An absolutely admirable project! ++ just for the intention to write something for fellow admins.

However, I would like to point out cfengine a similar product to your description. Definately not perl, but an extremely powerful admin tool.

As for features... (/me breaks out the <ul> tag)

• Abstract enough config that I don't need a separate config for every host
• An easy way to add hosts to said config
• Smart enough config to do something on one platform and something else for another
• Method of running arbitrary commands/scripts on every host or a group of hosts. Need not be simultaneously, just needs to happen - think: patching or an emergency halt of a service (like stop all httpds)

Ok, wasn't that much, but enough for now. =P If you really want hear my ideas on managing 1000s of hosts with minimal staff (20-30), we can talk later. I'm actually a developer (in a group of about 4) for the unix admin environment where I work. We've got roughly 2000 hosts all managed by about 30 or so more admins.

-Ducky