Right about now, system administrators and router jockeys may be thinking, "Why should I care about version-control systems?" Well, guys, what better place than a version-control system to store the configuration files for your routers, the scripts used for backing up servers or routine configuration files from any device? Sure, you can store them on a TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) server somewhere, and that's probably a good idea, but wouldn't it be nice to be able to revert to an older configuration when something breaks? Or perhaps simply to be able to compare older configurations with newer ones?

Version-control systems aren't just for code anymore -- you can store documents (like that network diagram and system documentation you know is floating around somewhere) as well as configuration files, scripts and even binaries. Version-control systems provide the NOC (network operations center) with a centralized facility where mission-critical information can be preserved and updated easily. You may find that a version-control system can be as helpful to you as to the developers in your organization.