Re: [gentoo-user] Re: Managing multiple systems with identical hardware

[Alan McKinnon]

On 29/09/2013 20:36, Grant wrote:
>>> I'm slowly coming to conclsuion that you are trying to solve a problem
>>> with Gentoo that binary distros already solved a very long time ago. You
>>> are forcing yourself to become the sole maintainer of GrantOS and do all
>>> the heavy lifting of packaging. But, Mint and friends already did all
>>> that work already and frankly, they are much better at it than you or I.
>>
>>>> I think it will work if I can find a way to manage the few differences
>>>> above.  Am I overlooking any potential issues?
>>
>> I think Grant Should look at CFengine, if he is not familar
>> with it. It is the traditional 800 pound Gorrilla when it comes
>> to managing many systems. Surely there are folks there in those
>> forums that can help Grant filter his ideas until they are
>> ready for action. CFengine is in portage.
>>
>> Alan may be right, as CFengine (or whatever) may work better
>> with a binary distribution and is probable more tightly integrated
>> with something like debian or such OSes.
>
> Can you give me a general idea of how my workflow might be with a
> solution like that?


It's not really possible to give a cut and dried answer to that, as all
three solutions (CFEngine, Puppet, Chef) try hard to integrate
themselves into your needs rather than get you to integrate into a rigid
code-imposed system.

I could say that you load a config into Puppet, define how it works and
where it must go, then tell puppet to do it and let you know the
results, but that doesn't tell you much.

I reckon you should pop over to puppet's website and start reading. As
you grasp the general ideas you'll find ways to make it work for you.




-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan.mckinnon@×××××.com