mgmt: next generation config management!

About:

Mgmt is a real-time automation tool. It is familiar to existing configuration management software, but is drastically more powerful as it can allow you to build real-time, closed-loop feedback systems, in a very safe way, and with a surprisingly small amout of our mcl code. For example, the following code will ensure that your file server is set to read-only when it's friday.

import "datetime"
$is_friday = datetime.weekday(datetime.now()) == "friday"
file "/srv/files/" {
	state => $const.res.file.state.exists,
	mode => if $is_friday { # this updates the mode, the instant it changes!
		"0550"
	} else {
		"0770"
	},
}

It can run continuously, intermittently, or on-demand, and in the first case, it will guarantee that your system is always in the desired state for that instant! In this mode it can run as a decentralized cluster of agents across your network, each exchanging information with the others in real-time, to respond to your changing needs. For example, if you want to ensure that some resource runs on a maximum of two hosts in your cluster, you can specify that as well:

import "sys"
import "world"

# we'll set a few scheduling options:
$opts = struct{strategy => "rr", max => 2, ttl => 10,}

# schedule in a particular namespace with options:
$set = world.schedule("xsched", $opts)

if sys.hostname() in $set {
	# use your imagination to put something more complex right here...
	print "i got scheduled" {} # this will run on the chosen machines
}

As you add and remove hosts from the cluster, the real-time schedule function will dynamically pick up to two hosts from the available pool. These specific functions aren't intrinsic to the core design, and new ones can be easily added.

Please read on if you'd like to learn more...

Community:

Come join us in the mgmt community!

Status:

Mgmt is a next generation automation tool. It has similarities to other tools in the configuration management space, but has a fast, modern, distributed systems approach. The project contains an engine and a language. Please have a look at an introductory video or blog post.

Mgmt is a fairly new project. It is usable today, but not yet feature complete. With your help you'll be able to influence our design and get us to 1.0 sooner! Interested users should read the quick start guide.

Documentation:

Please read, enjoy and help improve our documentation!

Questions:

Please ask in the community! If you have a well phrased question that might benefit others, consider asking it by sending a patch to the FAQ section. I'll merge your question, and a patch with the answer!

Get involved:

Feel free to grab one of the straightforward #mgmtlove issues if you're a first time contributor to the project or if you're unsure about what to hack on! Please get involved by working on one of these items or by suggesting something else! There are some lower priority issues and harder issues available in our TODO file. Please have a look.

Bugs:

Please set the DEBUG constant in main.go to true, and post the logs when you report the issue. Feel free to read my article on debugging golang programs.

Patches:

We'd love to have your patches! Please send them by email, or as a pull request.

On the web:

Blog posts and recorded talks about mgmt are listed here!

Happy hacking!