Configuration Management (Puppet or alternative)

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northernladuk replied

17 December 2014, 17:01
The client co already has a puppet working there....

EDIT : Oh sorry, that's a muppet I was thinking of
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slice16 replied

17 December 2014, 16:33
I would personally recommend something like Ansible or Puppet. If you are wanting it free, then the open source versions will work.

Puppet is a steep learning curve for Windows Administrators, as it is a new way of thinking, and requires some programming knowledge.
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NickFitz replied

16 December 2014, 22:20
You can always set up your own Chef server rather than paying. You don't get their "bonus" offerings like analytics and such, but if all you really need is config management it might be an idea.

Good luck trying to follow the Chef documentation though - it's utterly abysmal
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mhamzahkhan replied

16 December 2014, 18:11
Originally posted by SimonMac View Post

how easy/hard is it to pick up and learn, are there any better options out there.

I've only used Puppet on Linux, and never on Windows machines.
There is quite a big initial learning curve in my opinion, but it's not too hard to get your head around.

Using something like The Foreman helps fill the gap between Puppet Open Source, and Puppet Enterprise
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stek replied

27 November 2014, 12:40
Originally posted by SimonMac View Post

ClientCo wants something to capture server configurations etc for a programme of work, will be at most 50-75 servers (so rules out Chef as want to go down the free route) and will be a mix of Oracle Linux and WinTel, anyone used Puppet, how easy/hard is it to pick up and learn, are there any better options out there.

Puppet's not free either, though there is a cut-down free version with limitations I believe.

Is the intention so build from these configurations? If so xCAT is what you want, it's free, but the learning curve is very steep, they all are really. From what I've seen, xCAT is the most powerful, does AIX too, physicals, VM's, builds from the server IMM/LOM/FSP and even build Bladecenters.
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SimonMac started a topic Configuration Management (Puppet or alternative)

27 November 2014, 12:11
Configuration Management (Puppet or alternative)

ClientCo wants something to capture server configurations etc for a programme of work, will be at most 50-75 servers (so rules out Chef as want to go down the free route) and will be a mix of Oracle Linux and WinTel, anyone used Puppet, how easy/hard is it to pick up and learn, are there any better options out there.
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