Popular Configuration Management Tools

Introduction:

• Software Configuration management is a process for maintaining computer systems, servers, and software in a desired, consistent state. 
• It’s a way to make sure that a system performs as it’s expected to as changes are made over time.
• The SCM practices include vision controls in the establishment of baselines. If something went wrong, SCM can determine what was changed and who changed it.
• The goals of Software Configuration Management are generally Configuration idioms, Configuration, Identification and baselines, configuration control, implementing a control change process.

1) CFEngine Configuration Tool

CFEngine is a configuration management framework. It allows you to manage mission-critical tasks securely. This configuration management tool is available as both open source and commercial software.

Features:

• Helps you to define the desired state and configuration of your IT infrastructure
• It allows you to automate roll out updates and changes to every node in your infrastructure
• It uses autonomous agents which can run on every node of your infrastructure.

Pros:

• High Availability
• Highly Scalable 
• Highly Secure 
• Extremely cheap on resources and fast

Cons:

• where to start the new installation documentation is very difficult to understand.
• The configuration is very complex.
• Not good with file integrity checkers.

2) Puppet Configuration Tool

It is an open source Configuration management tool for centralizing and automating the configuration management process. It is used to configure, manage, deploy various services and applications.

Features:

• Automate provisioning across IT infrastructure
• Allows you to take full control and visibility over the software delivery process.
• It allows you to make quick changes or remediate urgent problems alongside your model-driven automation management.
• It helps you to manage infrastructure as code using your favorite version control systems.

Pros: 

• It has Strong compliance in automating and reporting tools.
• It provides active community support across development tools.
• It provides Intuitional web UI to handle multiple tasks, which includes reporting and real-time node management.

Cons:

• It lacks adequate error messaging While installing the Puppet process.
• Puppet support is more priorities toward Puppet DSL over pure Ruby versions.
• It Lacks revert system, so there is no immediate action on changes.

3) CHEF Configuration Tool

The chef is an automation that offers a method to configure and manage infrastructure. In this tool, Infrastructure as a code implies by executing the coding instead of performing manual execution. It works on Ruby and DSL for writing the configuration.

Features:

• It follows the Push model and offers an easy cloud adoption.
• It helps you to increase the service resiliency, to develop more defect-free software.
• Chef offers automation which helps you to reduce the risk and improve compliance at all the stages of development.
• Configure various cloud-based SaaS services, and integrate cloud provisioning APIs and the third-party software.

Pros:

• It follows the Push model and allows cloud adoption.
• It helps to increase service resiliency, to develop more defect-free software as it captures bugs before they occur.
• It Helps to improve risk management. Chef’s automation abilities are able to lower risk.

Cons:

• Chef tool is forced into Ruby
• Some workflows in Chef seem a bit convoluted as code bases become huge
• The chef doesn’t support the push functionality.

4) Ansible Configuration Tool

Ansible tool offers a simple IT automation solution. It helps you avoid repetitive tasks and frees up developer teams for more strategic work.

Features:

• Ansible allow you easily model complex processes
• You will be informed for your automation status via integrated notifications.
• Ansible Tower allows you to manage the entire infrastructure.
• It runs simple tasks on any host or group of hosts in your inventor

Pros:

• Ansible is based on SSH, so it doesn’t require installing any agents on remote nodes.
• Ansible playbook structure is easy and crystal clear structured.
• Ansible has a more streamlined codebase compared to some other tools.
• Ansible is idempotent.
• It has high interoperability.

Cons:

• It is less effective than other tools that are based on other programming languages.
• Ansible does its logic modification through the DSL, that means checking in on the documentation consequently until you learn it
• Ansible introspection is really very poor, so it makes it tough to see the values of variables within the playbooks.
• Development testing was poor .

5) SALTSTACK Configuration Tool

SaltStack is another effective configuration tool. It works on master-client setup models or non-centralized models. This tool is based on the Python programming language. SaltStack offers push and SSH methods to communicate with clients.

Features:

• Salt Cloud integrates with various cloud providers like Google Cloud, Amazon web services, etc.
• It is simple, and easy to use as you can run through the setup process.
• Saltstack has a DSL feature, so it doesn’t need any logic and states.
• Introspection features offered by salt could make it simple for you to look at what is happening inside Salt.

Pros:

• SaltStack is simple, Straight and usage is easy once you go through the setup phase.
• Saltstack has a DSL feature so it doesn’t require logic and states.
• Saltstack’s Input, output, and configs are very stable and consistent because it uses the concept of YAML.
• The introspection feature plays a handy role as it makes it simple to look at what is happening inside Salt.

Cons:

• The first installation process is really difficult to set up and make it tough for new users to understand.
• Support for non-Linux Oss is not that great.
• Refer Below Screenshot of SaltStack

6) JUJU Configuration Tool

It is an open source tool which mainly emphasizes on decreasing the operational overhead of new generation software. It offers features like configuring, scaling, quick deployment, integration, etc.

Features:

• Offers software provisioning capabilities.
• Allows instant integration and scaling.
• It helps you to resolve most of the complexities regarding service scaling by using charm.
• You can use this tool to multiple PaaS on a platform.
• Feature for Kubernetes cluster deployment.

Pros:

• JUJU has a small footprint (2 nodes) K8s cluster deployment.
• JUJU has a multi node deployment.
• Dashboard, Ingress controller, and DNS.
• JUJU provides TLS between nodes for security.
• JUJU can scale up and down nodes.

Cons:

• JUJU has a Lock-In
• JUJU provides no clear instructions on using the OpenStack cloud provider and using a cylinder or LbaaS.
• JUJU provides no support for advanced networking such as Calico.
• JUJU has no possibility to provide provision for open Stack Nodes for the K8s cluster.

7) Rudder

Rudder is an open source Continuous Configuration solution. The tool is used to satisfy the need of production infrastructure. multi-platform tool allows you to automate the production infrastructure and maintain your production infrastructure.

Features:

• Web Interface feature helps you to manage the nodes and define policies of your environment.
• It allows you to automate the simple tasks of administration like installing or configuring.
• Rudder offers FULL REST API to communicate with the Rudder Server.
• Allows you to generate host policies dynamically.
• Rudder offers automated inventory for hardware and software both.

Pros:

• Best performance
• The rudder is based on CFEngine standard so inherits some functionalities of CFEngine
• It provides automated inventory for hardware and software 
• It provides graphical reporting
• It has the best practices library included

Cons:

• The Rudder community is growing but not very big on this day like the puppet, Ansible, etc.
• It is overkill if the goal is only to push one-time actions.

8) TeamCity Configuration Tool

It is an open source continuous integration server developed by the Jet Brain. TeamCity offers up to 100 build configurations and runs unlimited builds.

Features:

• Extensibility and Customization
• Provides better code quality for any project
• It helps you to maintains CI server healthy and stable even when no builds are running
• Project level cloud profiles
• Comprehensive VCS integration
• On-the-fly build progress reporting

Pros:

• TeamCity is a feature-rich toolset.
• TeamCity has many developer-oriented features.
• TeamCity doesn’t require any additional plugins.
• There are more than 100 features in TeamCity.
• TeamCity allows you to grow and move smoothly.

Cons:

• TeamCity restricts you in terms of different kinds of projects according to its base plan especially build configurations.
• It may take time for a new user to get acquainted with the project hierarchy structure of it.

9) Octopus Deploy

It Deploy tool enables automation for complex application deployment. Whether the application is on the premises or in the cloud.

Features:

• It offers repeatable & reliable deployments
• It made Complex deployments easier.
• Octopus can promote release between environments.
• It offers world-class platform support like ASP.NET, Node.js, Java and many other scripting languages, and platforms.

Pros:

• It is developed to possess a very powerful and flexible deployment process.
• It provides seamless integration.
• Gives users massive permission when it comes to granularity.
• Provides a good and managed audit section for deployments.

Cons:

• For new users, the tool can be confusing as it has so many options.
• As multiple environments can be accessed the UI gets ramped up.
• It can be improved on with AWS integration.
• Sometimes it gets difficult to understand the code repo.
• Octopus has to be manually installed on each hosted machine which is a very time taking and boring task, something should be done about it.

10) Bamboo Configuration Management

Bamboo is one of Atlassian’s continuous delivery and release management tools.

Features:

• Bamboo offers a high standard of support for regular delivery. 
• Bamboo gives output as a single flow. 
• It provides developers, testers, build engineers, and system administrators a common shared space to work and share information storing sensitive operations like production deployment and security.

Pros:

• It gives better and improved CI/CD.
• Bamboo supports Devops means from integration to deployment to delivery
• Bamboo can hook with the SVN and in this manner, provide full SCM support.
• Bamboo supports GIT.

Cons:

• Bamboo has no scope for inheriting project structure, as a result, it becomes a tough task to define behavior for each and every module.
• It was poor Documentation for installation and tough for the new user to understand.
• Bamboo doesn’t support the passing of properties.
• Bamboo doesn’t support the concept of build promotion.