KonfigurationsDrift

KonfigurationsDrift refers to the discrepancy between the actual configuration of a system and its defined desired state. It affects servers, virtual machines, containers, cloud environments, and network devices. In dynamic infrastructures driven by automation, drift can accumulate when changes are implemented live without updating the documented or intended configuration.

Causes include manual changes outside version control, incremental updates that are not captured in the configuration store, auto-scaling processes that apply different settings, patches applied by operators, and differences between environments (development, test, production). Ephemeral resources and stateful services can complicate reconciliation.

Consequences include reduced predictability and reproducibility of deployments, elevated risk for security and compliance, more difficult incident response, and higher maintenance costs. Drift can escape detection until it causes failures or inconsistencies in monitoring and reporting. Detection typically relies on drift-detection features in cloud platforms or dedicated configuration-management tools that compare the live state to the declared state.

Prevention and remediation emphasize treating infrastructure as code and maintaining a single source of truth. Practices include automated provisioning and configuration management, strict version control, auditable change logs, and automated drift remediation. Adopting immutable infrastructure, blue/green deployments, and continuous reconciliation helps keep systems aligned with the desired state.

Overall, KonfigurationsDrift is a recognized challenge in modern IT operations. Organizations address it with disciplined automation, continuous monitoring, and processes that promote reproducibility, security, and compliance.