Everyone likes coming up with new words for old concepts. While the different concepts in various products don't always match, it's tempting to make a dictionary that maps the configuration systems' different terminologies with one another.
Here is such a terminology comparison table:
System |
Puppet |
Ansible |
Salt |
Client |
Agent |
Node |
Minion |
Server |
Master |
Server |
Master |
Configuration |
Catalog |
Playbook |
Salt State |
Also, here is a technology comparison table:
System |
Puppet |
Ansible |
Chef |
Salt |
Agentless |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Both |
Client dependencies |
Ruby |
Python, SSHD, bash |
Ruby, SSHD, bash |
Python |
Language |
Ruby |
Python |
Ruby |
Python |