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Continuous configuration automation

This article will address the topic of Continuous configuration automation, which has gained great relevance in recent years. Throughout history, Continuous configuration automation has been the object of study and interest by experts in various disciplines, and has been a source of debate and reflection for society in general. In order to further understand the importance of Continuous configuration automation in the current context, different perspectives and approaches will be analyzed that will allow us to obtain a comprehensive vision of this topic. Likewise, the implications that the study of Continuous configuration automation has in different areas, such as culture, politics, science, among others, will be explored. Through an exhaustive analysis, the aim is to provide the reader with a broad and updated vision of Continuous configuration automation, providing new reflections and knowledge that contribute to enriching the understanding of this phenomenon.

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Continuous configuration automation (CCA) is the methodology or process of automating the deployment and configuration of settings and software for both physical and virtual data center equipment.[1]

Overview

Continuous configuration automation is marketed for data center and application configuration management. CCA tools use a programmable framework for configuration and orchestration through coding, planning, and incrementally adopting policies.[2][3]

Relationship to DevOps

CCA tools are used for what is called DevOps, and are often included as part of a DevOps toolchain. CCA grew out of a push to develop more reliable software faster.[1] Gartner describes CCA as “Embodying lean, agile and collaborative concepts core to DevOps initiatives, CCA tools bring a newly found level of precision, efficiency and flexibility to the challenges of infrastructure and application configuration management.” [4]

Tools

CCA tools support administrators and developers to automate the configuration and Orchestration of physical and virtual infrastructure in a systematic way that give visibility to state of infrastructure within an enterprise. Generally thought of as an extension of infrastructure as code (IaC) frameworks.[1] CCA tools include Ansible, Chef software, Otter, Puppet (software), Rudder (software) and SaltStack.[5] Each tool has a different method of interacting with the system some are agent-based, push or pull, through an interactive UI. Similar to adopting any DevOps tools, there are barriers to bring on CCA tools and factors that hinder and accelerate adoption.[6]

Notable CCA tools include:

Tool Developed by Initial release Method Approach Written in
Ansible Red Hat 2012 (2012) Push Declarative and imperative Python
CFEngine Northern.tech 1993 (1993) Pull Declarative C[7]
Chef Progress 2009 (2009) Pull Imperative Ruby
Otter Inedo 2015 (2015) Push Declarative and imperative —
Puppet Puppet 2005 (2005) Pull Declarative C++, Clojure since 4.0, Ruby
Salt VMware 2011 (2011) Push and Pull Declarative and imperative Python
Terraform HashiCorp 2014 (2014) Push Declarative Go

Evaluation factors

Evaluations of CCA tools may consider the following:[8][9]

  • Skills, training, and cost required to implement and maintain tool
  • Content and support of the Platform and Infrastructure – tool specified for Windows or Linux etc.
  • Delivery method and likening flexibility – important for scalability
  • Method of interacting with managing system
  • Support and training availability and cost
  • Incorporation of orchestration with configuration management
  • Security and compliance reporting

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Fletcher, Colin; Cosgrove, Terrence (26 August 2015). Innovation Insight for Continuous Configuration Automation Tools. Gartner (Report).[dead link]
  2. ^ Ramos, Martin (4 November 2015). "Continuous Integration: Infrastructure as Code in DevOps". easydynamics.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  3. ^ Infrastructure As Code: Fueling the Fire for Faster Application Delivery (Report). Forrester. March 2015.
  4. ^ Phillips, Andrew (14 May 2015). "Moving from Infrastructure Automation to True DevOps". DevOps.com.
  5. ^ Venezia, Paul (21 November 2013). "Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt". Network World. Network World. Archived from the original on 18 July 2018. Retrieved 14 December 2015.
  6. ^ Garner Market Trends: DevOps – Not a Market, but Tool-Centric Philosophy That supports a Continuous Delivery Value Chain (Report). Gartner. 18 February 2015.
  7. ^ "CFEngine 3.18.0 Documentation - What is CFEngine?".
  8. ^ Fletcher, Colin; Cosgrove, Terrence (25 March 2016). How I&O teams can combine CCA tools With Containers to Achieve Operational Efficiencies. Gartner (Report).
  9. ^ Fletcher, Colin; Cosgrove, Terrence (8 December 2016). Market Guide for Continuous Configuration Automation Tools. Gartner (Report).
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