There’s a good chance that all of those handy configuration files on your computer will change over time. While this is a problem for individual users, it’s an even more serious issue for those who are trying to maintain a local area network or an entire group of devices. As these five reasons show, you’ll want to invest in a solution that can help your firm with configuration drift detection and fix it before it spreads.
1. Catching Unapproved Changes
Simply installing a patch can introduce undocumented or unapproved changes into a system. A modern single-user computer system could have literally thousands of configuration files, so these changes would probably fly under the radar if you didn’t have access to a tool that could spot them. Since changes could wreak havoc on a computer system, it’s important to have a plan in place to serve as a safeguard, and a configuration drift detection service could help a commercial computer system.
2. Finding Misconfigured Settings
Every single software package you add to a system increases its complexity and increases the chances that something isn’t configured right. A configuration drift program will compare every setting across each machine that uses the same pieces of software. It’ll then give you a dashboard that shows you how many are configured one way as opposed to another. While there are plenty of legitimate reasons for options to be different on various machines, running this kind of subroutine can help you track down configuration mistakes.
3. Speeding Up Deployment
Say you did know that some settings had to be changed, and only some of the machines you administer were set correctly. Manually changing everything could potentially take hours, and there’s always the risk that you could accidentally make mistakes yourself. By relying on configuration automation tools, you’ll be certain that every piece of software you work with has a similar configuration layout. Since it makes these changes much more quickly than a human administrator could, using a tool like this should save you quite a bit of time.
4. Roll Configuration Options Back
Say you made a massive mistake when trying to adjust the preferences window in a particular app. The said program could now look very strange and might even present its interface in a different language. You could theoretically reset the app to its original state, but you’ll then have to tinker with it all over again to get it to work the way you want it. Configuration drift monitors can encourage you to back up all of your preferences. When you want to roll back to a previous set of settings, you’d only have to restore one of these copies.
5. Stop Patches From Making Changes
Installing hotfixes is certainly important, but running a package updater can also force changes on your devices. This is probably the number one cause of configuration drift. Automated solutions scan over all of these changes and make sure that update programs don’t do anything without notifying the user. Tech-savvy business owners will sometimes keep an extra tab open when they’re installing updates so they know right away if some misbehaved hotfix ends up trying to adjust one of their settings.
These are just five of the numerous ways that configuration drift detection can help a business. If your business is considering focusing on configuration drift detection, research your options so you can make an informed decision. When choosing a configuration drift detection service or products, it’s important to look for what will meet your company’s current needs but also be able to grow with your business and continue to serve it for years to come.
