Puppet Enterprise vs. SolarWinds Kiwi CatTools

Puppet is good enough to get the job done, you can use it to automate deployments and maintain files and configurations, if this is all you're looking for it's great. If you're looking for more control over your systems as a whole without having to write your own scripts or install multiple configuration management systems then Puppet is not what you're looking for.

Incentivized

Setting up device backup schedules for individual locations is quick and easy. The application is very straightforward and basic. The application covers 90% of our needs. Some devices that require configuration and file backups utilizing ftp or other methods are configured using a different set of tools. Backups can be stored in configured destination folders for easy review.

Incentivized

• Provides a clear map of how a system is configured
• Eases the creation of a system in a specific cluster as it is scripted in code
• Simplifies configuration changes to a cluster or to every system such as rolling out vhost configurations, updating ldap roles, NFS mounts, etc
• The syntax is very easy to read and carries a lot of fluidity once the language is learned.

Incentivized

• Network device backups.
• Identify configuration changes from prior backup.
• Automated email notifications.

Incentivized

• The setup of Puppet is a nightmare compared to ansible. Anyone watching a youtube video can easily set up ansible with minimal IT knowledge. All one needs is the source IP addresses and we are good to go. Setting up Puppet is a more hands-on task and pushing the puppet agents to all the boxes is another issue. If the installation and setup were simplified like ansible that would attract a lot of people to this platform
• The syntax of the code for Puppet is not as easy as ansible. Ansible simply follows a YAML format and it's like typing in normal English. Even complicated tasks can be written by just understanding YAML syntax. Perhaps Puppet needs to revisit the lanugage used and try to come up with a much simpler lanugage for writing code. This will make day-to-day usage easier.

Incentivized

• Limited scripting capability.
• Limited reporting/management summarization.

Incentivized

CatTools is simple to set up and administer. Anyone who can install a Windows application can quickly set up an automated backup of one or more devices. It does what it was designed to do.

Incentivized

Puppet has top class support. You can simply mail them with their query and they will respond to your query in a timely manner. We do have enterprise license for puppet. Also there is a vibrant community for puppet out there. So even if you dont purchase a premium support option you can simply google your queries and get answers

Incentivized

The software is easy enough to set up and configure that even after using the product for years, we never had to contact support. We used some open source products before utilizing CatTools and could have used a speed dial to try and figure out the intricacies of the products.

Incentivized

HPSA is a licensed product and incurs significant upfront investment costs due to COTS licensing. Puppet Data Center Automation has a significantly lower upfront investment and product documentation is more readily available. Chef is a very similar offering, however, at the time our decision was considered, the adoption of Chef vs. Puppet was significantly less in the community.

Incentivized

• Cut deployment times down to around 1 hour from 4-5 hours.
• Allows us to get a fully running system up from scratch in around 30 minutes.
• Allows for a more clear view of what is required to get a host running.

Incentivized

• Allows InfoSec to review all changes without granting access to actual devices.
• Allows review of "what changed?" if required for particular sites.
• Alerts confirm what devices have been modified every day.

Incentivized