Configuration 👑

If only one person knows how to configure the production load balancer, your organization has a high "bus factor." Cross-train teams. Document the configuration architecture.

| Challenge | Description | Mitigation | |-----------|-------------|-------------| | | Live system diverges from intended config | Automation, periodic reconciliation | | Secret Leakage | Credentials in version control | Pre-commit hooks, secret scanners | | Poor Validation | Invalid config causes runtime failures | Schema validation, unit tests for config | | Config Sprawl | Too many config files across services | Centralized config server (e.g., Consul, Apollo) | | Environment Differences | Works in dev, fails in prod | Parity across envs, use same config mechanisms | | Human Error | Manual edits break systems | Peer review, automated rollouts | configuration

A key best practice is to separate configuration from code so that the same software package can be deployed across different environments (Dev, Test, Production) without being rebuilt. 2. Configuration Management (CM) If only one person knows how to configure