Managing real-world system configurations with constraints

Managing large computing infrastructures in a reliable and efficient way requires system configuration tools which accept higher-level specifications. This paper describes an interface between the established configuration tool LCFG, and the experimental configuration tool PoDIM. The com- bined system is used to generate explicit real-world con- figurations from high-level, constraint-based specifications. The concept is validated using live data from a large pro- duction installation. This demonstrates that a loosely- coupled, multi-layer approach can be used to construct con- figuration tools which translate high-level requirements into deployable production configurations.