241 lines
7.2 KiB
Text
241 lines
7.2 KiB
Text
[[!meta title="cdist - usable configuration management"]]
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[[!toc levels=2]]
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## Introduction
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cdist configures your system and is similar to
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other configuration management systems like
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[cfengine](http://www.cfengine.org/),
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[bcfg2](http://trac.mcs.anl.gov/projects/bcfg2),
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[chef](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/)
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and [puppet](http://www.puppetlabs.com/), but
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it ticks differently:
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* cdist sticks completly to the KISS (keep it simple and stupid) paradigma
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* cdist's core is very small (< 1k lines of code)
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* There is only one type to extend cdist called ***type***.
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* One main development target: ***It must be incredible easy to add new types.***
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* cdist is UNIX
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* It reuses existing tools like cat, find, mv, ...
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* cdist's documentation is bundled as manpages
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* cdist is written in POSIX shell
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* No special requirements like high level interpreters needed on server or target
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### Documentation
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The cdist documentation is included as manpages in the distribution.
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You can [browse the documentation for the latest version online](man) as well.
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### Architecture
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* Push mode (server pushes configuration)
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* User defines configuration in shell scripts (called ***manifests***)
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* Generates internal configuration (cconfig style)
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* Uses ***types*** to generate code be executed on the target
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* And finally executes the code on the target / applies the configuration
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### Features
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* Elegant code and clean design
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* Type and core cleanly seperated
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* Small codebase in core
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* Good documentation (man pages)
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* Consistency in behaviour, naming and documentation
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* Meaningful error messages
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* Either standard error messages from tools or added description for clearification
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* The no surprise factor
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* No magic guessing of what the user wants
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* Simple and well-known DSL
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* Posix shell
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* Easy integration into bare metal installations
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* requires only ssh + sh
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* Easy upgrade
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* ***There is no need to update cdist on target hosts!***
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* cdist only needs to be updated on the master server(s)
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* Very easy to extend
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* Can be done via types, which can be stacked on top of others
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* Reuse of existing functionality
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* sh, ssh, find, rm, mv, ...
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* Very easy to debug
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* Just add set -x in the scripts
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### OS support
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cdist was tested or is know to run on at least
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* [Archlinux](http://www.archlinux.org/)
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* [Debian](http://www.debian.org/)
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* [Gentoo](http://www.gentoo.org/)
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* [Mac OS X](http://www.apple.com/macosx/)
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* [OpenBSD](http://www.openbsd.org)
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* [Redhat](http://www.redhat.com/)
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* [Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/)
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## Requirements
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### Server
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* A posix like shell
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* SSH-Client
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### Client ("target host")
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* A posix like shell
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* SSH-Server
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## Getting cdist
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You can clone cdist from git, which gives you the advantage of having
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a version control in place for development of your own stuff as well.
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### Installation
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To install cdist, execute the following commands:
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git clone git://git.schottelius.org/cdist
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cd cdist
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export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd -P)/bin
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# If you want the manpages (requires gmake and asciidoc to be installed)
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./build.sh man
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export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
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Afterwards you can run ***cdist-quickstart*** to get an impression on
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how to use cdist.
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### Available versions
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There are at least the following branches available:
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* master: the development branch
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* 1.5: Focus on object orientation instead of global stage orientation
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Old versions:
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* 1.4: Support for redefiniton of objects (if equal)
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* 1.3: Support for local and remote code execution (current stable)
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* 1.2: Dependencies supported
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* 1.1: __file to __file, __directory, __link migration
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* 1.0: First official release
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Other branches may be available for features or bugfixes, but they
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may vanish at any point. To select a specific branch use
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# Generic code
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git checkout -b <name> origin/<name>
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# Stay on a specific version
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version=1.5
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git checkout -b $version origin/$version
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### Mirrors
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* git://github.com/telmich/cdist.git ([github](https://github.com/telmich/cdist))
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* git://git.sans.ethz.ch/cdist ([sans](http://git.sans.ethz.ch/?p=cdist;a=summary))
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## Update
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To upgrade cdist in the current branch use
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git pull
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# Also update the manpages
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./build.sh man
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export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
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If you stay on a version branche (i.e. 1.0, 1.1., ...), nothing should break.
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The master branch on the other hand is the development branch and may not be
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working, break your setup or eat the tree in your garden.
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### Upgrading from 1.3 to 1.5
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No incompatiblities.
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### Upgrading from 1.2 to 1.3
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Rename **gencode** of every type to **gencode-remote**.
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### Upgrading from 1.1 to 1.2
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No incompatiblities.
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### Upgrading from 1.0 to 1.1
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In 1.1 the type **\_\_file** was split into **\_\_directory**, **\_\_file** and
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**\_\_link**. The parameter **--type** was removed from **\_\_file**. Thus you
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need to replace **\_\_file** calls in your manifests:
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* Remove --type from all \_\_file calls
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* If type was symlink, use \_\_link and --type symbolic
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* If type was directory, use \_\_directory
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## Support
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### IRC
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You can join the development ***IRC channel***
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[#cLinux on irc.freenode.org](irc://irc.freenode.org/#cLinux).
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### Mailing list
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Bug reports, questions, patches, etc. should be send to the
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[cdist mailing list](http://l.schottelius.org/mailman/listinfo/cdist).
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## Commercial support
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You can request commercial support for cdist from
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[my company](http://firma.schottelius.org/english/).
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## Used by
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If you're using cdist, feel free to send a report to the mailing list.
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Interesting information are for instance
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* Which services do you manage?
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* How many machines do you manage?
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* What are the pros/cons you see in cdist?
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* General comments/critics
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### Nico Schottelius, Systems Group ETH Zurich and privately
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Yes, I'm actually eating my own dogfood and currently managing
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* [plone](http://plone.org/) (cms)
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* [moinmoin](http://moinmo.in/) (wiki)
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* [apache](http://httpd.apache.org/) (webserver)
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* [kerberos (mit)](http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/) (authentication)
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* [ircd-hybrid](http://www.ircd-hybrid.org/) (chat)
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* [stunnel](http://stunnel.mirt.net/) (SSL tunnel)
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* [mercurial-server](http://www.lshift.net/mercurial-server.html) (version control)
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* [xfce](http://www.xfce.org/) (lightweight desktop environment)
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* [slim](http://slim.berlios.de/) (graphical login manager for X11)
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with cdist on a total of **20** production machines of the
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[Systems Group](http://www.systems.ethz.ch) at the
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[ETH Zurich](http://www.ethz.ch) as well at home.
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### Steven Armstrong, CBRG ETH Zurich
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The CBRG is managing most of their compute clusters with cdist.
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