Automated Planning for Configuration Changes

This paper describes a prototype implementation of a configuration system which uses automated planning techniques to compute workflows between declarative states. The resulting workflows are executed using the popular combination of ControlTier and Puppet. This allows the tool to be used in unattended "autonomic" situations where manual workflow specification is not feasible. It also ensures that critical operational constraints are maintained throughout the execution of the workflow. We describe the background to the configuration and planning techniques, the architecture of the prototype, and show how the system deals with several examples of typical reconfiguration problems.

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