DevOps Services had started as a simple and optional concept but with time, it emerged as a must-have for all IT leaders. It has created a lot of buzz in the IT industry, but it has a well-deserved name for its practical applications. In earlier times, tasks such as constructing environments, deploying applications, and infrastructure management, were carried out manually. Imagine the prospect of having a machine do all of these tasks for you. This would not only save you precious time but also reduce the possibility of human errors.

Understanding Configuration Management

When a configuration platform is aligned to automate, monitor, design, and manage all manual configuration processes with the help of a system, then the concept of configuration management software comes into existence. With the involvement of the Agile methodology of DevOps, all tasks that fall under the system are carried out more efficiently while saving time and manpower. Therefore, a company with limited resources can apply the DevOps Configuration Management technique to manage all processes with ease. Therefore, Configuration Management is the term used for the automation, management, and maintenance of configurations at each stage of operation.

There are different tools of DevOps readily available that can help you with these processes. For this, you need to study your available resources, the kind of work needed, and scalability, among other things to shortlist the configuration management tool that will be best for your DevOps implementation processes.

1. CFEngine

CFEngine is an older configuration management tool that runs on C technology. It is open-source and provides automation configuration for big systems that consists of servers, systems, users, embedded network devices, and mobile devices, all managed in unification. It has a small memory footprint, runs faster, works quicker, and has a smaller number of dependencies.

2. Puppet

Puppet uses Ruby as its declarative language for the configuration of a system that is systematically organized in modules. The operation team needs to be completely aware of the weaknesses and strengths of this configuration management tool to maximize its productivity and minimize potential risks. In comparison to CFEngine, Puppet is easier to understand, grasp, and utilize for operations as it is more modernized and up-to-date on DevOps trends.

3. Chef

The Chef is a configuration management tool that is considered a heavyweight in the automation platform market. It works on Ruby as well. At the same time, it manages cloud-based servers either on-premises or in hybrid environments. Even if you are changing your cloud providers at any stage, you can still manage the data centre and cloud environment at the same time. It helps in easing the burden of installation by setting up a master-agent environment.

4. Ansible

At present, Ansible is considered the most favourable configuration management tool that is newer and better than both Puppet and Chef. It has gained its reputation among the top DevOps leaders due to its simple management capabilities and streamlined operations with a wide range of automated task list. It has a Linux base and is easy to read by programmers and non-programmers. It does not need any middle agents which also means that the overall overhead is less.

5. SaltStack

It is developed in Python and is much newer after the reviews of Puppet and Chef. It is said to be at the midpoint of Ansible and Puppet. It follows the master-agent environment to manage target servers easily. It has remarkable integrations with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud which makes it a tad bit faster than Puppet and Chef.

There are many more such Configuration Management tools such as Docker, PowerShell DSC, TeamCity Configuration, JUJU Configuration, and Rudder. Most of these are open-source and based on simple languages that are easier to learn, interpret, and write commands in the case of Command Line Interface necessity.

Finding Needle in the Haystack

Just like it is not easy to find a needle in the Haystack, it is quite difficult to choose the best-suited Configuration Management tool out of so many. All one can say is that, no matter what tool you have, an automation project can be kickstarted by understanding how you can work with what you have. If you have poor processes that you are wasting your time on automating, then that is a sure way to lose your path. So, once you recognize what the golden areas of your project are, you can focus on automating and working on them to get the most benefit from some of the best DevOps tools.

At Interwork, you get the benefit of learning about your areas through DevOps Consulting Services. Interwork is an initiative that involves the concept of innovation and out-of-the-box thinking. Along with this, Interwork has been following the Agile Methodology to provide results to clients faster, efficiently, and with improved quality. With the DevOps development process, Interwork has iterated the processes into the best output-driven capabilities. You can find your solution right here.