[H-GEN] CVS for /etc management

[Russell Stuart]

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Re Greg: "What other methods of config file control are there".  There
are several packages available that do this.  It is a common problem
many sys admins have, me being one of them.  

At the 1000ft view of these packages is they provide a way of storing
the configurations of multiple machines in a single place, and they
provide a way of customising that configuration for different machines. 
Although I have never done it myself, I am sure they would all allow you
to store that configuration files in CVS.

Here the ones I know of:
  http://www.informatik.uni-koeln.de/fai
  http://www.gnu.org/software/cfengine/cfengine.html
  http://sourceforge.net/projects/systemconfig

I know there are others as well - I have seen them but I can't remember
their names.  As you may of noticed they are not easy to find.  That is
my excuse anyway, as I missed them in my initial hunt, so I wrote my
own.  I think it is better than those listed above, but I could be
biased :).  If you want to know more send me an email, or catch up with
me at the next meeting and I will give you a demo.

On Mon, 2003-02-10 at 19:54, ben.carlyle at invensys.com wrote:
> [ Humbug *General* list - semi-serious discussions about Humbug and     ]
> [ Unix-related topics. Posts from non-subscribed addresses will vanish. ]
> 
> G'day,
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> David Findlay <david at davsoft.com.au>
> Sent by: Majordomo <majordom at caliburn.humbug.org.au>
> 10/02/03 19:06
> Please respond to general
> 
>  
>         To:     general at lists.humbug.org.au
>         cc: 
>         Subject:        Re: [H-GEN] CVS for /etc management
> 
> 
> Greg wrote:
> > > If you need to ask, you don't want to mix CVS and your /etc
> > > directory -- learn about it by practising on something much less
> > > important to the health of your system and then, if you're wise,
> > > decide to forget CVS altogether[1].
> 
> David replied:
> > Well I've done a bit with it with source code. What other methods of 
> config 
> > file control are there? My aims are to be able to easily set up heaps of 
> 
> > similiar machines(with things like IP addresses and hostnames different) 
> and 
> > also be able to monitor changes and roll back changes. Thanks,
> 
> This sets a bit of a different spin on things. It seems that both Greg and 
> I interpreted your request as for help managing a single machine's /etc 
> using CVS. You actually want to control a set of machines and keep them in 
> sync.
> 
> Firstly I would say that whatever configuration management scheme you're 
> using is probably the best for you. If you're comfortable with CVS then 
> there is little reason to change.
> 
> Here's my advice on how to set this up:
> 
> 1) Setup a CVS repository on a single machine[1]
> 2) Select carefully the set of of files which you want to manage under 
> this scheme[2]
> 3) Consider a program like rdist to get the files out to your target 
> machines
> 4) Be very careful about updating the /etc on the machine with the cvs ;) 
> [3]
> 5) As with any mass network update... don't update a remote machine's 
> network configuration unless you can get to that machine physically 
> without too much trouble ;)
> 6) Be sure your configuration works on a low priority machine before 
> applying it all over the shop...
> 
> Benjamin.
> [1] Mirrored for backup or availability purposes as you requried
> [2] At this stage it looks likk you want to manage /etc/hosts and friends. 
> The smaller the set, the less the hassle :)
> [3] You never know what you'll forget you're about to upset. If you're 
> going to use the same cvs database, then I suggest you make sure it works 
> in the field before applying it to the local machine.
> 
> 
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