Manage configuration files across environments

Question

How do you (your company) manage the config-files of the apps/systems you build? Let me tell you how we do it, and what the problem is.

I\'m working at a company where w

Answer 1

We are developing a distributed storage system and we catch many problems like this with our unit and integration tests that run with every build. Also, we are using ReviewBoard, for other developers to have a look at any changes before they get committed. Next step is the continuous integration server (jenkins) that auto deploys and test the artifacts in different environments. Finally, our last line of defense is our stress test testbed that runs against any new version, before it is published. Of course it is essential to have a testbed that mimics your production environments as good as possible, but if you always deploy at the same hosting provider, that shouldn't be too hard.

• Concerning your special case, where changes in one file might have been forgotten in the others, etc.: I imagine this would be quite easy to auto check with a test script.

• Uncommitted changes should be as easy to detect as "git diff master", or whatever vcs you use.

• To know what ports need to be open for the services seems to be more like a question of proper documentation than of configuration management.

Many of the sites that use our system also use puppet to manage the configuration of their different nodes. I am not sure if that would be an option for you, but it might be worth having a look at.