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DevOps Intermediate

What is Configuration Management?

The practice of systematically managing and maintaining consistent server configurations across infrastructure.

Configuration management ensures all servers in an environment are configured identically and consistently. Tools automate installing packages, managing files, setting up services, and applying security policies across hundreds of servers.

Popular tools include Ansible (agentless, YAML playbooks), Puppet (agent-based, declarative), Chef (agent-based, Ruby DSL), and Salt (fast, Python-based). These tools are idempotent — running the same configuration twice produces the same result.

Related Terms

Docker Compose
A tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications using a YAML configuration file.
Istio
An open-source service mesh that provides traffic management, security, and observability for microservices on Kubernetes.
Container Registry
A storage and distribution service for container images, similar to a package repository but for Docker images.
Ansible
An agentless automation tool for configuration management, application deployment, and task automation using YAML playbooks.
Incident Management
The process of detecting, responding to, and resolving service disruptions to minimize impact and restore normal operations.
Infrastructure Drift
The divergence between the actual state of infrastructure and its defined desired state, caused by manual changes or untracked modifications.
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