Wild-eyed thinking aloud: Python System Management Infrastructure

[Jonathan Hogg]

In article <3B6C4108.F2D51223 at engcorp.com>,
 Peter Hansen <peter at engcorp.com> wrote:

> William Annis wrote:
> > 
> >         Recently I have found myself designing a database-driven
> > system to keep track of our machines, what they do, where they sit,
> > etc., and I keep thinking "William, you should write an
> > *infrastructure* for all this system junk you do."  
> 
> XML is not kool-aid, it's an elixir: "good for what ails ye'" :-)
> 
> You are describing a system in which, I believe, XML is well 
> suited to play a role.  Its primary advantage is as a standard for
> inter-application communication, which is a problem at the heart
> of your situation.  

There is a project designing a framework for managing infrastructures 
called the Arusha project.

   <http://ark.sourceforge.net/>

I should note that I'm a developer on the project, but I also use it 
myself and I think it's worth checking out. The fundamental principle is 
to allow communication and sharing of sysadmin practice.

XML is used to write the specs for hosts, packages, users, etc. The core 
engine that processes these and actually does work is written in Python. 
It takes a while to get your head around it, but I use it to admin some 
machines and other guys on the project are managing quite large 
infrastructures.

Jonathan