Build, document and hand over a machine somebody else could rebuild

capstone · 90 min · Objective 1.3

Task

Take the disposable guest from empty to fully configured, and produce the rebuild document that would let a different technician reproduce it exactly. This is the domain's capstone because it uses every lesson in it -- edition, boot mode, partitioning, installation route, accounts, drivers, updates, file systems, management tooling and remote access -- and the deliverable is the one that gets read on the worst day.

Steps

  1. Build the guest from empty: media, firmware mode, partition scheme, installation route, account type, drivers, updates. Record every decision in lab/handover/build.csv with header decision,choice,alternative,why.
  2. Configure it: a second volume with a chosen file system, a management console, remote access enabled appropriately, and one application installed. Record each in lab/handover/config.csv with header item,setting,verified_how.
  3. Write lab/handover/rebuild.md as numbered instructions somebody else could follow from empty, with exact values and no step that says 'configure appropriately'.
  4. Write lab/handover/verify.md giving the checks that prove the rebuild worked, each one a command or an observable state rather than an opinion.
  5. Have the document tested: follow your own instructions on a fresh guest without referring to anything else, and record every question you had to answer from memory in lab/handover/gaps.md.

Verify

awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=4 {n++} END {print n" build decision(s)"}' lab/handover/build.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=3 {n++} END {print n" configured item(s)"}' lab/handover/config.csv
grep -Ec '^[0-9]+\.' lab/handover/rebuild.md
grep -Ec '^[-*0-9]' lab/handover/verify.md
grep -Ec '^[-*0-9]' lab/handover/gaps.md

Eight or more build decisions each with an alternative and a reason, ten or more numbered rebuild steps, and a gaps file that is not empty. An empty gaps file means the second build was done from memory rather than from the document, which is the one outcome this capstone cannot accept.

Notes

The gaps file is the deliverable that matters. Every question you had to answer from memory is a step missing from the document, and the person who finds them on the real day will not have your memory to fall back on.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA A+ Core 2 220-1202 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.