cdist 介绍
cdist 对其他的配置管理系统像 cfengine, bcfg2, chef
and puppet
来说是可选的，但是cdist的运行方式不一样，下面是它独特的一些特性：
| Keywords | Description |
|---|---|
| Simplicity | There is only one type to extend cdist called **_type_** |
| Design | Type and core cleanly seperated |
| Design | Sticks completly to the KISS (keep it simple and stupid) paradigma |
| Design | Meaningful error messages - do not lose time debugging error messages |
| Design | Consistency in behaviour, naming and documentation |
| Design | No surprise factor: Only do what is obviously clear, no magic |
| Design | Define target state, do not focus on methods or scripts |
| Design | Push architecture: Instantly apply your changes |
| Small core | cdist's core is very small - less code, less bugs |
| Fast development | Focus on straightforwardness of type creation is a main development objective |
| Modern Programming Language | cdist is written in Python |
| Requirements, Scalability | No central server needed, cdist operates in push mode and can be run from any computer |
| Requirements, Scalability, Upgrade | cdist only needs to be updated on the master, not on the target hosts |
| Requirements, Security | Uses well-know [SSH](http://www.openssh.com/) as transport protocol |
| Requirements, Simplicity | Requires only shell and SSH server on the target |
| UNIX | Reuse of existing tools like cat, find, mv, ... |
| UNIX, familar environment, documentation | Is available as manpages and HTML |
| UNIX, simplicity, familar environment | cdist is configured in POSIX shell |