This document discusses the history and evolution of configuration management from building entire systems to more modular approaches that allow for separation of scales, knowledge management, and absorption of expertise into infrastructure. It notes key issues as predictability, scale, modularity, layers/complexity, and retention of expertise. Principles of configuration management progressed from building/designing single systems to standardization, refactoring, monitoring, separating data from scripts, and using declarative languages like YAML. Technology has moved from program-centric to services/containers/clusters and absorbing complexity deeper into infrastructure.

1. A Brief History of Configuration
"Managing sprawl by absorbing experience into infrastructure"
Mark Burgess, 2018 (@markburgess_osl)

5. Lifetime of technology - the stages of hubris
Build entire
system
Grand unified
management
Adapt to
install the
new tool
Remove

7. cognition
isolation interaction

8. Spinoffs Improvement
"make it so!"
"micromgt"
humans robots magic

10. Spinoffs Improvement

12. Silo evolution

17. Beyond "fire and forget" - from build to maintenance
CARS COMPUTERS
Build/design Build design
Change oil/10000 mile service Upgrade OS/packages
Refuel car Clear /tmp, rotate logs
Trailer, GPS, ski rack agents, software add ons

18. Knowledge management
IMPERATIVE DECLARATIVE
Discover Summarize
Ad Hoc Standardized
Refactoring Contextualization
Watching monitor realtime Scaled learning
Separate data from scripts Only the data are important
Give it all up and use YAML!

19. • Our key issues are
• Predictability (convergence of outcome - maintainable promises)
• Scale (not number of machines) - separation of scales
• Modularity
• Layers and complexity
• Retention of expertise - knowledge management
What are the principles?

21. From sprawl to high rise sprawl - depth x breadth
PROGRAM -> smart device
services
containers code
clusters language
PROGRAM - TERM cloud IaaS dependencies
computer computer libraries
renormalize

22. Technology bubbles -
Why does certain OSS become popular?
• DIY -> Gaming -> community -> tribalism
• Social capital accretes - IRC
• VC capital inflates

23. The prefabs sprout -- The Queueing Song
You're so immutable, that's what you are
Simply refutable, delete/restart
You're not configurable, so indestructible,
No, disposable you!
And I'm quite forgettable too...
SLOW
FAST
KT

24. @markburgess_osl
http://markburgess.org