what are the tools you carry

[whcdavid]

Hello,

I know there are lots of tools used admistrator. Can you share some of the toold which you carry?

Thanks
David K

Does 3 discs of Centos count? A laptop and a crossover cable is what I carry at most.

[Keith]

I always show up with a tool bag that includes my laptop, a pair of rj45 crimpers, a pair of cable strippers, a pair of scissors, some electrical tape, screw drivers, and there is usually some duct tape in my car just incase. I have used many different tools in the datacenter and have done my fair share of "improvising".

For example, I once had to work on a dell server that was in the middle of a rack with a bunch of servers on top of it that were not on rails. Downtime on the systems that were not on rails was not allowed. I found the best way to handle this was with a nylon wratchet strap that I put under the servers above the problem machine and looped the hooks to the top of the cabinet through the cable holes. I wratcheted the servers up to the top of the cabinet and slid the problem server out.

The guy at the NOC looked at me as if I was crazy when I walked in with my wratchet straps. It only goes to show that diverse sets of tools will help you in the long run!

[jranil]

Beside hardware tools, usually there is a NEED for some tool sets to debug, troubleshoot and gather information about the network/server. before BackTrack I was using my customized SLAX based liveCD. but now, I think BackTrack have enough tools !
I have started a blog called Secure2S Security Tool Sets Blog which I am going to gather all tools which I think could be useful at one place. for the start I am using Top 100 Network Security Tools!

I love linux cds, crimpers, and cross-overs as much as the next guy

But my pride and joy is my Gerber Legend 800 (http://www.gerbergear.com/product.php?model=8239). I seem to use this so much, and I take pride in it. I'm going to give it to my son someday and say, "Son, this is the family tool, and I'm giving it to you!"

Hehe, no, but seriously yes.

Kyle Anderson

For hardware diags, there are all kinds of usefull tools, but for $20 this Radio Shack very compact multimeter comes in handy. I have one and keep it in my bag all the time. It is so small, and yet works fine for troubleshooting, checking voltage levels, etc.

For software tools: Can't go wrong with Winternals and PC Check (Eurosoft) for quick fix / diag issues. And the distro recommended by jranil - BackTrack is a pretty complete suite of tools ( www.remote-exploit.org ) , as well as other troubleshooting live CDs (Knoppix, Linux Rescue CD, et al.)

I personally carry a couple of very short length, 4" to 6" crossover and rollover Ethernet cables. Each has a RJ45 coupling attached. With these cable/coupling segments I can put together a crossover or rollover cable of any length using available straight through cable. There are alway straight through cables laying around. Additionally, the small size of these cable/coupling segments makes them easy to pack up and store. They have come in handy many times.

[VantageUK]

Crimpers, RJ45 ends/boots, cable clippers/strippers, torch, tape, socket set, tool box (screwdrivers, spanners etc), ESD strap/mat, laptop, BlackBerry.

[eilert]

There are number of tools requires being a system administrator. I keep all in my Laptop, some troubleshooting CDs are the major items of my toolkit.

[eilert]

Also, I usually carry mobile if I have some real pesky problem if I can't handle, I always keep backup of second person :P