NSYS Vectored (vectored)

vectored is a lightweight, agentless configuration deployment tool for Linux systems, built around rsync, SSH, and systemd.

It lets you push configuration sets from a controller to one or more servers, with built-in staging, validation, promotion, logging, and optional alerting — all without running background daemons or agents on your fleet.

Presentation

vectored is designed for operators who want:

• 🔁 Push-based config deployment (no polling, no agents)
• 🧱 Atomic-ish updates via staging → validation → promotion
• 🧰 Simple building blocks (bash, rsync, ssh)
• ⚙️ First-class systemd integration
• 📜 Clear logging (journald, syslog)
• 📬 Optional email alerts on failure
• 📦 Clean packaging (.deb, no mutable version files)

vectored does one thing well:
reliably copy configuration to remote hosts and apply it safely.

What vectored is not

vectored does not aim to be:

• a full configuration management platform (only focusing on the essentials for quick, reliable config deployment)
• a replacement for Ansible / Puppet / Salt / Chef
• a state convergence engine
• a secrets manager

vectored assumes:

• you already manage secrets appropriately
• you know what files belong where
• you want explicit control over when changes are pushed

It intentionally stays small, explicit, and transparent.

Quick example

A deployment vector is defined by two things:

• an inventory (where to deploy)
• a set (what to deploy and how)

Using systemd’s templated units, you run vectored like this:

systemctl start vectored@ghibli:nginx.service

This means:

• use inventory: ghibli
• deploy set: nginx

Under the hood, vectored will:

1. rsync files to a staging directory on each target
2. run an optional validation command
3. promote the staged files to the live location
4. run an optional apply/reload command
5. log everything to journald (and optionally syslog/email)

Installation

Debian / Ubuntu (recommended)

NSYS Packages repository (recommended)

You can install vectored on Debian-based systems via the NSYS Packages repository:

curl -fsSL https://packages.nodsoft.net/install.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt install vectored

Manual .deb installation

vectored is also available as a .deb package, found in the releases. Install it with:

sudo dpkg -i vectored_<version>_amd64.deb

Configuration lives in:

/etc/vectored/
  inventory.d/
  sets.d/

Of course, preserved across package upgrades.

From source

You can also run vectored directly from source.

git clone https://github.com/Nodsoft/vectored.git
cd vectored
sudo ./vectored.sh --help

Concepts at a glance

• Inventory Defines targets (user, host, port).

• Set Defines what to sync, where to stage, how to validate, and how to apply.

• Instance name (vectors) vectored@<inventory>:<set> (example: vectored@ghibli:nginx`)

• Profiles Optional environment overrides (mail, logging, flags), layered per inventory, per set, or per instance.

Logging and alerting

The vectored logging and alerting system supports three channels:

• journald: always enabled on debian-based installs
• syslog: enabled with --syslog or via systemd
• email alerts: optional, triggered on failure

Email configuration is done via environment variables:

VECTORED_MAIL_TO="ops@example.org"
VECTORED_MAIL_SUBJECT_PREFIX="[vectored]"

vectored relies on standard mail tooling (mail, sendmail, msmtp, etc.).

Safety notes

A few important things to keep in mind when using vectored in production:

• Vectored does not deploy secrets by default — exclude them explicitly.
• --delete is opt-in and should be used carefully.
• Always use --dry-run when testing new sets.
• Validation commands should be idempotent and fast.

Operator intent is always preferred over automation magic when using vectored.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Status

Vectored is actively developed and used in Nodsoft Systems' production environments. Issues, ideas, and contributions are more than welcome.