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Configuration management tool to facilitate managing our (Linux) cluster head nodes, other Linux servers, and our Linux desktops. Works with other OSes (MacOS, Windows), but we'll first focus on Linux. |
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Puppet
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/#puppetpuppet
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This can make us more agile and flexible as system administrators, able to deal with fast-changing requirements and deliver things quickly to the business. We can also produce higher-quality, more reliable work.
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Buzzword compliance
Declarative
Puppet is said to declarative. Chef is said to be...
Denoting an element of a set that is unchanged in value when multiplied or otherwise operated on by itself.
Idempotence
Denoting an element of a set that is unchanged in value when multiplied or otherwise operated on by itself.
https://www.google.com/search?q=define+idempotent
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence
Paraphrasing ansibleworks.com's web site: An "idempotent" resource model describes the desired state of computer systems and services, not the paths to get them to this state. Thus, no matter what state a system is in, this type of system understands how to transform it to the desired state (some also support a "dry run" mode to preview needed changes). This allows reliable and repeatable IT infrastructure configuration, avoiding the potential failures from scripting and script-based solutions that describe explicit and often irreversible actions rather than the end goal.Re:
DevOps
Systems management
One of the functions of systems management is configuration management.
Other configuration management tools (vs. Puppet)
- http://java.dzone.com/articles/comparing-flavors-config
- http://bitfieldconsulting.com/puppet-vs-chef
- http://www.opscode.com/chef/#which-chef
- https://cfengine.com/what-is-cfengine
- https://github.com/benhoskings/babushka
- http://www.ansibleworks.com/configuration-management/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Configuration_management