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296 lines
11 KiB
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<title>2. Why should I use cdist? — cdist 4.3.1 documentation</title>
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4.3.1
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-intro.html">1. cdist - usable configuration management</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1 current"><a class="current reference internal" href="#">2. Why should I use cdist?</a><ul>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#known-language">2.1. Known language</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#powerful-language">2.2. Powerful language</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#more-than-shell-scripting">2.3. More than shell scripting</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#zero-dependency-configuration-management">2.4. Zero dependency configuration management</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#push-based-distribution">2.5. Push based distribution</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l2"><a class="reference internal" href="#highly-scalable">2.6. Highly scalable</a></li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-os.html">3. Supported Operating Systems</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-install.html">4. How to install cdist</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-update.html">5. How to update cdist</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-support.html">6. Support</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-features.html">7. Features</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-quickstart.html">8. Quickstart</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="man1/cdist.html">9. cdist(1)</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-bootstrap.html">10. Bootstrap</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-manifest.html">11. Manifest</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-type.html">12. cdist type</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-types.html">13. cdist types</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-explorer.html">14. Explorer</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-messaging.html">15. Messaging</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-parallelization.html">16. Parallelization</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-reference.html">17. Reference</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-best-practice.html">18. Best practice</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-stages.html">19. Execution stages</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-remote-exec-copy.html">20. Remote exec and copy commands</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-hacker.html">21. Hacking</a></li>
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<li class="toctree-l1"><a class="reference internal" href="cdist-troubleshooting.html">22. Troubleshooting</a></li>
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<li>2. Why should I use cdist?</li>
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<div class="section" id="why-should-i-use-cdist">
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<h1>2. Why should I use cdist?<a class="headerlink" href="#why-should-i-use-cdist" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h1>
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<p>There are several motivations to use cdist, these
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are probably the most popular ones.</p>
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<div class="section" id="known-language">
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<h2>2.1. Known language<a class="headerlink" href="#known-language" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>Cdist is being configured in
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<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_script">shell script</a>.
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Shell script is used by UNIX system engineers for decades.
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So when cdist is introduced, your staff does not need to learn a new
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<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain-specific_language">DSL</a>
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or programming language.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="powerful-language">
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<h2>2.2. Powerful language<a class="headerlink" href="#powerful-language" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>Not only is shell scripting widely known by system engineers,
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but it is also a very powerful language. Here are some features
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which make daily work easy:</p>
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<blockquote>
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<div><ul class="simple">
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<li>Configuration can react dynamicly on explored values</li>
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<li>High level string manipulation (using sed, awk, grep)</li>
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<li>Conditional support (<strong>if, case</strong>)</li>
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<li>Loop support (<strong>for, while</strong>)</li>
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<li>Support for dependencies between cdist types</li>
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</ul>
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</div></blockquote>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="more-than-shell-scripting">
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<h2>2.3. More than shell scripting<a class="headerlink" href="#more-than-shell-scripting" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>If you compare regular shell scripting with cdist, there is one major
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difference: When using cdist types,
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the results are
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<a class="reference external" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idempotence">idempotent</a>.
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In practise that means it does not matter in which order you
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call cdist types, the result is always the same.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="zero-dependency-configuration-management">
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<h2>2.4. Zero dependency configuration management<a class="headerlink" href="#zero-dependency-configuration-management" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>Cdist requires very litte on a target system. Even better,
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in almost all cases all dependencies are usually fulfilled.
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Cdist does not require an agent or a high level programming
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languages on the target host: it will run on any host that
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has a <strong>ssh server running</strong> and a posix compatible shell
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(<strong>/bin/sh</strong>). Compared to other configuration management systems,
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it does not require to open up an additional port.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="push-based-distribution">
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<h2>2.5. Push based distribution<a class="headerlink" href="#push-based-distribution" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>Cdist uses the push based model for configuration. In this
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scenario, one (or more) computers connect the target hosts
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and apply the configuration. That way the source host has
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very little requirements: Cdist can even run on a sysadmin
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notebook that is loosely connected to the network and has
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limited amount of resources.</p>
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<p>Furthermore, from a security point of view, only one machine
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needs access to the target hosts. No target hosts will ever
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need to connect back to the source host, which contains the
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full configuration.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="section" id="highly-scalable">
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<h2>2.6. Highly scalable<a class="headerlink" href="#highly-scalable" title="Permalink to this headline">¶</a></h2>
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<p>If at some point you manage more hosts than can be handled from
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a single source host, you can simply add more resources: Either
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add more cores to one host or add hosts.
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Cdist will utilise the given resources in parallel.</p>
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</div>
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