Comparison Overview of the 4 Leading Weapons of Mass Configuration: Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt Presented at vNess DevOps Conference.

1. Ninja, choose your
weapon!
Puppet vs. Chef vs. Ansible vs. Salt

2. About me
Ant(on) Weiss
DevOps Evangelist&Enabler, CI/CD/ALM Expert
ant.weiss@gmail.com - twitter: @antweiss
http://otomato.wordpress.com

3. DevOps isn’t about
Tools
But they definitely help!

4. DevOps is all about
Tools
"We shape our tools. And then our tools shape us.”
Marshall McLuhan

5. Weapons of Mass
Configuration
• Manage configuration of thousands of servers
• Automation and orchestration
• Infrastructure as Code

6. Tools vs. no Tools
vs.

7. The Good Tool
• One we are comfortable with
• Flexible
• Extendable
• Scalable
• Community-supported
• Integrate-able

8. Puppet
Since: 2005
Written in: Ruby
Developed by: Puppetlabs
Configuration: Puppet-specific declarative language
(Ruby-based) or pure Ruby. Model-driven.
Manages: > 10 mln nodes (acc. to Puppetlabs)

9. Puppet
Puppet master
agent agent agent
XMLRPC over HTTPS
report
report
report

10. Puppet Concepts
Resources: files, services, packages, users…
Manifests: Puppet programs
Classes: collections of resource definitions
Modules: classes + accompanying data
Puppetforge.com: 3326 community modules

11. Puppet Features
• Configuration Management
• Automatic Discovery (MCollective)
• Orchestration (MCollective)
• Provisioning (w/Foreman or Razor)

12. Puppet Code:
class ntp {
case $operatingsystem {
centos, redhat: {
$service_name = 'ntpd'
$conf_file = 'ntp.conf.el'
}
debian, ubuntu: {
$service_name = 'ntp'
$conf_file = 'ntp.conf.debian'
}
}
package { 'ntp':
ensure => installed,
}
file { 'ntp.conf':
path => '/etc/ntp.conf',
ensure => file,
require => Package['ntp'],
source => "/root/examples/answers/${conf_file}"
}
service { 'ntp':
name => $service_name,
ensure => running,
enable => true,
subscribe => File['ntp.conf'],
}
}

13. Puppet Web UI Options
• Puppet Enterprise (commercial for > 10 nodes)
• Foreman
• PuppetBoard ( reporting only )

14. Puppet in a Nutshell
• The Most Mature (of the four reviewed)
• ‘Pull’ mode of operation, but push also supported
• Enterprise Features
• Largest Ecosystem (Foreman, PuppetBoard)
• A Language of its Own
• Less flexible
• Easy to start with, gets complicated further along.

15. Chef
Since: 2009
Written in: Ruby+Erlang
Developed by: Chef ( formerly Opscode )
Configuration: pure Ruby DSL - procedural

16. Chef

17. Chef Concepts
Resources: files, services, packages, users…
Recipes: Chef programs
Cookbooks: recipes + accompanying data
Databags: global variables
supermarket.chef.io: 2061 cookbooks

18. Chef Code
case platform
when "ubuntu","debian"
default[:ntp][:service] = "ntp"
when "redhat","centos","fedora","scientific"
default[:ntp][:service] = "ntpd"
end
package "ntp" do
action [:install]
end
template "/etc/ntp.conf" do
source "ntp.conf.erb"
variables( :ntp_server => "time.nist.gov" )
notifies :restart, "service[ntpd]"
end
service "ntpd" do
action [:enable,:start]
end

19. Chef Web UI Options
• OpenSource WebUI - deprecated
• Enterprise Chef - commercial, basic

20. Chef in a Nutshell
• Flexible, powerful
• Enterprise Features (HA, Analytics)
• Pure Ruby DSL
• Steep learning curve
• Push feature still in beta

21. Ansible
Since: 2012
Written in: Python
Developed by: Ansible Works inc.
Configuration: yaml+jinja
Motto: Simple IT Automation

22. Ansible
Controlling
machine
node node node
report
report
json over ssh
Agentless!!!

23. Ansible Concepts
• Inventory: a list of hosts and host groups
• Ad-hoc commands: ansible all -a "/bin/echo hello"
• Playbooks: configuration scenarios
• Modules: control system resources and execute
commands. Can be written in any language!
• Roles: playbook and accompanying data
• ansible-galaxy.com: 3124 roles

24. Ansible Code
hosts: all
#ntp service name defined in ntp.yml
vars_files: ntp.yml
tasks:
- name: Install ntp package
yum: name=ntp state=latest
sudo: yes
- name: Starting ntp service
service: name={{ ntp_service_name }} state=started
sudo: yes

25. Ansible Web UI
• Ansible Tower (commercial)

26. Ansible in a Nutshell
• Simple
• Lightweight
• Agentless (SSH)
• Windows support still immature.
• yaml DSL can be tricky to use
• Not the best performance. (Slow)

27. Salt
Since: 2011
Written in: Python
Developed by: SaltStack inc.
Configuration: yaml+jinja
Motto: Speed, scalability and flexibility

28. Salt
master
minion minion minion
report
report
ZeroMq
Can also be masterless!

29. Salt Concepts
• Commands: salt '*' disk.usage
• Modules: control system resources and execute
commands. Written in Python or Cython.
• States: configuration scenarios
• Grains: facts about the managed nodes
• Pillars: globally accessed data
• Community State Trees & Modules: saltstarters.org

30. Salt Code
# Include :download:`map file <map.jinja>` of OS-specific package names and
# file paths. Values can be overridden using Pillar.
{% from "ntp/map.jinja" import ntp with context %}
ntp:
pkg.installed:
- name: {{ ntp.client }}
{% set ntp_conf_src = salt['pillar.get']('ntp:ntp_conf') -%}
{% if ntp_conf_src %}
ntp_conf:
file.managed:
- name: {{ ntp.ntp_conf }}
- template: jinja
- source: {{ ntp_conf_src }}
- require:
- pkg: ntp
{% endif %}

31. Salt Web UI
• Halite: free, in pre-alpha

32. Salt in a Nutshell
• Fast
• Super-scalable
• Easily Extensible (renderers, returners, etc)
• Python API
• Push mode by default
• In Active Development
• Documentation Needs Improvement

33. Summary
• Puppet: features, WebUI, maturity, ecosystem
• better for devs
• Chef: flexibility, Ruby
• better for devs
• Ansible: simplicity, agentless, yaml, Python
• better for ops
• Salt: scalability, flexibility, robustness, Python
• better for ops

34. Stop breaking your teeth!
vs.