Configuration management tools: Enforcing desired state and consistency at scale. Infrastructure should be treated exactly as code that can be provisioned and configured in a repeatable way. Avoiding configuration drift across environments will save valuable time and difficulties caused by the application working in one environment and not another. (See: Puppet, Chef, Salt)
- Chef - Centrally licensed and supported, leveraged heavily in OIT, AHC, and CLA.
- Ansible - Strong base of use in IT@UMN, no licensing/support. Used for PeopleTools rollout.
- Puppet - Heavily used in CSE. There is also a free version with Foreman.