summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/doc/client/index.txt
blob: 0e67a7014e4583cc62a766e3bbb103004c906da1 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
.. -*- mode: rst -*-

.. _client-index:

The Bcfg2 Client
================

The Bcfg2 client is responsible for determining what reconfiguration
operations must be undertaken on the client, but does not perform any
processing of the target configuration description. We chose this
architecture, as opposed to one with a smarter client, for a few reasons:

* Client failure forces administrators to perform an O(n) reconfiguration operation. Simpler code is easier to debug and maintain.
* Minimize the bootstrap size; a complicated client can require more aspects of the system to function in order for reconfiguration to work. 
* Isolate configuration generation functionality on the server, where it can be readily observed. This is the most complicated task that Bcfg2 performs. 
* The results of the configuration process fit a fairly simple model. We wanted to validate it. The result is that Bcfg2 has a programmable deployment engine that can be driven by anything that writes a compatible configuration description.

.. toctree::
   :maxdepth: 2
   :glob:

   *
   tools/*