Found a bug, asking for help? Use cf-support to collect info quickly. cf-support was born from interactions supporting Enterprise customers to streamline data collection and was introduced in late 2022 with the release of 3.18.31 and 3.21.02. Furthermore, it was featured on The Agent is In3 episode 21 Troubleshooting with cf-support. It gathers various details about the system and creates an archive that you can attach to your ticket.

Editing and copying large files or large numbers of files is slow. For a configuration management tool, it is probably one of the slowest things we do, apart from waiting for other programs to finish or waiting for network communication. In this blog post, we look at how to copy files. More specifically, the most performant approaches available on modern Linux systems. We are working on implementing these techniques so CFEngine and all your policy will copy files more efficiently.

Observability systems are designed to keep tabs on key metrics, identify unusual patterns, and alert teams when things go awry. Despite best efforts, however, these systems are not infallible, and sometimes they send out alerts for issues that don’t exist. This is what we call a false positive. These false alarms can wreak havoc on team efficiency, lead to alert fatigue, and obscure genuine problems. Let’s delve into what false positives are and why they matter so much.

Did you know you can include one policy file from another? Traditionally you specify the files you want to make up a policy set using inputs in body common control found in your policy entry (promises.cf by default). body file control lets you specify additional inputs from any file that’s included in the policy and those files can include other files. Let’s check out a contrived example.

Managing security in the cloud and throughout hybrid environments is a challenge with high stakes — customer data, sensitive information, access privileges, and other cloud-based assets are all at risk when an organization uses the cloud. Let’s explore some common cloud-based security concerns and learn how to keep your cloud environment secure.

When it comes to IT automation, the choice between a service orchestration and automation platform like Resolve Actions or building your own automation engine or workflow tool is a pivotal decision. While each option presents its own set of strengths and considerations, Resolve Actions emerges as a powerful solution for organizations looking to streamline their automation efforts. Here’s why.

School automation is the secret component of robust administration in 2024. ‍ In my two decades of experience as a senior business executive and consultant working with global organizations of all sizes, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of automation across various sectors. Education, in particular, has undergone significant changes with the adoption of automation, revolutionizing administrative processes, and enhancing operational efficiency within schools. ‍

Two modules are available for this task: allow-all-hosts and allow-hosts. The first module, allow-all-hosts, configures the most open situation which is to accept hosts from anywhere. This is only recommended in network restricted environments such as a local machine’s virtual machine network or other such closed down situations.

Ever want to run just a one or a few select bundles from your policy? While developing policy it’s common to run cf-agent -KI so that you can quickly iterate on changes and the run the policy without locks. But if you are focused on select bundles you may not need the full policy to run, you can use the --bundlesequence option to specify one or more bundles overriding the bundlesequence defined in body common control. Let’s check out an example using the Masterfiles Policy Framework (MPF).