Best Practices-System Changes (Small environments)

[Darrin Chandler]

On Tue, Nov 21, 2006 at 01:27:07AM -0700, Dazed_75 wrote:
> I find myself making the same alterations to a small number of systems but
> some of them repeatedly as I try different distros.  I try to keep some
> notes but find they are inadequate and inconsistent.  It is also painful to
> always make the changes manually.  I know that in large environments there
> are tools such as source management systems, network installers, etc. but
> they are serious overkill to the small network or individual user such as I.
> 
> It occurs to me that this is a situation many of you have faced and perhaps
> conquered.  My hope is that there are some best practices people might be
> willing to discuss here and that the discussion might be useful to others
> besides me.  So if you have favored techniques or tools, lets hear about
> them.  For example, a tool/script/etc to scan for and document changes from
> a base install, a format/method for noting changes made (and when/how?), or
> a reasonable means for re-asserting those changes after a system re-install
> or upgrade.  Yes, it is a lot to ask but not asking helps no one.

This may be overkill for your situation, but I've heard good things
about cfengine from people with hundreds of boxes to manage.

-- 
Darrin Chandler
Phoenix BSD Users Group (PhxBUG)
dwc at bsd.phoenix.az.us
http://bsd.phoenix.az.us/