In this video, we'll identify the main configuration management solutions.
There's a couple of solutions on the market.
First and foremost, there is Ansible.
Ansible is currently the most used tool.
It does not need an agent, because it uses SSH for contact, and it is push-based.
The configuration is defined in YAML, which is easy to understand.
Also very common is Puppet, but it was mainly big in the past, before Ansible became so
popular.
Puppet needs an agent, that's a piece of software that you install on your managed assets.
And it is pool-based, and that means that the agent is going to fetch the configuration
itself to ensure that the managed machine is in the desired state.
It uses a relatively complex configuration language.
A somewhat smaller solution is Chef, which also needs an agent and is pool-based.
It uses a relatively complex configuration language like Puppet, but has never been one
of the big solutions.
Likewise for SaltStack, which is used in the SUSE Manager management solution.
It needs an agent, it is pool-based, and the configuration is in YAML.
Mainly because Ansible is so simple and it doesn't need an agent, but works over default
remote control like Secure Shell, it has become so popular.
And that's also because the configuration is all in YAML.