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AWS OpsWorks vs Puppet Labs: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Key Differences between AWS OpsWorks and Puppet Labs

  1. Deployment: One key difference between AWS OpsWorks and Puppet Labs is the deployment process. AWS OpsWorks relies on a stack-based approach for deployment where you define infrastructure as a set of layers within a stack, while Puppet Labs follows a node-based approach where you manage individual servers directly.

  2. Integration: Another difference lies in the integration capabilities of the two platforms. AWS OpsWorks integrates seamlessly with other AWS services, making it easier to incorporate additional resources from the AWS ecosystem. On the other hand, Puppet Labs offers more flexibility in terms of integration with various third-party tools and services.

  3. Management Complexity: AWS OpsWorks abstracts much of the underlying infrastructure management, offering a more simplified and streamlined experience for users. Puppet Labs, on the other hand, provides more granular control over configuration management, allowing for deep customization but potentially adding complexity to the management process.

  4. Scalability: When it comes to scalability, AWS OpsWorks provides built-in auto-scaling capabilities that can automatically adjust the number of instances in a layer based on traffic patterns. Puppet Labs, while scalable, requires additional configuration and setup to achieve the same level of dynamic scaling.

  5. Cost: In terms of cost, AWS OpsWorks pricing is based on usage and resources consumed, making it more predictable for users with fluctuating workloads. Puppet Labs, on the other hand, offers both open-source and commercial versions, with potential licensing costs depending on the scale and requirements of the deployment.

  6. Support: AWS OpsWorks offers integrated support from AWS, providing users with direct access to AWS experts and resources for troubleshooting and assistance. Puppet Labs, while offering community support through forums and documentation, also provides commercial support options for users requiring dedicated assistance.

In Summary, the key differences between AWS OpsWorks and Puppet Labs lie in their deployment approach, integration capabilities, management complexity, scalability options, cost structure, and support offerings.

Advice on AWS OpsWorks and Puppet Labs
Rogério R. Alcântara
Needs advice
on
AnsibleAnsibleChefChef
and
Puppet LabsPuppet Labs
in

Personal Dotfiles management

Given that they are all “configuration management” tools - meaning they are designed to deploy, configure and manage servers - what would be the simplest - and yet robust - solution to manage personal dotfiles - for n00bs.

Ideally, I reckon, it should:

  • be containerized (Docker?)
  • be versionable (Git)
  • ensure idempotency
  • allow full automation (tests, CI/CD, etc.)
  • be fully recoverable (Linux/ macOS)
  • be easier to setup/manage (as much as possible)

Does it make sense?

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Replies (3)
terry chay
Principal Engineer at RaiseMe · | 9 upvotes · 58.9K views
Recommends
on
AnsibleAnsible

I recommend whatever you are most comfortable with/whatever might already be installed in the system. Note that, for personal dotfiles, it does not need to be containerized or have full automation/testing. It just needs to handle multiple OS and platform and be idempotent. Git will handle the heavy lifting. Note that you'll have to separate out certain files like the private SSH keys and write your CM so that it will pull it from another store or assist in manually importing them.

I personally use Ansible since it is a serverless design and is in Python, which I prefer to Ruby. Saltstack was too new when I started to port my dotfile management scripts from shell into a configuration management tool. I think any of the above is fine.

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Recommends
on
SaltSalt

You should check out SaltStack. It's a lot more powerful than Puppet, Chef, & Ansible. If not Salt, then I would go Ansible. But stay away from Puppet & Chef. 10+ year user of Puppet, and 2+ year user of Chef.

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Attila Fulop
Management Advisor at artkonekt · | 3 upvotes · 22.6K views
Recommends

Chef is a definite no-go for me. I learned it the hard way (ie. got a few tasks in a prod system) and it took quite a lot to grasp it on an acceptable level. Ansible in turn is much more straightforward and much easier to test.

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Needs advice
on
AnsibleAnsibleChefChef
and
Puppet LabsPuppet Labs

I'm just getting started using Vagrant to help automate setting up local VMs to set up a Kubernetes cluster (development and experimentation only). (Yes, I do know about minikube)

I'm looking for a tool to help install software packages, setup users, etc..., on these VMs. I'm also fairly new to Ansible, Chef, and Puppet. What's a good one to start with to learn? I might decide to try all 3 at some point for my own curiosity.

The most important factors for me are simplicity, ease of use, shortest learning curve.

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Replies (2)
Recommends
on
AnsibleAnsible

I have been working with Puppet and Ansible. The reason why I prefer ansible is the distribution of it. Ansible is more lightweight and therefore more popular. This leads to situations, where you can get fully packaged applications for ansible (e.g. confluent) supported by the vendor, but only incomplete packages for Puppet.

The only advantage I would see with Puppet if someone wants to use Foreman. This is still better supported with Puppet.

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Gabriel Pa
Recommends
on
KubernetesKubernetes
at

If you are just starting out, might as well learn Kubernetes There's a lot of tools that come with Kube that make it easier to use and most importantly: you become cloud-agnostic. We use Ansible because it's a lot simpler than Chef or Puppet and if you use Docker Compose for your deployments you can re-use them with Kubernetes later when you migrate

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Pros of AWS OpsWorks
Pros of Puppet Labs
  • 32
    Devops
  • 19
    Cloud management
  • 52
    Devops
  • 44
    Automate it
  • 26
    Reusable components
  • 21
    Dynamic and idempotent server configuration
  • 18
    Great community
  • 12
    Very scalable
  • 12
    Cloud management
  • 10
    Easy to maintain
  • 9
    Free tier
  • 6
    Works with Amazon EC2
  • 4
    Declarative
  • 4
    Ruby
  • 3
    Works with Azure
  • 3
    Works with OpenStack
  • 2
    Nginx
  • 1
    Ease of use

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Cons of AWS OpsWorks
Cons of Puppet Labs
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 3
      Steep learning curve
    • 1
      Customs types idempotence

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is AWS OpsWorks?

    Start from templates for common technologies like Ruby, Node.JS, PHP, and Java, or build your own using Chef recipes to install software packages and perform any task that you can script. AWS OpsWorks can scale your application using automatic load-based or time-based scaling and maintain the health of your application by detecting failed instances and replacing them. You have full control of deployments and automation of each component

    What is Puppet Labs?

    Puppet is an automated administrative engine for your Linux, Unix, and Windows systems and performs administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) based on a centralized specification.

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    What are some alternatives to AWS OpsWorks and Puppet Labs?
    Chef
    Chef enables you to manage and scale cloud infrastructure with no downtime or interruptions. Freely move applications and configurations from one cloud to another. Chef is integrated with all major cloud providers including Amazon EC2, VMWare, IBM Smartcloud, Rackspace, OpenStack, Windows Azure, HP Cloud, Google Compute Engine, Joyent Cloud and others.
    AWS Elastic Beanstalk
    Once you upload your application, Elastic Beanstalk automatically handles the deployment details of capacity provisioning, load balancing, auto-scaling, and application health monitoring.
    AWS Config
    AWS Config is a fully managed service that provides you with an AWS resource inventory, configuration history, and configuration change notifications to enable security and governance. With AWS Config you can discover existing AWS resources, export a complete inventory of your AWS resources with all configuration details, and determine how a resource was configured at any point in time. These capabilities enable compliance auditing, security analysis, resource change tracking, and troubleshooting.
    AWS CloudFormation
    You can use AWS CloudFormation’s sample templates or create your own templates to describe the AWS resources, and any associated dependencies or runtime parameters, required to run your application. You don’t need to figure out the order in which AWS services need to be provisioned or the subtleties of how to make those dependencies work.
    AWS CodeDeploy
    AWS CodeDeploy is a service that automates code deployments to Amazon EC2 instances. AWS CodeDeploy makes it easier for you to rapidly release new features, helps you avoid downtime during deployment, and handles the complexity of updating your applications.
    See all alternatives