This is a comparison of notable free and open-source configuration management software, suitable for tasks like server configuration, orchestration and infrastructure as code typically performed by a system administrator.
"Verify mode" (also called dry run) refers to having an ability to determine whether a node is conformant with a guarantee of not modifying it, and typically involves the exclusive use of an internal language supporting read-only mode for all potentially system-modifying operations.
Depending on the management software these agents are usually deployed on the target system or on one or many central controller servers.
Although Agent-less = No is colored red and might seem to be a negative, instead, having an agent can be considered quite advantageous to many.
2025-01-07 3.25.0[18], 2024-12-04 3.24.1[19], 2024-12-04 3.21.6[20] Note: This means platforms on which a recent version of the tool has actually been used successfully, not platforms where it should theoretically work since it is written in good portable C/C++ or an interpreted language.