What is it? · Why use it? · Who made it? · How does it work? · Want to contribute? · Contact us

BaconMap is an Open Source program (GPL) orignally conceived and written by the IT team at New Mexico State University's Research Department with the aim of simplifiying and mapping information technology resources. Why the name BaconMap? Here's a hint: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

BaconMap is a web based program, which means that it installs on your webserver and is then accessable just like any web page. Feel free to view the Demo Version we have set up on our site here. We have editing disabled, but you'll be able to get a good idea of how the program works.

We designed and developed BaconMap because we saw a need for a Resource and Relationship Tracking tool that was a little more advanced that a five foot long whiteboard.

When we started, we literally were using a three foot by five foot whiteboard to keep track of all of our servers, databases, programs, and services along with who to contact in the event of an outage. As you can imagine, the board was pretty cramped and very hard to keep updated.

Enter BaconMap. We decided to write a program that would do all of that managing for us, and while we're at it we figured that we may as well make the program draw maps and also calculate relationships between all the resources we have as well.

BaconMap Features

• Track information on Resources:
  • Hardware Boxes and Other Devices
  • Servers and Services
  • Databases and Applications
• Keep Contact Information for Each Resource
• New in 0.6! Resource Documentation Can be Stored and Encrypted
• Each resource can have one or more documents uploaded in the system
• Documents can be optionally encrypted using a master password (set at installation)
• Store purchase orders, database schemas, or an entire codebase right in BaconMap
• Build Relationships Between Resources
  • Resources can have children as well as parents
  • Parent / Child Relationships are easy to understand
  • Parents can be single or redundant
• See at a Glace Which Resources are Most Important
• View and Create a Printable Map of Resources
  • Map single resources with children or parent relationships
  • Map your entire structure with the Big Picture
  • Maps are easily navigated with pan and zoom functions
  • Visualizing your IT resources has never been eaiser
• Run Breakdown Scenarios on All Resources
• Reports generated in PDF format
• New in 0.6! User Authentication keeps your BaconMap Secure
• Multiple user levels (Admin, Read/Write, Read Only)
• Login system provides security against anonymous viewing of your information
• Many customizable options, multiple installations possible

BaconMap was originally dreamed up by Abel Sanchez, the IT Manager for NMSU Research. He ran his idea by the NMSU Research Development Team (both of us) and the rest is history.

Original Developers (New Mexico State University):

• Ed Zenisek - Lead Developer, Interface, Logic, Code, Database Work, and Graphics
• Denis Elkanov - Code, Graphing, and Mapping
• Abel Sanchez - Idea Man and Documentation

Additional Developers:

• Paul Klassen - Cal Poly State
• Scott Smith - Cal Poly State

Special thanks to the following people for their help

• Levi Hoover
• Elva Nanawa
• Dominic Munoz
• Chris Ratheal
• Philip Braker

Also thanks to New Mexico State University for hosting and providing time to the project.

BaconMap is written primarily in PHP with a MySQL backend.
View the documentation

BaconMap also uses the following Open Source or otherwise free products, which are bundled with the installation:

• Base CSS Template: Luka Cvrk (www.solucija.com)
• Javascript Tree: Tobias Bender (www.phpexplorer.org)
• Javascript Tooltips: Walter Zorn (www.walterzorn.com)
• Icons: Mark James (www.famfamfam.com)
• GreyBox: Orangoo Labs (www.orangoo.com)
• DHTMLGrid: DHTMLX (www.dhtmlx.com)
• PDF Reports: FPDF (www.fpdf.org)

In addition, the graphing program GraphViz will need to be installed on your server seperately if you wish to view the resource maps in flowchart form.

Have an interest in BaconMap? Want to contribute to the project and help make it even better? We'd love to hear from you!

If you've made modifications to BaconMap or have suggestions for improving it, please let us know or send us your code and we'll happily add you to our list of developers and give you credit for your work. If you'd like to join as a part of the development team, please contact Ed Zenisek, or Abel Sanchez.

We're always looking for creative help in any of the following areas:

• PHP / HTML / CSS / JavaScript
• User Interface Design
• Community Development
• MySQL / Database Design
• Documentation
• Graphics

For more information on what we're specifically working on, check the forums.

The best way to Contact anyone connected to the BaconMap project is through our Community Forums. Please feel free to drop by and say hello, tell us what you think, or ask any questions you might have.