I'm just starting to investigate SIS, so please bear with me if I don't
grasp the entire thing just yet.
Currently I'm using a home-brewed configuration management system. All of
the install is done manually (yuck!) and then the CFILE program goes through
and changes many configuration files to whatever is appropriate.
My reading of SystemConfigurator has led me to believe that it can do basic
configuration to handle network cards and the like, but doing more would
involve writting a script to generate these files. Is that correct? I'd
appreciate info or pointers to documentation on this.
Some background...
The idea behind CFILE was a bunch of configuration file templates that
are passed through a preprocessor (much like CPP or M4) and the resulting
file installed on the local machine. This meant that many configuration
files (like /etc/wgetrc, for example), which are the same on all machines,
are unaltered except for one line stating where to install it and with
what file permissions. Other files get more complicated.
The /etc/printcap file has if/then/else blocks for each locally attached
printer. When CFILE runs on the machine to which the printer is physically
attached, the "if" is true and the resulting file gets a printcap entry
that reflects the local printer. On other machines, the "else" section
emits an entry that reflects a remote network printer. Name substitution
is supported, so "@name@" will get replaced with "Precidia" and "@dns@" will
get replaced with "precidia.com". Some names will do more, such as
"@real-fqdn-for-cvs@" which will become "tolkien.ott.precidia.com" (tolkien
handles the CVS service).
More complicated files have embedded perl code. My /etc/network/interfaces
file is generated this way to create entries for eth1, eth2, etc. if it
detects them (this is currently recognized by having the same machine name
with an additional number -- tolkien1, tolkien2, etc -- associated with an
IP address, but could use any kind of condition). The embedded perl code
determines the address, mask, gateway, etc. based on rules in the code.
Then we come to the extreme case where a file is almost completely
generated. When CFILE creates dns-master files for bind, it calls a macro
to emit the lines. This is the least preferred method because it requires
adding code to CFILE to get the result.
All of this is managed by saving the files in a secure CVS repository.
Every night, each machine does a "cvs -r update" of its local copy and
installs any changes. I can change a setting across the entire network
by commiting a file and waiting for the next morning. A single central
file defines the global settings and the services each machine provides.
I can change the line "ftp => tolkien" to "ftp => jordan" and every machine
in the network will start to use the host "jordan" instead of "tolkien" for
everything FTP related.
Okay, so after that long description... Is SystemConfigurator capable of
something like this? If not, would such be useful to others? If so,
perhaps I can help add it to the tool.
Thanks!
Brian
( [EMAIL PROTECTED] )
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