configuration management tool for Linux

[gaf at blu.org (Jerry Feldman)]

On Thu, 22 Mar 2007 08:26:24 -0400
"Eugene Gorelik" <eugene.gorelik at gmail.com> wrote:

> I wonder if anyone could recommend a decent centralized configuration
> management tool.
One thing that was discussed last night at the CBC was using a source
control system like CVS or Subversion. The procedure would be to set up
a repository, then import the current values of the files you want to
maintain centrally. 

When you want to update one of the files, simply edit the file, and
check it in to the repository (under CVS: cvs commit). 
On each system, you could run and update periodically - probably using
cron.daily. This will pick up the changes. What I would probably do
would be to create a directory, say in root's home directory, and place
all the managed config files in there. Then the daily (or hourly)
script could to the update (eg. cvs update) in that directory, then
possibly copy the changes to /etc. 
The advantage of the source control approach is that you have a record
of your changes, and the changes are imported to each system without
the system admin person needing to touch all the systems. 

I can think of a number of different approaches, but using CVS or
Subversion seems to be a pretty solid approach. 
-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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