centralizing network configuration

[Bill McGonigle]

Request for Thoughts:

I find myself frequently duplicating the same information when it  
comes to network devices.  It goes into dhcpd.conf, one zone file for  
each BIND view, and others, I'm not thinking of at the moment.  So,  
when changes/adds/deletes need to happen, all of those files need to  
be updated and one ought not screw up any of them.

Some older attempts to make this better look to have been nis,  
netinfo, hesiod, and perhaps others.   The Big Hammer seems to be  
implementing an LDAP directory and running everything off of them in  
a multi-master configuration.  It feels big and expensive, and not-a- 
text-file, but maybe I'm overstating the case.

Anyway, I'm tempted to come up with a text file that can describe all  
of these characteristics and generate the requisite config files from  
them.  But I can't be the first person to want to do this, and I  
haven't yet found that system already out there.  Maybe because it's  
a bad idea?

Thoughts/Experiences?

-Bill

-----
Bill McGonigle, Owner           Work: 603.667.4000
BFC Computing, LLC              Home: 603.448.1668
bill at bfccomputing.com           Cell: 603.252.2606
http://www.bfccomputing.com/    Page: 603.442.1833
Blog: http://blog.bfccomputing.com/
VCard: http://bfccomputing.com/vcard/bill.vcf