I have for a long time been using a number of non-typical solutions for the management of my internal servers and, up until recently, those of my clients. I mentioned this in one of my first posts at Computerworld (RSS as and administration tool), so it was only a matter of time before I shared the techniques with others. You can now read my new tutorial are developerWorks on using alternative methods to manage and monitor your Unix servers. There are a number of key elements here:

• Using a blog to record changes and important events
• Using a Wiki to record configuration and setup information
• Using Subversion to record configuration history
• Some other, related, points such as security, onsite/offsite considerations and how to combine services to simplify the process even further.

Go and read the full article for more information: Use alternative methods to manage and monitor your UNIX servers.