inventory / configuration management tools

[Dan Langille]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 12:30 PM, Vincent Hoffman <vince at unsane.co.uk> wrote:
> On 14/4/09 16:34, Tom Judge wrote:
>> Dan Langille wrote:
>>> Are you using a configuration management tool?  If so what?
>>>
>>> I don't mean a tool to manage /etc/rc.conf (for example).
>>>
>>> What I'm looking for is something to keep track of all the hardware,
>>> where it's installed, mac addresses, etc.  There has to be some kind
>>> of API into it so we can plug utilize our existing processes,
>>>
>>> We are looking at http://onecmdb.org/ but I'm wondering about other
>>> options.
>>>
>>>
>> In addition to my last response (which I can't reply to because its
>> not made it back to me yet).
>>
>> We also use RackTables (http://www.racktables.org/) for storing data
>> such as locations, configurations etc..  There is not really any real
>> API for it but the DB is fairly simple to interface with..
>> The code is not exactly clean, but it works.  I have a work in
>> progress rewrite that is based on MVC that I can share.  It also has
>> added features for managing package installation sets, and jails, and
>> glue code to interface the package sets to Tinderboxes for binary
>> builds.. Additional glue to hook it into CFEngine to manage jail
>> deployment (via ezjail) and package installation.  Let me know if you
>> are interested in any of this..
>>
>> Tom
>>
> was going to suggest looking at http://flux.org.uk/projects/rackmonkey
> but racktables looks more fully featured.
>
> Vince

We agree.  :)

I did install RackMonkey.  For me, personally, I like that it can use
PostgreSQL (as well as SQLite and MySQL).

RackMonkey did not have the level of details we require.  For example,
I didn't see a way to specify MAC address or ports on a given system.
If I was to use RackMonkey, I think the first thing I'd do is write a
clear installation document.

Regardless, thanks Vince.

-- 
Dan Langille
myYearbook.com