<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
(	O
pronounced	O
"	O
bee-config	O
"	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
tool	O
developed	O
in	O
the	O
Mathematics	O
and	O
Computer	O
Science	O
Division	O
of	O
Argonne	O
National	O
Laboratory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
aids	O
in	O
the	O
infrastructure	O
management	O
lifecycle	O
–	O
configuration	O
analysis	O
,	O
service	O
deployment	O
,	O
and	O
configuration	O
auditing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
differs	O
from	O
similar	O
configuration	B-General_Concept
management	I-General_Concept
tools	O
due	O
to	O
its	O
auditing	O
capability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
stated	O
design	O
goals	O
for	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
is	O
to	O
determine	O
if	O
interactive	O
(	O
direct	O
)	O
changes	O
have	O
been	O
made	O
to	O
a	O
machine	O
and	O
report	O
on	O
these	O
extra	O
changes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
is	O
written	O
in	O
Python	B-Language
and	O
enables	O
system	B-Application
administrator	I-Application
to	O
manage	O
the	O
configuration	O
of	O
a	O
large	O
number	O
of	O
computers	O
using	O
a	O
central	O
configuration	O
model	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
operates	O
using	O
a	O
simple	O
model	O
of	O
system	O
configuration	O
,	O
modeling	O
intuitive	O
items	O
like	O
packages	O
,	O
services	O
and	O
configuration	O
files	O
(	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
dependencies	O
between	O
them	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
configuration	O
specification	O
is	O
written	O
using	O
a	O
declarative	B-Language
XML	B-Protocol
model	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
entire	O
specification	O
can	O
be	O
using	O
widely	O
available	O
XML	B-Protocol
schema	O
validators	O
along	O
with	O
the	O
custom	O
schemas	O
included	O
in	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Built	O
to	O
be	O
cross-platform	B-Operating_System
,	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
works	O
on	O
most	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
operating	I-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bcfg2	B-Device
is	O
based	O
on	O
a	O
client-server	O
architecture	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
client	O
performs	O
all	O
client	O
configuration	O
or	O
reconfiguration	O
operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
renders	O
a	O
declarative	B-Language
configuration	O
specification	O
,	O
provided	O
by	O
the	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
server	O
,	O
into	O
a	O
set	O
of	O
configuration	O
operations	O
which	O
will	O
attempt	O
to	O
change	O
the	O
client	O
's	O
state	O
into	O
that	O
described	O
by	O
the	O
configuration	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
operation	O
of	O
the	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
client	O
is	O
intended	O
to	O
be	O
as	O
simple	O
as	O
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conceptually	O
,	O
the	O
sole	O
purpose	O
of	O
the	O
client	O
is	O
to	O
reconcile	O
the	O
differences	O
between	O
the	O
current	O
client	O
state	O
and	O
the	O
state	O
described	O
in	O
the	O
specification	O
received	O
from	O
the	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
server	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
taking	O
a	O
network	O
description	O
and	O
turning	O
it	O
into	O
a	O
series	O
of	O
configuration	O
specifications	O
for	O
particular	O
clients	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Bcfg2	B-Device
server	O
takes	O
information	O
from	O
two	O
sources	O
when	O
generating	O
client	O
configuration	O
specifications	O
.	O
</s>
