[nylug-talk] Large Scale Linux Administration

[H. G.]

Greets, folks.

You guys are probably getting sick of me by now, (and I imagine that I'm on
the killfiles of more than one NYLUG member by now), but I like to ask
around
because I'm interested in seeing how those with more knowledge and
experience
than I'll ever possess have decided to tackle these issues.

So as the title so subtly hints, I'd hear about how you folks have tackled
the issues
of large scale administration; such things like software configuration and
installation,
file/config synchronization accross masses of hosts.

So far I'm making do with Puppet.  Stubbing my toe every so often with it,
but I
surmise the issue is more PEBKAC than anything.  I've been eying BCFG2,
meaning
to give it a lookover one of these days.  Then there is the great and renown
cfengine,
but once I looked at Puppet, there was no looking back.

Then is the matter of doing this in a distributed manner between isolated
sites,
where perhaps your only means on pushing your configuration is via SSH or
some
VPN method.

So... how are you folks making do?
(Feel free to respond, even if it's just to ridicule and laugh derisively at
me. :] )
I'm curious.