It is advisable to store the complete configuration for operational Rhino clusters in a version control system (VCS). There are several ways to organize a version control repository; a general guideline is to use branches to separate variants and avoid storing multiple copies of files. A simple method is described below.
Store common configuration on a master branch, and the complete configuration for each site on a separate branch derived from this master branch. Store partial configurations alongside the complete configuration they modify in a branch derived from the site that is affected. By doing this, it is easy to follow the history of changes to the configuration as the branch records the history of reconfigurations and makes it easy to identify the prior version if a change needs to be rolled back. Name branches for change rollout according to the nature of the changes that they contain, for example, “ocs-server-migration".
When making a permanent change using partial configuration, update the site master with the changes so future maintenance work has a clear starting reference. Update the site master and, if appropriate, the master branch once the system configuration has been tested as functioning correctly. After applying partial configuration and verifying, export the configuration, unzip it, and add it to the site master branch. This avoids the need to run multiple changes in sequence to restore the configuration of a cluster after data loss.
