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What are the best server provisioning tools for Ruby Ops?
3
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9
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Oct 12, 2023
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3
Options
Considered
Best server provisioning tools for Ruby Ops
Price
Platforms
Technology
--
Puppet
-
Windows, Linux, Mac, Web
Ruby
--
Ansible
-
Windows, Mac, Linux
Python
--
Chef
-
Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD
Ruby
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--
Puppet
My Rec
ommendation
for
Puppet
My Recommendation for
Puppet
All
9
Pros
6
Cons
2
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Broad cross-platform support
Puppet is supported on a wide range of operating systems. See the Docs for a complete list.
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Top
Con
•••
Interaction between modules can get quite complex very fast
Due to it's out of order execution you can easily get into race condition between different modules. You have to be very careful declaring pre-requisites for the tasks so they don't step on top of each other. On the other hand when you get this lets you deploy things much faster than straight line execution tools
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, Web
Technology:
Ruby
Top
Pro
•••
Easy to learn
Puppet is model-driven and easier for diverse teams (that may include non-devs) to learn than it's main competitor, Chef.
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Top
Con
•••
Lacks flexibility
The lack of control over Puppet's model-driven approach can result in less flexibility and power from the tool.
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Top
Pro
•••
Helpful UI
Puppet's UI is very useful. It allows real-time control of managed nodes by using modules and configuration recipes that are on the master servers. Although the UI is great for management, it lacks when trying to configure modules.
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Top
Pro
•••
Large community
Puppet is very mature and relatively old. This means that it has gathered quite a following over the years. This large community means that there are a lot of modules, guides and configuration recipes ready to use built by the community.
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Top
Pro
•••
Complete
Puppet is a complete solution in terms of available features and modules. It has full support for all the main Operating Systems and provides lots of tools for its users.
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Top
Pro
•••
Declarative sematic
You define the state the server should be in and Puppet transforms it that state. This is opposed to explicitly declaring a list of actions to be performed. If a developer wants more flexibility and control there's always the option of falling back to explicitly running commands but that's discouraged.
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Recommend
5
--
Ansible
My Rec
ommendation
for
Ansible
My Recommendation for
Ansible
All
11
Pros
9
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Extensible in any language / runtime
Although you may need to preinstall favorite programming environment, Ansible modules are accessed via shell calls and therefore any executable on the remote system built for use with Ansible may be used as an Ansible module.
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Top
Con
•••
Somewhat weak documentation
Ansible is still relatively new, as far as server automation tools go. This is the reason that many users have found it's documentation lacking in some parts. Although this is mitigated by the fact that it's very easy to learn to use.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Mac, Linux
Technology:
Python
Top
Pro
•••
Web UI
Ansible has a Web UI in the form of AnsibleWorks AWX which unfortunately does not tie directly into the CLI. So configuration elements present in the CLI can not appear in the UI unless a sync pass is run. Although the Web UI is helpful and functional, it's still not as complete feature-wise as the CLI.
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Top
Pro
•••
Rich diff
Modules that support rich diffs can expose nearly every detail of what will change. However not all core modules support diffs, so there may still be some opaque chances made.
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Top
Pro
•••
Creating reusable components is simple
Making roles modular and reusable is a fast process with Ansible.
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Top
Pro
•••
Simple tasks can be run from the command line
Some simple tasks such as triggering updates or reboots, or even checking if the service is running can be done without configuration files. These commands can be run from the command line instead.
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Top
Pro
•••
Support for major cloud providers
Ansible supports managing major cloud devices (AWS, RackSpace, Digital Ocean, OpenStack) through a collection of modules which are available.
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Top
Pro
•••
Easy to customize
Ansible is very easy to customize. It doesn't force you to use a language with which you are unfamiliar. Instead, all commands are packaged into YAML modules which are called playbooks. So as long as you use a programming language that can output JSON, you are able to customize it.
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Top
Pro
•••
Agentless
Ansible does not use agents. Instead, all master-agent communications are handled via SSH commands or through the Paramiko module which provides a Python interface to SSH.
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Top
Pro
•••
Gentle learning curve
Ansible is agentless, making it quick and painless to setup. Ansible has clear and detailed documentation and provides plenty of built-in modules. Its DSL is obtained using YAML and a familiar template system.
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Recommend
2
--
Chef
My Rec
ommendation
for
Chef
My Recommendation for
Chef
All
7
Pros
5
Cons
1
Specs
Top
Pro
•••
Popular choice among large companies
Chef has an impressive list of companies using it's automation service. Among them is Facebook, Etsy, Ancestry.com, PharmMD and Yahoo.
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Top
Con
•••
Steep learning curve
Chef has a steeper learning curve than many of its competitors, making it a more difficult tool for the non-devs of a team (such as sysadmins) to work with. For some teams, the added cost of teaching Chef to the team may outweigh the benefits.
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Specs
Platforms:
Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD
Technology:
Ruby
Top
Pro
•••
Strong version control capabilities
Chef is centered around Git for it's configuration and deployments. Because of this, Chef also has great version control capabilities through Git.
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Top
Pro
•••
Cross-platform
Chef is cross-platform. Offering support for the biggest platforms out there: Linux, Windows and *nix.
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Top
Pro
•••
Mature
Chef was released in 2009, which is relatively a long time ago for software. Since then it has been through several versions and many bug fixes and tests. All of this can make Chef more appealing to teams who are looking for stability and maturity, which are things that Chef brings on the table.
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Top
Pro
•••
Large community
Chef has a relatively large community. One of the reasons for it is the fact that it's a pretty old and mature tool. Chef, originally released in 2009, is a more mature product. Being popular and with a large and dedicated community means that Chef has lots and lots of resources and guides from third party sources out there for beginners to pick up. Not only that, there are also many plugins and configuration recipes made by the community.
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Recommend
2
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