably do the Swedish one myself.

I will also try to include reporting for IIS, though this will only be for Windows Server 2003. There are a lot of new Windows Components in R2 which needs to be added to SYDI. Other than that I will add more hardware reporting and members of local groups.

Tags: sydi, network documentation, system administration, software, inventory