Configuration Management Solutions facilitate the automation and control of configurations and settings across IT environments. They are used to ensure that systems are consistently maintained and set up to operate as we’d expect them to. Configuration Management Solutions not only track and record changes to the IT landscape, but also help to automatically ensure that current system configurations match predefined templates or ‘desired states’. This ensures operational reliability, reduces the potential for human-induced errors, and streamlines deployment and scaling efforts.
Given the complexities of modern IT operations, especially with the advent of cloud computing, containerization, and infrastructure-as-code paradigms, the need for robust configuration management solutions is greater than ever. These platforms often integrate with continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipelines, offer compliance auditing capabilities, and provide detailed logging and reporting for accountability and troubleshooting.
The market for Configuration Management Solutions is rich and varied, with tools catering for organizations of different sizes, complexities, and work practices. Effective configuration management solutions prioritize ease of use, scalability, and have strong security and compliance capabilities. In this guide, we will explore the top Configuration Management solutions, with information on each product, its features, and use cases.
Microsoft Configuration Manager, part of the Microsoft Intune product suite, is an integrated solution designed to streamline the management of various devices within a business setting. Microsoft Configuration Manager significantly enhances IT productivity and efficiency by automating manual tasks. It ensures hardware and software resources are optimized and that software is provisioned effectively. This tool supports secure and scalable deployment of applications, operating systems, and software updates. It also enables real-time actions on managed devices and provides cloud-powered analytics for both on-premises and internet-based devices.
Microsoft Configuration Manager has two user interfaces: the Configuration Manager console and the Software Center. The former serves as the primary administrative point, allowing the management of multiple sites and offers role-based administration to restrict access and limit visibility as required. The Software Center is installed alongside the Configuration Manager client on Windows devices, letting users browse and install applications, updates, and new OS versions, view software request history, and check device compliance against organizational policies. Configuration Manager integrates seamlessly with Microsoft ecosystems and technologies such as Microsoft Intune and Azure. The platform also integrates with Microsoft SQL Server and synchronizes with SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) to generate reports that monitor and track management activities.
Progress Chef Infrastructure Management enables DevOps teams to uniformly apply configurations across various platforms such as cloud, virtual machines, or physical infrastructure. This product enables swift deployment through an accessible interface that employs human-readable language like YAML, and optionally Ruby for more complex tasks. The platform also supports AIOps integration, enhancing IT operations through data consolidation, and facilitating seamless cooperation with third-party systems.
Chef Infrastructure Management is equipped with robust tools to streamline the development process. It provides a unified view of both the intended and current states across teams, promoting collaboration in managing complex services and environments. The system grants administrators the ability to craft custom authorizations for users or teams, enhancing control and coordination at an enterprise level. The platform also extends support for data mapping to third-party systems through a feature named ‘Data Path’; this allows for efficient data transmission to intelligence and monitoring systems. Chef integrates with a wide range of DevOps software tools. This includes source code and artifact repositories, CI/CD tools, provisioning utilities, and secrets management tools.
Puppet Enterprise is specifically designed to streamline IT operations by allowing teams to manage and automate complex workflows on a large scale. It supports over 49 different operating systems, making it a versatile platform that can accommodate a diverse range of workflows and global infrastructure setups. Users can leverage more than 6000 modules crafted by Puppet experts and the community to further enhance and simplify automation processes.
Puppet Enterprise aids IT teams in automating infrastructure setup and deployment while preparing for future expansion. The platform facilitates continuous configuration automation, allowing users to enforce the desired state at scale without requiring manual intervention, reducing the chances of human error. It allows you to define and enforce configurations programmatically across various operating systems, middleware, and applications. It also simplifies the management of infrastructure state through a centralized dashboard view, providing insights into the inventory across the organization.
Puppet Enterprise also assists in minimizing operational risks by creating a predictable and secure environment that adheres to compliance and security prerequisites. It monitors and reduces drift between the desired and actual configuration states, offering continuous configuration automation and alerting facilities. The solution is designed to help teams maintain compliance with automation, integrating security, compliance, and operational policies directly into your infrastructure code.
Red Hat provides open-source enterprise solutions, for Linux, hybrid cloud, edge, and Kubernetes technologies. The Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is a part of their comprehensive offering, available both as an on-premises solution and a managed service on Microsoft Azure, with a billing system based on nodes rather than users.
The Ansible Automation Platform automates routine and time-consuming configuration management tasks. It ensures consistency in managing compliance through automation execution environments; this maintains uniformity across multiple platforms, be it in your data center, the cloud, or at the edge. Additionally, the platform enables proactive issue responses through Event-Driven Ansible. This feature creates a seamless bridge between data, analytics, and service requests to automated actions, fostering quick responses to outages or server patches.
The solution carries out performance measurement and drift monitoring, with comprehensive insights into your automation effectiveness and can facilitate preemptive problem-solving. This platform is compatible with several industry partners including IBM, PureStorage, SAP, ServiceNow, and VMWare.
ServiceNow is a cloud-based platform aimed at optimizing work processes and unifying organizations to foster a smarter and more efficient workflow. One of the core components of ServiceNow is the Configuration Management Database (CMDB), which stores crucial details about your digital services and the underlying infrastructure. It manages operational processes, helping to foresee, prevent, and address service interruptions, and respond promptly to user requirements.
ServiceNow’s Service Graph Connectors, are a set of tools that facilitate the easy integration of large quantities of third-party data into your CMDB, guaranteeing data accuracy, efficiency, and consistency. These connectors ensure that the data is mapped accurately in the CMDB according to the Common Service Data Model (CSDM). This enhances reporting accuracy and application usability. These connectors are developed by accredited ServiceNow technology partners and follow stringent guidelines and standards to ensure data quality and scalability.
Everything You Need To Know About Configuration Management Solutions (FAQs)
What Are Configuration Management Solutions?
Configuration management refers to the process of maintaining computer systems, applications, servers, network devices, and other IT components to ensure they remain in a desired state with the desired settings. This helps to ensure that the system can perform as expected, meaning you don’t have to manually monitor or adjust settings and configurations.
Using a configuration management solution allows administrators to set up IT systems (such as servers or workstations), then rollout the same settings other assets across an organization. IT teams can make use of configuration assessments and drift analyses to continually identify systems that are no longer adhering to the desired settings. From here, updates can be made to reconfigure and patch the configuration, thereby restoring functionality.
How Do Configuration Management Solutions Work?
IT teams are tasked with managing a wide array of applications and systems within enterprise environments; this may include clouds, networks, servers, storage, and edge devises. It is important to make sure that any misconfigurations can be quickly identified and rectified. The introduction of minor inconsistencies or misconfiguration errors within IT systems can result in configuration drift and, eventually, to unfocused systems that lacking security, compliance adherence, and efficiency.
To avoid this, configuration management solutions define and log the configuration of your assets, acting as a source of truth to identify if and when configuration drifts.
What Features Should You Look For In A Configuration Management Solution?
The features offered by configuration management solutions may differ depending on the vendor and the operational environment that they have been designed for. Typically, most solutions will be geared towards the goal of allowing organizations to effectively manage and control their IT infrastructure configurations. Key features offered by these solutions may include:
- Information Gathering. This is a vital first step for configuration management and involves aggregating and compiling configuration data. Solutions will often provide automated discovery of hardware, software, and network devices to gather a centralized inventory of assets and understand their configurations.
- Baseline Configuration. Once configuration data is properly organized, it is important to establish a baseline which can be used as a reference point. A baseline configuration is a known state of configuration that should be maintained.
- Change Management. This refers to the workflows used for submitting, approving, and implementing configuration changes. Just as it is important to have an established baseline, it is also vital to continually audit and log changes that are made for version control. This means tracking and logging configurations and changes, as well as tracking who made the change, when.
- Monitoring And Compliance. A good configuration management solution should be capable of supporting your organization in maintaining compliance standards. Capabilities such as continuous monitoring of configuration states and settings, the ability to compare configurations against previously established baselines, as well as notifications and alerts can assist with this.
- Security And Access Control. Role-based access controls are useful for managing permissions for users and ensuring that only those who require access are granted it. This leaves less room for breaches to occur. Integration with identity and access management systems and the encryption tools can also be beneficial.
