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If using a cloud, another often overlooked option is to just tear down and replace the instance rather than try to update/correct its configuration. In that case, a shell script or Userdata script will be more than enough and represents a single source of truth for how a server will be built (never upgraded).

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That's a great point. It's one reason Docker is so exciting - to be able to replace a running server in a sane and organized way is a killer feature.

For many cloud environments, it'd be costly (in time and energy, not necessarily $) to replace all 1000 virtual servers for an update. With Docker, you can essentially do that in a trivial manner. I'm still learning Docker and my understanding is still a bit weak, but it's an exciting development in this regard.

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