What does automated configuration management primarily aim to achieve?

Automated configuration management primarily aims to achieve a consistent system state and configuration. This practice ensures that all systems within an environment are set up and maintained in a uniform manner, reducing discrepancies that can lead to issues such as software bugs, security vulnerabilities, or performance problems. By automating the configuration process, it minimizes the risk of human error and enables rapid deployment of systems and applications in a reliable and repeatable way.

For example, whether you are setting up a new server or deploying updates across multiple machines, automated configuration management tools maintain the integrity of the system configurations, making it easier to manage and scale environments. This consistency is essential in environments like data centers or cloud platforms, where managing numerous servers manually can be impractical and prone to errors.