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DevOps & Automation · Foundational

Configuration Management

Maintaining systems in a known, consistent desired state by automating the configuration of operating systems, software, and settings.

Definition

Tools such as Ansible, Puppet, Chef, and Salt define desired state, apply it idempotently, detect drift, and report compliance. In ITIL, configuration management also refers to tracking configuration items in a CMDB.

Example

Ansible ensures all 300 switches have the same NTP and syslog servers configured.

Exam tip

Know agentless (Ansible) vs agent-based (Puppet, Chef) and push vs pull models.

Related terms