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> A huge advantage of using a configuration management (CM) tool is that they're "idempotent". Idempotency basically means that you can run the directives over
by mercurial 13y ago
> A huge advantage of using a configuration management (CM) tool is that they're "idempotent". Idempotency basically means that you can run the directives over and over again safely.
They're idempotent only as long as the configuration stays the same. If you removed this "apt: package=XXX state=present" line, XXX is not going to be magically uninstalled, but you may have a nasty surprise the next time you attempt to provision a second server with the same configuration and realize you're missing a runtime dependency. That's what I find fascinating about NixOS/NixOps: you can describe the entire state of the machine in a single configuration file (if you use the declarative style of package management). Of course, it won't help you if:
- you already have a large number of non NixOS systems
- you need many packages not present in NixOS
- you'd like polished package management (the Nix package management still has a way to go before it reaches yum/apt ease of use)
- herokusaki 13y agoAre there VPS providers that offer NixOS by OOTB?
- chongli 13y agoNo need for that. The configuration management of NixOS is baked right into the installation procedure. This makes it super simple to install a fresh machine completely from the configuration.nix file that you've developed over time.
- herokusaki 13y agoWell, with an OpenVZ VPS, the most common variety these days, you'd have to have it offered by the provider.
- chongli 13y agoAhh, I would never use a VPS that didn't let me use my own OS install image.
- mercurial 13y agoI don't have any information about it, sorry.
- jewel 13y agoUntil Nix becomes more popular, I've been thinking about ways to build an audit tool that would work with CM tools to handle this case: http://stevenjewel.com/2014/03/puppet-undo-and-puppet-audit/ http://stevenjewel.com/2014/03/puppet-undo-and-puppet-audit/