Configuration Systems

Thu Jun 7 18:51:51 UTC 2012

On Jun 6, 2012, at 7:58 PM, Andrew Latham wrote:

> Jonathan
> 
> That is the exact question I have asked myself many times.  All of the
> major players in Configuration management have a "client" program that
> must run and at times requires some libraries that are newer than the
> platforms a company may need to support or that clients may wish
> supported.  Another issue is the secure communication  over a
> proprietary or SSH connection and not allowing secured VLANs or other
> services like RSH and Telnet over a point to point connection.
> 

I would argue that not allowing telnet/rsh in favor of requiring SSH is a good thing.

As to the client program, so long as the system makes the client available via
open source and/or publishes the required client API, you should be able to
work around any library issues or system age issues by developing your own
client component.

> Also you will find that the demand for cloud systems and the complex
> languages used in the "Configuration Management Systems" do not easily
> translate to the existing and developing cloud infrastructure.

This is a hard problem to solve. Not the least of the difficulties is the fact that
if you ask 50 engineers to define "Cloud", you will get at least 100 definitions
many of which are incompatible to the point of mutually exclusive.

Owen

> 
> and stuff...
> 
> 
> On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 10:52 PM, Jonathan Herbert <jwherbert at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Andrew,
>> 
>> Out of curiosity, why are you reinventing the wheel here?
>> 
>> Don't take this the wrong way- I'm just curious why you're building
>> something new. What does Enablement do that the other technologies you've
>> mentioned doesn't?
>> 
>> Jonathan
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Jun 6, 2012 at 10:49 PM, Andrew Latham <lathama at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Lurker speaking... beware...
>>> 
>>> I have been talking with some folks from various industries about
>>> configuration systems ala Bcfg2, Puppet, Chef, and others.  Many of
>>> them care far too much about the current nodes configuration status as
>>> some admin had logged in and changed something.  I am authoring a
>>> system called Enablement that uses what ever technology needed (ssh,
>>> telnet over admin vlan, rsh, etc...) to push a planned system/config
>>> to the device.  Monitoring and auditing are all the same at the moment
>>> as we need historical data on when a service or port started and
>>> stopped offering its planned or unplanned service.  For a meeting
>>> Thursday I am looking forward to the future of configuring systems.
>>> My idea is push + netblock scanning of services.  With stacks for
>>> clouds we can startup and shut down nodes easy.  Would a bend over
>>> backwards config reader for all the "Configuration Management Systems"
>>> be the best medium ground from the service provider point of view?
>>> 
>>> Enablement....  Send another man to fight on the front line.
>>> 
>>> --
>>> ~ Andrew "lathama" Latham lathama at gmail.com http://lathama.net ~
>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> ~ Andrew "lathama" Latham lathama at gmail.com http://lathama.net ~