SOEs are a valuable addition to technology processes in almost any environment. They require some time to be spent upfront on design work and defining standards, but this time is more than offset later on as it supports efficient and effective automation of the environments, and in this manner, actually gives time back to those responsible for the environment, giving them more time to work on evaluating new technologies, finding more efficient ways to do things, and being innovative in general.

In this chapter, you learned the fundamental definition of an SOE. You explored the benefits that they bring to just about any Linux environment where scale is important, how they support automation, and when and how to make deviations from the standards to ensure that they do not become overly rigid and hamper growth. Finally, you learned about the importance of ongoing maintenance, including maintenance of your standards as part your ongoing maintenance cycles.

In the next chapter, we will explore how to make use of Ansible as an effective automation framework for your Linux environment.