CM systems and CaC

Setting up and maintaining a system other than a hobbyist server (and even those, maybe, too) poses a serious challenge: how do you ensure that the system is installed and configured correctly and according to expectations? When you have to install a new server that is identical in configuration, how do you ensure that? In the past, a way of doing it was documenting the current configuration after the installation process was done. This would be a document describing the hardware, operating system, installed software, created users, and configuration applied. Any person who wanted to recreate it would have to follow steps to achieve the configuration described in the document.

The very next logical step is to write shell scripts that achieve the same goal with one additional improvement over the manual process: the scripts—properly written, tested, and maintained—do not require manual work, except, maybe, the initial system installation. But a properly...