Operations → Runtime Infrastructure
Configuration Management
Defining, applying, tracking, and verifying system configuration as controlled, repeatable change.
Configuration management keeps system settings consistent, reviewable, and reproducible across machines and environments. It replaces undocumented manual changes with declared desired state, controlled rollout, and verification.
Core practices
- Store configuration in version control.
- Review and test changes before broad rollout.
- Apply changes idempotently so repeated execution converges on the same state.
- Detect drift between declared and actual configuration.
- Separate non-secret configuration from secret material.
- Keep rollback or remediation procedures available.
Configuration management tools often complement infrastructure as code: infrastructure as code provisions resources, while configuration management installs packages, configures services, and maintains operating-system or device state.