* Configuration management basics
Configuration management has been a foundational building block of management – but like the foundation of a building, it’s easy to walk right by and not pay any attention to it. These days, however, configuration management is receiving more attention than it has in quite a few years.
There are several reasons for this renewed interest in configuration management. First, there is a new realization that configuration errors and changes to configurations are the source of IT problems. Configuration errors can open up security vulnerabilities, and they can introduce incompatibilities that result in service outages. Minimizing configuration errors can help to make IT staffs more efficient and reduce those outages. There are management tools that track changes to configurations to help diagnose IT problems that are directly caused by configuration snafus, tools from vendors such as Motive, Collation and Relicore.
Related to this issue are the regulatory compliance mandates, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which require companies to institute IT controls and prove that those controls are working. One of the key areas in IT where controls can be established is in configurations. Managing configurations to protect corporate data means employing best practices for security-related configuration settings and patch management processes and so forth. Examples of vendors that provide tools to help with compliance and system configurations are Configuresoft and Cendura.
Because of the compliance requirements and the need to minimize problems caused by configuration errors, many IT organizations are looking to develop better internal IT processes by utilizing best practices. As mentioned in some of my recent articles, ITIL and Microsoft’s MOF are examples of IT process-oriented approaches. In developing processes, IT organizations are beginning with the basics and gradually evolving their IT organizations by building upon what they’ve already accomplished. Configuration management is one of those basic starting places.
Before companies can think about introducing higher levels of automation in their environments, their basic management infrastructure and processes should already be solid and under control. Automation, while offering much potential for efficiency, is not a panacea for an out-of-control environment. Again, solid practices in basic areas as configuration management serve as stable launching points for using automation.
An example of this is server virtualization and provisioning. Both of these technologies are more effective when there are already established disciplines of using reference or gold standards for server configurations. Consistent, stable server configurations provide the necessary foundation for provisioning new servers with a confidence that it is not likely to cause added problems. Managing servers in a virtualized environment is much easier if the configuration settings are consistent. This is particularly true when experiencing a problem with a server – using a gold standard removes a lot of variables from the equation when trying to diagnose the source of the problem.
Although configuration management is receiving more attention, it’s still not on par with many of the “hot,” bleeding-edge technologies. However, it is one of those basic workhorses that can have a significant positive effect in IT management. In any case, configuration management is a good place to start developing internal IT processes if you haven’t already.
