= Puppet =

MF/PL is moving toward puppet as a system administration infrastructure.


== administering puppet ==

puppet can be intimidating.  If you want to help with the administration, here's instructions to get started:

=== setting up a development environment ===

Get the configuration:

{{{
git clone git://git.mayfirst.org/mfpl/puppet
cd puppet
git submodule init
git submodule update
}}}

And as the superuser, install the tools:
{{{
apt-get install puppet-common
}}}

then copy and update the sample configs to refer to your current environment:
{{{
cp puppet.conf.sample puppet.conf
cp fileserver.conf.sample fileserver.conf
$EDITOR puppet.conf fileserver.conf
}}}

some important changes to consider:

 * repoint `[files] path` in `fileserver.conf`
 * make a simple `var` dir for your dev puppetmaster to stash its data 
 * repoint all the explicit dirs in `puppet.conf` to the `var` dir

Then you can launch the puppet master as a non-privileged user from the checked-out directory:

{{{
puppet master --confdir=$(pwd) --no-daemonize --verbose
}}}

The next step is to create a virtual machine that will run puppet and connect to the master. This virtual machine will be your test puppet node.

You will need to minimally install the following packages:

{{{
aptitude install puppet lsb-release
}}}

Then, edit /etc/puppet/puppet.conf adding the following line:

{{{
server=HOSTNAME-OF-MASTER
}}}

Replace HOSTNAME-OF-MASTER with the hostname of the machine from which yo uare running the puppet master command.

Then, run the following command on your test puppet node:

{{{
puppet agent --verbose --waitforcert 60
}}}

On your master run:

{{{
puppet cert --list
}}}

And you should see the hostname of your puppet node.

Then run (FIXME should include fingerprint verification):

{{{
puppet cert --confdir=$(pwd) --no-daemonize --sign HOSTNAME 
}}}

Replace HOSTNAME with the listed hostname from the previous command.

Once the cert is verified, you can run the following on your test puppet node to test changes to the manifests and modules:

{{{
puppet agent --no-daemonize --verbose
}}}