forked from ungleich-public/cdist
232 lines
6.9 KiB
Text
232 lines
6.9 KiB
Text
[[!meta title="cdist - usable configuration management"]]
|
|
|
|
|
|
.. . .x+=:. s
|
|
dF @88> z` ^% :8
|
|
'88bu. %8P . <k .88
|
|
. '*88888bu . .@8Ned8" :888ooo
|
|
.udR88N ^"*8888N .@88u .@^%8888" -*8888888
|
|
<888'888k beWE "888L ''888E` x88: `)8b. 8888
|
|
9888 'Y" 888E 888E 888E 8888N=*8888 8888
|
|
9888 888E 888E 888E %8" R88 8888
|
|
9888 888E 888F 888E @8Wou 9% .8888Lu=
|
|
?8888u../ .888N..888 888& .888888P` ^%888*
|
|
"8888P' `"888*"" R888" ` ^"F 'Y"
|
|
"P' "" ""
|
|
|
|
|
|
[[!toc levels=2]]
|
|
|
|
## Introduction
|
|
|
|
cdist configures your system and is similar to
|
|
other configuration management systems like
|
|
[cfengine](http://www.cfengine.org/),
|
|
[bcfg2](http://trac.mcs.anl.gov/projects/bcfg2),
|
|
[chef](http://wiki.opscode.com/display/chef/)
|
|
and [puppet](http://www.puppetlabs.com/), but
|
|
it ticks differently:
|
|
|
|
* cdist sticks completly to the KISS (keep it simple and stupid) paradigma
|
|
* cdist's core is very small (< 1k lines of code)
|
|
* There is only one type to extend cdist called ***type***.
|
|
* One main development target: ***It must be incredible easy to add new types.***
|
|
* cdist is UNIX
|
|
* It reuses existing tools like cat, find, mv, ...
|
|
* cdist's documentation is bundled as manpages
|
|
* cdist is written in POSIX shell
|
|
* No special requirements like high level interpreters needed on server or target
|
|
|
|
### Documentation
|
|
|
|
The cdist documentation is included as manpages in the distribution.
|
|
You can [browse the documentation for the latest version online](man) as well.
|
|
|
|
### Architecture
|
|
|
|
* Push mode (server pushes configuration)
|
|
* User defines configuration in shell scripts (called ***manifests***)
|
|
* Generates internal configuration (cconfig style)
|
|
* Uses ***types*** to generate code be executed on the target
|
|
* And finally executes the code on the target / applies the configuration
|
|
|
|
### Features
|
|
|
|
Stuff that should probably be included in every configuration management,
|
|
but is not. Or: Why I began to write cdist:
|
|
|
|
* Speed
|
|
* Elegant code
|
|
* Clean design
|
|
* Good documentation (man pages)
|
|
* Meaningful error messages
|
|
* The no surprise factor
|
|
* Consistency in behaviour, naming and documentation
|
|
* Easy integration into bare metal installations
|
|
* Simple and well-known DSL: posix shell
|
|
* It must be very easy to extend and debug cdist
|
|
* Focus on reuse of existing functionality (like sh, ssh, find, rm, ...)
|
|
* Easy upgrade: ***There is no need to update cdist on target hosts!***
|
|
* cdist only needs to be update on the master server
|
|
|
|
### OS support
|
|
|
|
cdist was tested or is know to run on at least
|
|
|
|
* [Archlinux](http://www.archlinux.org/)
|
|
* [Debian](http://www.debian.org/)
|
|
* [Gentoo](http://www.gentoo.org/)
|
|
* [Mac OS X](http://www.apple.com/macosx/)
|
|
* [Redhat](http://www.redhat.com/)
|
|
* [Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/)
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Requirements
|
|
|
|
### Server
|
|
|
|
* A posix like shell
|
|
* SSH-Client
|
|
|
|
### Client ("target host")
|
|
|
|
* A posix like shell
|
|
* SSH-Server
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Getting cdist
|
|
|
|
You can clone cdist from git, which gives you the advantage of having
|
|
a version control in place for development of your own stuff as well.
|
|
|
|
### Installation
|
|
|
|
To install cdist, execute the following commands:
|
|
|
|
git clone git://git.schottelius.org/cdist
|
|
cd cdist
|
|
export PATH=$PATH:$(pwd -P)/bin
|
|
|
|
# If you want the manpages (requires gmake and asciidoc to be installed)
|
|
make man
|
|
export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
|
|
|
|
|
|
Afterwards you can run ***cdist-quickstart*** to get an impression on
|
|
how to use cdist.
|
|
|
|
### Available versions
|
|
|
|
There are at least the following branches available:
|
|
|
|
* master: the development branch
|
|
* 1.4: Support for redefiniton of objects (if equal)
|
|
|
|
Old versions:
|
|
|
|
* 1.3: Support for local and remote code execution (current stable)
|
|
* 1.2: Dependencies supported
|
|
* 1.1: __file to __file, __directory, __link migration
|
|
* 1.0: First official release
|
|
|
|
Other branches may be available for features or bugfixes, but they
|
|
may vanish at any point. To select a specific branch use
|
|
|
|
# Generic code
|
|
git checkout -b <name> origin/<name>
|
|
|
|
# Stay on a specific version
|
|
git checkout -b 1.4 origin/1.4
|
|
|
|
### Mirrors
|
|
|
|
* git://github.com/telmich/cdist.git ([github](https://github.com/telmich/cdist))
|
|
* git://git.sans.ethz.ch/cdist ([sans](http://git.sans.ethz.ch/?p=cdist;a=summary))
|
|
|
|
## Update
|
|
|
|
To upgrade cdist in the current branch use
|
|
|
|
git pull
|
|
|
|
# Also update the manpages
|
|
make man
|
|
export MANPATH=$MANPATH:$(pwd -P)/doc/man
|
|
|
|
If you stay on a version branche (i.e. 1.0, 1.1., ...), nothing should break.
|
|
The master branch on the other hand is the development branch and may not be
|
|
working, break your setup or eat the tree in your garden.
|
|
|
|
### Upgrading from 1.3 to 1.4
|
|
|
|
No incompatiblities.
|
|
|
|
### Upgrading from 1.2 to 1.3
|
|
|
|
Rename **gencode** of every type to **gencode-remote**.
|
|
|
|
### Upgrading from 1.1 to 1.2
|
|
|
|
No incompatiblities.
|
|
|
|
### Upgrading from 1.0 to 1.1
|
|
|
|
In 1.1 the type **\_\_file** was split into **\_\_directory**, **\_\_file** and
|
|
**\_\_link**. The parameter **--type** was removed from **\_\_file**. Thus you
|
|
need to replace **\_\_file** calls in your manifests:
|
|
|
|
* Remove --type from all \_\_file calls
|
|
* If type was symlink, use \_\_link and --type symbolic
|
|
* If type was directory, use \_\_directory
|
|
|
|
|
|
## Support
|
|
|
|
### IRC
|
|
|
|
You can join the development ***IRC channel***
|
|
[#cLinux on irc.freenode.org](irc://irc.freenode.org/#cLinux).
|
|
|
|
### Mailing list
|
|
|
|
Bug reports, questions, patches, etc. should be send to the
|
|
[cdist mailing list](http://l.schottelius.org/mailman/listinfo/cdist).
|
|
|
|
## Commercial support
|
|
|
|
You can request commercial support for cdist from
|
|
[my company](http://firma.schottelius.org/english/).
|
|
|
|
## Used by
|
|
|
|
If you're using cdist, feel free to send a report to the mailing list.
|
|
Interesting information are for instance
|
|
|
|
* Which services do you manage?
|
|
* How many machines do you manage?
|
|
* What are the pros/cons you see in cdist?
|
|
* General comments/critics
|
|
|
|
### Nico Schottelius, Systems Group ETH Zurich and privately
|
|
|
|
Yes, I'm actually eating my own dogfood and currently managing
|
|
|
|
* [plone](http://plone.org/) (cms)
|
|
* [moinmoin](http://moinmo.in/) (wiki)
|
|
* [apache](http://httpd.apache.org/) (webserver)
|
|
* [kerberos (mit)](http://web.mit.edu/kerberos/) (authentication)
|
|
* [ircd-hybrid](http://www.ircd-hybrid.org/) (chat)
|
|
* [stunnel](http://stunnel.mirt.net/) (SSL tunnel)
|
|
* [mercurial-server](http://www.lshift.net/mercurial-server.html) (version control)
|
|
* [xfce](http://www.xfce.org/) (lightweight desktop environment)
|
|
* [slim](http://slim.berlios.de/) (graphical login manager for X11)
|
|
|
|
with cdist on a total of **9** production machines of the
|
|
[Systems Group](http://www.systems.ethz.ch) at the
|
|
[ETH Zurich](http://www.ethz.ch) as well at home.
|
|
|
|
### Steven Armstrong, CBRG ETH Zurich
|
|
|
|
The CBRG is managing most of their compute clusters with cdist.
|
|
|
|
|