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A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

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Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#41

Post by yunohn »

nanozuki wrote: post #23
okasaki wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's wrong with ansible?

Too heavy, too complex and too slow. Although ansible can be used in local machine, but it is design for multiple remote machine. For example, if you want copy a config file to target, you must use some tools like `scp` or do some hacking. And it's much slow than shell script, and the print in stdio is ugly. (because it's design for running in 100 machines in one time.) Ansible also had a steep learning curve, and re…

> if you want copy a config file to target, you must use some tools like `scp` or do some hacking

Maybe I misunderstood, but I use copy (1) for this in Ansible. This is standard, and you shouldn’t need scp?

(1) https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/...

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#43

Post by soulofmischief »

gyulai wrote: post #42

Great use of metaphor to make a complex and subtle technical concept into a readily-understood one-liner.

Pets, not cattle is the general mantra for configuration management systems. Personally I use Ansible for fleet management.

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#44

Post by morelisp »

ms4720 wrote: post #5

Have you looked at salt?

I've used masterless salt for managing pet hosts, and the experience was pretty good (though I also already had experience using salt on a 30ish node cluster). However, these days it would be the only reason I would have Python installed on some of them. Avoiding that dependency management would definitely be a selling point.

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#45

Post by gyulai »

soulofmischief wrote: post #43
gyulai wrote: post #42

Great use of metaphor to make a complex and subtle technical concept into a readily-understood one-liner.

Pets, not cattle is the general mantra for configuration management systems. Personally I use Ansible for fleet management.

> Pets, not cattle is the general mantra for configuration management systems.

Oh, I didn't realize it was in widespread use. But still. Someone thought of it, and it's great use of language.

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#46

Post by zenbit »

turtleyacht wrote: post #40

A replacement for "pets, not cattle" could be "goldfish, not trout" [0]. Due to certain beliefs around the latter. Has that come up for anyone? Maybe unique to us? [0] Not my idea. Source: a colleague.

I like to say "farmed, not gardened" as a veggie alternative to "cattle, not pets". As in "containers are farmed, not gardened".

No idea if that sounds right to a native speaker, though.

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#47

Post by mananaysiempre »

soulofmischief wrote: post #43
gyulai wrote: post #42

Great use of metaphor to make a complex and subtle technical concept into a readily-understood one-liner.

Pets, not cattle is the general mantra for configuration management systems. Personally I use Ansible for fleet management.

Or rather the other way around (usually, though not here)?

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#48

Post by djrobstep »

lamontcg wrote: post #35
djrobstep wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very unhealthy attitude. Why shouldn’t things be easily configurable from scratch?

Well I have 25 years of experience with configuration management, including over 10 years having lead the development of one of the major tools in the space, and I don't waste time doing configuration management on my laptop, I just back it up. You can go ahead and do configuration management of your laptop if that gives you enjoyment, but it is entirely over the top to say that is an "unhealthy attitude".

That is exactly the problem. It doesn’t give me enjoyment. But why shouldn’t it?

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#49

Post by lexandstuff »

soulofmischief wrote: post #43
gyulai wrote: post #42

Great use of metaphor to make a complex and subtle technical concept into a readily-understood one-liner.

Pets, not cattle is the general mantra for configuration management systems. Personally I use Ansible for fleet management.

You mean Cattle, not Pets is the general mantra, right? Or have things changed a lot since I was last doing Ops?

Re: A configuration management system for computers that are pets, not cattle

#50

Post by LAC-Tech »

gyulai wrote: post #42

Great use of metaphor to make a complex and subtle technical concept into a readily-understood one-liner.

"Cattle, not pets" is not a great analogy in the first place. Maybe I only talk to smaller farmers, but they definitely care if a cow dies. Maybe not as much as if the dog dies, but it's a sign something is seriously wrong with their operation.
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