Breaking with conventional Configuration File Editing
Puppet with a Key/Value API in a User Study
- Track: Config Management devroom
- Room: UA2.114 (Baudoux)
- Day: Sunday
- Start: 12:30
- End: 12:55
While on top-level configuration management tools usually have key/value interfaces, in the layer below other techniques are used, such as:
- Rewriting configuration files with templates (ERB templates, ...)
- Specify replacements (file_line, Augeas, ...)
In this talk, we will discuss a new approach using a key/value interface in every layer of configuration access, implemented in Puppet-Libelektra. Different to other key/value APIs Puppet-Libelektra is independent of the concrete configuration file format, abstracts from the syntax, and supports validation.
In a time-consuming user study we found the key/value interface to be significantly faster to use. Because of integrated validation it is also more safe, and because of local tooling it is easier to use. Puppet-Libelektra is already used in practice: Elektra's web and build server is managed using Puppet-Libelektra.
Speakers
Markus Raab |