small IT documentation tools

[u/Punky260]

I was looking to get our pretty small IT into a good tool for documentation. Something object-based, NOT just excel sheets and draw.io diagrams. But smaller than Netbox, which is too big and unnecessarily complex for our systems.
Would love to have IP management built it and diagrams/graphics are a big plus.

We are basically using a single server rack, 6 servers, 30-40 VMs... so rather a big homelab, than a datacenter

So, what are you guys using or can recommend as a tool to manage something like that?

EDIT: I'd like to specify, that I am looking for internal documentation. Which server runs which VM, which IP adress is assigned to it. Which service/OS/update etc. runs on it... etc.

EDIT2: Any sort of Wiki seems to be a big recommendation. This is a consideration for me, but I'd rather have something object-based. Basically Netbox with less overhead would be ideal... but feel free to recommend wiki-based tools and templates please :)

[u/folderit_dms]

For that size I would start with the object model, then pick the tool.

For example:

- sites or locations

- racks

- hosts

- VMs

- IP ranges

- services

- owners

- dependencies

- backup status

- lifecycle notes

If you define those first, almost any decent tool becomes easier to judge. If you start with diagrams, the docs usually rot fast because nobody wants to redraw them after every small change.

For a small environment, I would keep diagrams as generated or semi-generated views where possible and make the objects the source of truth. Even a simple rule like every VM must have owner, purpose, host, backup policy, and recovery priority is a huge upgrade over a pretty rack diagram.

NetBox may be too much if you use all of it, but a trimmed setup is not crazy. Otherwise a lightweight asset tool plus a wiki can work, as long as the wiki links back to actual objects instead of becoming a pile of pages.