ZYpp Alternatives

YaST, aka Yet another Setup Tool, is an operating system and configuration tool for open SUSE and SUSE Linux Enterprise distributions. It is a Linux OS filled with user-friendly yet powerful configuration tools that can configure many aspects of the system. This tool can be used for administrating and maintaining a SUSE installation. The administrator can install software, configure hardware, setup network, servers, and much more. A highlighting feature of YaST is the availability of GUI as well as TUI (Text user interface). The TUI comes with ncurses front ends, which benefit you while installing non-GUI installations such as servers or in case you are unable to boot into a graphical X server.

The tool also provides package management functionality through the ZYpp project. Other features are Qt-based and a terminal-based interface for remote administration, configuration modules, and a solid framework for development. Equipped with the AutoYaST tool, it allows you to export system configuration settings and install them on thousands of other systems automatically. All in all, YaST is a very flexible installer and all-purpose tool for computing.

Shorewall is a firewall/gateway configuration tool for Linux/GNU. It configures Netfilter using entries in a set of configuration files. It reads those files with the help of IP Tables, IP Tables-restore, IP, TC utilities, and then configure Netfilter & Linux Networking subsystem to match your requirements. It can also be used on a dedicated firewall system which is a multi-function gateway/router, or on a separate Linux system. The configuration is done through a group of plain text configuration files as it does not have a GUI.

You can use Shorewall in network installations as it can handle zones more efficiently, such as DMZ or NET zone. One thing to keep in mind is that Shorewall is not a Daemon as it does a one-time configuration job rather than having background processes. Other features include no limit on network interfaces, allows partition of the network into zones to give complete control on individual zones, nested and overlapped zones support, centralized firewall administration support, blacklisting of individual IPs, VPN support, Traffic Shaping, IPv6, MAC address verification, and supports a wide range of Virtualization solutions.

CFEngine is an open-source configuration management system that provides solutions, including automated configuration and maintenance of large-scale computer systems. You can implement it on unified server management, desktops, individual and consumer service, mobile smartphones, embedded networked devices, and tablet computers. The infrastructure consists of two parts; one is Mission Portal for potential configuration issues, compliance, and inventory data. The second part CFEngine Agent runs under management and automatically connects with CFEngine Hub.

It provides an OS-independent interface to Unix-like host configuration and has the power to perform maintenance actions across multiple hosts. The dashboard provides comprehensive infrastructure visibility at a glance, such as Real-Time Compliance Levels, Performance Monitoring, Custom Actions, and Customizable & Shareable Dashboard.

Inventory reporting shows all the details of device infrastructure, whether it’s an IoT device, cloud instance, bare metal server, or a Virtual Machine. Embedded security minimizes the potential vulnerabilities due to configuration drift. Compliance feature leverages automation to continuously enforce compliance and minimize manual intervention.

Chef Infra is a powerful, policy-based Linux configuration management and automation software service for developer teams. It eliminates the hassle of manual efforts and makes sure the infrastructure remains persistent and compliant over its lifetime. With the automation, you will gain confidence while coding policies and configurations. The Drift Elimination feature ensures the configurations only vary when a system deviates from a defined state and automatically correct configuration drift if required.

Chef Infra manages different platforms such as Windows, ARM-based systems running in the cloud, Mac Laptops, and Linux System, with the same technique. Using Chef Infra is flexible as it defines common tasks in a simple declarative way. Hence, you can easily extend the support to the unique environmental requirements. All in all, Chef Infra increases business security and agility as all resources and systems are automatically and continuously evaluated.