Otter (software)

This article is about the Inedo infrastructure automation tool. For the transcription software company, see Otter.ai. For the theorem prover, see Otter (theorem prover).

Otter
Developer(s)	Inedo
Initial release	November 10, 2015;9 years ago (2015-11-10)
Stable release	2.2.22 / June 26, 2020;5 years ago (2020-06-26)
Operating system	Microsoft Windows and Linux
Platform	.NET Framework
Type	Configuration management and infrastructure as code
License	Proprietary
Website	inedo.com/otter

Otter is an infrastructure automation tool that runs under Microsoft Windows, designed by the software company Inedo. Otter utilizes Infrastructure as Code to model infrastructure and configuration. ^[1]

Otter provisions and configures servers automatically, without logging in to a command prompt. ^[2]

Key areas

Otter focuses on two key areas: ^[1]

• Configuration automation - Otter allows users to model the configuration of servers, roles, and environments; monitor for drift, schedule changes, and ensure consistency across servers ^{[ citation needed ]}
• Orchestration automation - Otter can spin up cloud servers, build containers, deploy packages, patch servers, or any other multi-server/service automation ^{[ citation needed ]}

Otter can continuously monitor for server configuration drift, can automatically remediate drift, and can send notification when drift occurs. ^[3]

Key features

Otter has a visual, web-based user interface that is designed to "create complex configurations and orchestrations using the intuitive, drag-and-drop editor, and then switch to-and-from code/text mode as needed." ^[4] Otter aims to enable DevOps practices through its UI, and shows the configuration state of an organization's servers infrastructure (local, virtual, cloud-built). ^[5] Otter supports Microsoft Windows, and supports Linux-based operating systems through SSH-based agents. ^[6]

Otter monitors servers for configuration changes, and reports when the configuration has drifted. ^[7] It supports both agent and agentless Windows servers. ^[8]

From version 1.5, Otter integrates with Atlassian Jira and Git via extensions. ^[9]

PowerShell

Otter allows the use of Windows PowerShell scripts. ^[4]

See also

• Ansible
• Chef
• Puppet
• Configuration Management
• Continuous configuration automation
• DevOps toolchain

References

1. Sweeney, Devin (10 January 2016). "Inedo Announces the Release of Otter, a New Tool for Infrastructure Automation" (Press release). Berea, OH: PRWeb. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
2. "Plans in Otter". inedo.com. inedo. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
3. "getting started with otter" . Retrieved 2018-03-20.
4. Chaganti, Ravikanth (5 January 2016). "DevOps, Infrastructure as Code, and PowerShell DSC: The Introduction". PowerShell Magazine. PowerShell Magazine. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
5. "Server Configuration and Infrastructure Automation". inedo.com. inedo. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
6. "Otter 1.1 is here". inedo.com. inedo. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
7. "Plans in Otter". inedo.com. inedo. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
8. "Otter 1.4 is released". inedo.com. inedo. Archived from the original on 6 October 2017. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
9. "Otter 1.5 is released". inedo.com. inedo. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 11 November 2017.