Linux – How to edit /etc/shadow on many Linux servers

We use puppet, but we don't use it for our application deployments. As you said, you could package your software into debs or rpms, configure your private repository everywhere, and use puppet to control versions, but you're still at the mercy of waiting for the next 30 minute refresh on all your servers.

What I would do (and this is close to what we do, but we use rails so there's no compile step):

• Use puppet to configure everything on the server except the application itself. Dependencies, web servers, users, paths, etc.
• Have your automated build server (bamboo, hudson, cruise control, etc.) put the compiled artefacts in a repository manager like Nexus.
• Use capistrano to push build to your servers.

Chef might have more real-time push capabilities; I'm not very familiar with it.