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Introduction
Have you ever configured any servers in your organization? Have you ever used any tool or software for the automation of the configuration of servers?
This article is focused on one of these automated server configuration software which is known as Puppet. Puppet is a management and automation tool used to configure one or more servers. We are going to learn more about Puppet in depth. We will also learn about the puppet platform and its lifecycle, puppet issues, and much more.
What is Puppet?
Puppet is a configuration management tool. It is used for managing the infrastructure on physical or virtual devices. It is a Ruby-based open-source software. It facilitates real-time control of complicated infrastructure. Puppet has a declarative language for describing system configuration. It is a model-driven approach that requires a basic understanding of programming. The Puppet was created by Puppet, Inc., which Luke Kanies established in 2005.
Use of Puppet desired state management
There are various benefits of using configuration tools such as Puppet. Consistency and Automation are crucial ones.
Consistency: Troubleshooting problems is time-consuming with the servers. It is also a manually intensive process. This property helps you to identify the desired state and why your model failed. It also allows you to determine what was incomplete in your model and helps you to save valuable time.
Automation: This Puppet property helps you save money and time, work securely, and scale effectively.
Key concepts behind Puppet
Puppet is not just a tool but also about a way of working and a different culture. The main concepts behind the Puppet are as follows:-
Infrastructure-as-code: It is a practice of treating infrastructure as code. It is the foundation of DevOps. DevOps is the practice of combining operations and software development.
Idempotency: The ability to apply code repeatedly to guarantee the desired state. The system will have the assurance that the same result is produced every time. It allows the Puppet to run continuously.
Agile methodology: It means reusing the code and working in increasing units of work. While working with Puppet, having an Agile method will be more successful.
Git and version control: Git helps you track code changes. So it is also called a version control system. It is essential to store the Puppet code in the git repository even though the version is not required in Puppet.
Puppet is made up of various packages. All these packages together are called the Puppet Platform. They are used to store, manage and run your Puppet code. These packages include puppetdb, puppet-agent, and puppetserver. Hiera and Facter are included in the puppet-agent.
Puppet Platform Lifecycle
When troubleshooting and upgrading, it is essential to know which versions go together and what versions are maintained. There are two release tracks of Open source Puppet.
Update track: Puppet versions that are not related to any Puppet Enterprise(PE) versions get updated minor releases (about once a month).
Long-term releases: Puppet versions associated with PE Long term support(LTS) get patch releases (about quarterly).
Features of Puppet
Puppet 7.0.0 was released in November 2020. At that time, it had features like puppet facts show command and settings_catalog setting. A later version of Puppet (7.3.0) introduced the feature of serverport. It allowed multiple logdest locations. Puppet 7.7.0 was released with enhancements like require_relative method, fqdn_rand() function, etc.
The latest version of Puppet is 7.20.0. It enhanced the tags and bump puppet-resource_api in Puppet 7. It also resolved issues as follows:-
When reading an empty file, Puppet::Util::Json doesn’t raise an error now.
Augeas components of the puppet-agent platform are now working on macOS.
Augtool packaged is now not broken in puppet-agent.
This version of Puppet also introduced some removals and deprecations. Support for Debian 9, Fedora 34, and 32 are removed.
Puppet known issues
These issues are known in this version of Puppet.
When using the --environment flag, Puppet lookup omits some parameters.
When an environment is specified, Puppet lookups fail to interpolate topscope variables.
Full Disk Access(FDA) is required to manage groups and users on macOS 10.14 and above with Puppet.
The puppet node clean command fails when the user has cadir in the legacy location.
For more than three levels of deep hierarchies, hiera knockout_prefix is ineffective.
Deferred functions use built-in Puppet types.
Mention the epoch when using the yum package provider with version ranges.
Debian 9 requires systemd. When it is not present, then the puppet agent installer fails.
ScriptHalted error occurs when upgrading the Windows agent fails.
Key Points of Puppet
Before moving to the main topic, we first need to understand Puppet. This section will be helpful for new users of Puppet. The essential points about Puppet are as follows:-
Puppet is a tool that helps you to automate and manage server configurations.
Puppet is made of numerous packages. These all together are called the Puppet platform. These packages include puppetdb, puppetserver, and puppet-agent.
The puppet ecosystem includes configuration tools along with additional Puppet tools and resources.
Puppet Forge has code examples and existing modules that assist in automating use cases.
The puppet platform lifecycle helps understand which versions go together and what are maintained. It is crucial while troubleshooting and upgrading.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does a Puppet tool work?
Puppet uses a pull mode where agents poll the master every few minutes or seconds to retrieve site-specific and node-specific configurations.
Is there a free version of Puppet?
Open-source Puppet is free for use and open for modification and customization.
Is Puppet still used?
Big-name companies like Oracle, Google, and many others run their data servers using Puppet.
Is Puppet an automation tool?
You may manage and automate the configuration of servers using Puppet.
Conclusion
In this article, we have extensively discussed the overview of open-source Puppet. We have also explained the uses of Puppet's desired state management. This article also covers key concepts behind Puppet, the puppet platform, and its features.
We hope this blog has helped you enhance your Open Source Puppet knowledge. If you want to learn more, check out our articles on Ansible vs. Puppet, DevOp's best things, DevOps tools, and reasons to build a career in DevOps.
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