Configuration Management usually comprises of elaborated explanation and updation of information related to an enterprise’s software and hardware.
10 Free and Open Source Tools for Configuration Management
Chef
Chef is one of the most famous Software Configuration Management(SCM) Tools, framework for infrastructure development.It consists of the Chef server, chef Client, workstation and repository.It produces shareable, consistent and reusable components which are used to automate infrastructure, which are known as recipes.
Puppet
Puppet is another SCM which is widely used and which allows defining the state of the IT infrastructure and then automatically enforces the correct state. Once the puppet is installed every node in the infrastructure will have a Puppet agent installed on it. There will also be a server known as Puppet Master.
CFEngine
CFEngine is another trending open source and fully distributed CM systems and provides automated configuration compute resources. Additionally, it provides cohesive management and monitoring of physical or virtual machines,tablets, embedded devices, cloud and mobile smartphones. So all the components are independent agents and are the basis of automation.
Juju
Juju is an open source configuration and orchestration management tool. The main mechanism behind juju is known as Charms that can be written in any programming language, whose execution is supported via the command line. They are a collection of YAML configuration files.It also supports the GUI as well as the command line.On the server side, it is limited to Ubuntu.
Ansible
It is an open platform for CM, orchestration and deployment of compute resources.
Main Features are-
– Resources are added to the Ansible configuration
– It deploys module to compute resources
– Monitors quantities
-Supports deployment on various virtualization platforms as well as public and private cloud environments.
Salt
Salt is a multitasking Configuration management and remote education tool. It is a CLI-based tool. Runs on python based approach. You can use Git to install it.This system has different module types to manage specific actions such as remote execution and state management behavior.
Vagrant
A CM tool for building and managing easy to configure, reproducible and portable virtual development environments. Vagrant isolates dependencies and configuration within a single disposable, efficient and consistent environment. Also provides consistent workflow for developing and testing infrastructure management scripts.
Bcfg2
Bcfg2, lso termed as bee- config is a fifth generation CM tool that assists in configuration analysis, visualizing configuration information, configuration auditing, service deployment and reporting tools. It has client- server architecture.
Rudder
Another SCM tool is Rudder which is also an open source tool for managing IT infrastructures. It works on top of CFEngine and is written in Scala.It also provides features like host inventory, API, change requests, policy editor, reusable policies, Web Interface. Rudder uses the asset management function to identify nodes for configuration management.
SmartFrog
SmartFrog stands for Smart Framework for Object Groups is a CM tool which is written in Java and is used to manage configuration, deployment and orchestration of various distributed components that comprise a robust system,It is easy to manage components, to install them automatically and to de-provision. SmartFrog consists of Configuration Description Language, Component Model, Runtime System.
| TOOL | Platform Support | License | Language | Website |
| Chef | AIX, *BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows, Others | Apache | Ruby | https://www.chef.io/ |
| Puppet | AIX, *BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X(partial), Solaris, Windows, Others | Apache | Ruby | http://puppetlabs.com/ |
| CFEngine | AIX, *BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows, Others | C | GPL, COSL | http://cfengine.com/ |
| Juju | Linux | Python, Go | Affero General Public License | https://juju.ubuntu.com/ |
| Ansible | AIX, *BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows, Others | GPL | Python | http://www.ansible.com/ |
| Salt | AIX, *BSD, HP-UX(partial), Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows, Others | Apache | Python | htttp://www.saltstack.com/ |
| Vagrant | Linux, Mac OS X,Windows | MIT License | Ruby | http://www.vagrantup.com/ |
| Bcfg2 | AIX(partial), *BSD, Linux, Mac OS X(partial), Solaris | BSD | Python | http://www.bcfg2.org/ |
| Rudder | AIX, *BSD(partial), Linux, Mac OS X(partial), Solaris(partial), Windows, Others | GPL and Affero GPL | C and Scala | http://www.rudder-project.org/ |
| SmartFrog | HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, Windows | Java | LGPL | http://www.smartfrog.org/ |
Didn’t find your favorite tools for configuration management in our compilation? Let us know about them in the comments!
