Configuration Drift

Configuration drift happens when the real state of a system no longer matches the configuration that is supposed to define it. A hotfix typed directly on one server, a package upgraded by hand or a firewall rule added in a console are all typical sources.

Why it matters

Drift makes servers that should be identical behave differently, so a bug appears on one node only, or a deployment works in staging and fails in production. It also makes disaster recovery risky: rebuilding from your code produces a system unlike the one that was running. And undocumented changes are a security risk when nobody knows which ports or users should exist.

Example

Compare a node against its expected state with a configuration management tool in check mode:

ansible-playbook site.yml --check --diff -l web03

Output showing a changed nginx.conf or an extra package on web03 alone is drift. Fix it by updating the code and reapplying, not by editing the server again.

Common mistakes

• Making emergency changes by hand and never committing them to the source of truth.
• Allowing broad console access in environments managed as code.
• Fixing drift on one server while the template that creates new ones stays wrong.

Related

• Drift detection
• Immutable infrastructure
• Infrastructure as code
• Warm standby

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