134 lines
5.7 KiB
Text
134 lines
5.7 KiB
Text
{{db-spam}}
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{{Infobox software
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|name = cdist
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|logo =
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|screenshot =
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|caption =
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|collapsible =
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|author = Nico Schottelius, Steven Armstrong
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|developer =
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|released = 2010
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|latest release version = 2.0.13
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|latest release date = 05-Jun-2012
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|frequently updated =
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|programming language = [[Python_(programming_language)|Python]], [[Bourne shell]]
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|operating system = [[GNU/Linux]], [[Unix-like]]
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|platform =
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|size =
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|language =
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|status =
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|genre = [[Configuration management]]
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|license = [[GPLv3]].
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|website = http://www.nico.schottelius.org/software/cdist/
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}}
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'''cdist''' is a configuration management system, which adheres to the [[KISS_principle]]. It is being used in small up to enterprise grade environments.
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cdist is an alternative to other configuration management systems [[CFEngine]], [[Bcfg2]], [[Chef (software)|Chef]] and [[Puppet (software)|Puppet]].
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cdist development started in 2010 at [[ETH Zurich]] and is actively being developed by a lot of [[FOSS]] contributors
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and maintained by the two main developers Nico Schottelius and
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Steven Armstrong. cdist is being watched on github by more than 100 people and has more than 30 forks.<ref>cdist development at https://github.com/telmich/cdist</ref>
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The major part of the discussion about cdist happens on the mailinglist<ref>cdist mailinglist http://l.schottelius.org/mailman/listinfo/cdist</ref>
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and on the IRC channel #cstar in the [[Freenode]] network. cdist is being used at various companies in Switzerland (for instance at [[ETH Zurich]]), the USA, Germany and France.
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Its core is written in [[Python (programming language)|Python]] and the types are
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written in [[Bourne Shell]]. Cdist is released under the [[GNU General Public License|GPL]].
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cdist has been a no. 1 topic on [[Hacker News]] for some time.<ref>cdist on [[Hacker News]] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3422678</ref>
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== Architecture ==
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cdist is split into two components:
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* The core
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* The configuration
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=== Core ===
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The core of cdist is implemented in Python 3 and provides the executables to configure target hosts. The core operates in a push model: It connects
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from the source host '''to''' the target hosts and configures the machines. For communication and file transfer [[SSH]] is being used.
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To allow parallel configuration of hosts, the core supports a parallel mode in which it creates a child process for every connection.
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This model allows cdist to scale horizontally with the available computing resources: If at a certain limit is reached and the capacity of the
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available CPUs has been used, adding another CPU or distributing cdist to multiple hosts allows to configure more hosts in parallel.
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=== Configuration ===
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The configuration is written in [[Bourne Shell]] and consists of
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* The initial manifest (which defines which host is assigned which types)
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* Global Explorers (to gain information about the target system)
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* Types (which provide all functionality and consist of a manifest, type explorers and gencode scripts)
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Although all of these are written in Shell script, the order of execution in the manifests does not matter: cdist employs a idempotent
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configuration.
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=== Comparison ===
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In comparison to most other configuration management software, cdist does not have any requirements on the target host besides SSH and a bourne shell.
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It requires Python 3.2 on the source host, though.<ref>Why cdist requires Python 3.2 on the source host - http://www.nico.schottelius.org/blog/cdist-python-3.2-requirement/</ref>
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cdist operates in push based approach, in which a server pushes configurations to the client and the clients do not poll for updates.
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== Configuration DSL ==
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All user configurable parts are contained in manifests or gencode-scripts, which are shell scripts.
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Shell scripts were chosen, because Unix System Administrators are usually profound in reading
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and writing shell scripts.
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cdist reads its configuration from the initial manifest ('''conf/manifest/init'''), in which hosts are mapped to
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types:
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<pre>
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case "$__target_host" in
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myhostname)
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__package zsh --state present
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__addifnosuchline /tmp/cdist-welcome --line "Welcome to cdist"
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;;
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esac
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</pre>
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When using the types in cdist, they are called like normal programs in manifests and can make use of
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advanced parameter parsing as well as reading from stdin:
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<pre>
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# Provide a default file, but let the user change it
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__file /home/frodo/.bashrc --source "/etc/skel/.bashrc" \
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--state exists \
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--owner frodo --mode 0600
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# Take file content from stdin
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__file /tmp/whatever --owner root --group root --mode 644 --source - << DONE
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Here goes the content for /tmp/whatever
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DONE
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</pre>
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Dependencies are expressed by setting up the '''require''' environment variable:
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<pre>
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__directory /tmp/foobar
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require="__directory//tmp/foobar" __file /tmp/foobar/baz
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</pre>
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Access to paths and files within types is given by environment variables like $__object.
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== See also ==
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{{Portal|Free software}}
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* [[Comparison of open source configuration management software]]
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== References ==
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{{reflist}}
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== External links ==
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* [http://www.nico.schottelius.org/software/cdist/ cdist Website]
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* [https://github.com/telmich/cdist Github home]
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* [http://l.schottelius.org/mailman/listinfo/cdist cdist mailinglist]
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* [https://freecode.com/projects/cdist cdist on freecode]
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[[Category:Configuration management]]
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[[Category:Free software programmed in Python]]
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[[Category:2010 software]]
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[[Category:Linux configuration utilities]]
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[[Category:Mac OS X]]
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[[Category:Linux package management-related software]]
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[[Category:Unix package management-related software]]
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