Sync hobbit configuration files with a database

["W.J.M. Nelis" <nelis (at) nlr.nl>]

Hello,

in my experience is the maintenance of the Hobbit configuration files a 
rather time-consuming activity. From what I've read in the mail 
archives, there are a number of other people with the same experience. 
This is partly due to the fact that a modification, f.i. a new server or 
another administrator for a group of servers, is entered twice, once in 
a configuration database and once in the Hobbit configuration files, 
possibly by different people.

Looking at the way the hobbit configuration files are maintained, there 
is a range of possibilities. One extreme is to maintain all 
configuration files by hand, and thus duplicating work. Moreover, there 
is a danger of incompleteness and of inconsistencies which are hard to 
discover. The other extreme is that the configuration files are 
generated completely using some configuration database. It requires of 
course that *all* the needed information is available in the database, 
including details like "this webserver reacts sometimes slow, thus use 
badhttp to prevent false alerts".

Another possibility seems to be synchronization with a database, 
something which is somewhere between the two extremes. A synchronization 
is most probably a time-saver, but it also increases the quality of the 
configuration: the response a change is faster and a Hobbit 
configuration file which is as complete as the database is.

Searching the archives I haven't found anything that can be used for a 
synchronization with a database. Are there any tools for this purpose, 
or are there any developments in this respect?


BTW: At our site, the bb-hosts configuration files is generated partly: 
a view of the systems per administrator is generated, causing alerts to 
be sent to the actual, rather than the former, administrator.

Regards,
 Wim Nelis.
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