Configuration

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A Configuration specifies or records the characteristics, values, relationships, constraints, and settings associated with a subject.

The configured subject can include:

• An Infrastructure Environment
• An Infrastructure Resource
• A Platform
• A service
• A software component
• A network
• A security control
• An Artifact

A Configuration identifies information such as:

• Property values
• Resource selections
• Relationships among resources
• Constraints
• Dependencies
• Enabled or disabled capabilities
• Security settings
• Operational parameters
• References to governing policies or Baselines

A Configuration can describe:

• A required state
• A planned state
• A deployed state
• An observed state
• A prior state

The context in which the Configuration is used determines which type of state it represents.

A Configuration differs from Declarative Configuration:

• Configuration is the general concept for information that specifies or records the characteristics of a subject
• Declarative Configuration specifies the required state of a subject without prescribing the sequence of operations used to establish that state

A Configuration also differs from an Infrastructure Configuration:

• Configuration applies to any configured subject
• Infrastructure Configuration applies specifically to Infrastructure Resources, Infrastructure Environments, and their relationships

information that specifies or records the characteristics, values, relationships, constraints, and settings associated with a subject

Dido Solutions, Inc. and Jackrabbit Consulting, Inc.

A Configuration does not by itself establish that the configured subject is:

• Valid
• Approved
• Authorized
• Deployed
• Operational
• Secure
• Compliant
• Consistent with an observed state

Separate requirements and processes govern those determinations.

A Configuration can be represented as:

• Human-readable text
• Machine-readable data
• A structured document
• A database record
• A model
• A generated Artifact
• A composition of multiple controlled inputs

The term does not prescribe a configuration language, schema, file format, storage mechanism, management tool, or implementation technology.

A Configuration for a compute resource identifies its processor allocation, memory allocation, storage relationships, network relationships, operating-system settings, security controls, and monitoring settings.

A Declarative Configuration uses such information to specify the required result without prescribing the procedural sequence used to establish it.