Propellor vs Cfengine

Struggling to choose between Propellor and Cfengine? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Propellor is a Development solution with tags like opensource, haskell, configuration-management, deployment.

It boasts features such as Declarative configuration language, Idempotent system configuration, Manages hosts and services, Written in Haskell and pros including Declarative syntax makes configurations easy to read and maintain, Being purely functional avoids side effects and ensures reproducibility, Type safety prevents many errors.

On the other hand, Cfengine is a Network & Admin product tagged with automation, configuration-management, devops.

Its standout features include Agent-based architecture for distributed configuration management, Declarative policy-based configuration language, File integrity monitoring and intrusion detection, Automated system configuration and maintenance, Built-in promise theory for modeling dependencies, Support for common OS platforms like Linux, Windows, Solaris, and it shines with pros like Powerful policy framework for modeling system state, Agentless and autonomous operation, Efficient at scale for large server deployments, Robust security and access controls, Thorough file integrity monitoring capabilities, Open source with active development community.

Feature	Propellor	Cfengine
Overall Score	N/A	N/A
Primary Category	Development	Network & Admin

Product Overview

Propellor

Description: Propellor is an open-source configuration management tool written in Haskell. It uses a declarative domain-specific language to define system configurations, allowing developers to manage and deploy hosts and services with a high-level syntax.

Cfengine

Description: Cfengine is an open source configuration management software used to automate tasks like configuring servers, managing files, and deploying applications. It uses a policy-based approach allowing admins to define desired system states.

Key Features Comparison

Propellor Features

• Declarative configuration language
• Idempotent system configuration
• Manages hosts and services
• Written in Haskell

Cfengine Features

• Agent-based architecture for distributed configuration management
• Declarative policy-based configuration language
• File integrity monitoring and intrusion detection
• Automated system configuration and maintenance
• Built-in promise theory for modeling dependencies
• Support for common OS platforms like Linux, Windows, Solaris

Pros & Cons Analysis

Propellor

Pros

• Declarative syntax makes configurations easy to read and maintain
• Being purely functional avoids side effects and ensures reproducibility
• Type safety prevents many errors

Cons

• Steep learning curve for Haskell syntax
• Limited adoption outside of Haskell community

Cfengine

Pros

• Powerful policy framework for modeling system state
• Agentless and autonomous operation
• Efficient at scale for large server deployments
• Robust security and access controls
• Thorough file integrity monitoring capabilities
• Open source with active development community

Cons

• Steep learning curve for policy language
• Less intuitive than procedural languages like Ansible
• Limited built-in modules compared to Ansible/Puppet
• Complex dependency modeling requires planning
• Not as widely used as other tools like Chef/Puppet

Pricing Comparison

Propellor

• Open Source

Cfengine

• Open Source
• Commercial Editions Available