I have about 15 computers on the same network and most of their installed softwa

Question

I have about 15 computers on the same network and most of their installed software are the same. When I want to install new programs or update installed ones I have to go to each one and install/update it which sometimes is a daunting task.

Are there any tools to make this process easier? It would be great if they are open source, and it doesn't matter if they need Python, Ruby or Java installed.

The computers are running Windows 7 (64-bit and 32-bit). I want to install various software, including anti-virus updates and games.

Explanation / Answer

Would environment configuration software suit your needs?

Of the ones I've used, Ansible is the easiest to set up, and has some fancy UI that you can pay for, apparently. It seems to be very easy to extend, if you find yourself needing more than it provides. I found it while playing with Vagrant (which commissions virtual machines), which it has excellent support for; using them together makes it easy to test your Ansible playbooks without touching any real machines, which is why I use this combination whenever I'm given the choice.

Puppet probably has the widest user base, and it's easy to get answers on forums and on SO. It's more likely that you'll have to customize this, and that's also pretty easy. I used this one on my first few projects and it's what got me into environment configuration management; hopefully that gives you an idea how easy it is to use.

I've heard good things about Chef but I've never seen it in action. And there are lots more choices beyond these three.

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