[EdLUG] Advice on Linux migration task

[Tahir Hafiz]

Hi All,

I've started a new remote role in an academic institution.
But the first task seems to be to migrate around 40 Linux servers (a couple
of them seem to be Solaris, the rest Ubuntu) each running different bespoke
applications for various academic purposes from one organisation to another
organisation within the next 10 weeks or so.

The problem is that there is scant documentation as to what these Linux
servers do and the purpose of the applications running on each one, how
they were set-up (individually it seems by various academics over the years
who have since left), and the majority of servers are on AWS, some on
Google Cloud and a few on OpenStack. The Project Manager is looking at the
purposes of the servers to be migrated from a business point of view.

The current Linux sysadmin has been doing the job of three people
maintaining all these systems, he has not documented anything all these
years and is leaving in 4 days.
What kind of good questions should I ask him before he leaves? He is the
only one that knows how everything works.

Is there any good inventory software for Linux that will tell you what
services, ports being listened on, active applications running? What are
the best ways to figure out what a server does?
I think as time is so short I need to find a way to lift and shift a server
from one organisation to another - any advice on how to do this, e.g. AWS
and GCP or OpenStack that can "lift and shift" a server from one
organisation's cloud to another?

Cheers,
Tahir
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