Puppet

# Puppet Documentation

## Introduction to Puppet

For information about learning Puppet and major components, see [docs.puppetlabs.com](http://docs.puppetlabs.com).

Our docs site is also a community project like the Wiki, [learn how to contribute here](http://docs.reductivelabs.com/#help_improve_this_document).

## Configuration

Some additional articles on configurations that are not part of the docs site:

-   [[Puppet Best Practice]] describes the best practice for

    configuration layouts, syntax, naming conventions, etc

-   [[Puppet Templating]] with ERB

-   [[Using Tags]]

-   [[Using Multiple Environments]] describes how to be able to

    develop and test changed manifests without disturbing nodes running

    in production

-   [[Using Stored Configuration]] explains how to store

    configuration information in a database

-   [[Certificates And Security]]

-   [[Reports And Reporting]]

-   [[LDAP_Nodes|LDAP Nodes]] explains how to store node information in LDAP

-   [[Puppet Scalability]] describes common issues and solutions

    related to scaling a puppet deployment.

    -   [[Using Mongrel]] -- Using Mongrel or Passenger to scale Puppet

        instead of the internal Webrick server

    -   [[Using Mongrel Pound]] -- Using Mongrel with the Pound web

        server

    -   [[Using Mongrel Nginx]] -- Using Mongrel with the Nginx web

        server

-   [[Using Passenger]] -- Using Passenger and Apache to scale

    Puppet

-   [[Using Unicorn]] -- Using Unicorn to scale Puppet

## Cookbook

The Cookbook is a repository of modules, 'recipes' as well as

Puppet and Facter configuration snippets for achieving common

tasks.

### Module documentation

-   [[Puppet Manifest Documentation]] - From Puppet 0.24.7 you can

    create automatic documentation for manifests and modules

### Module sets

You can find a number of collections of Puppet modules for a

variety of applications and operating systems on the [[Puppet

Modules]] page.

### Recipes

-   [[Recipe Requests]] - a wishlist

-   [[Puppet Recipes]]

-   [[Facter Recipes]]

## Extending Puppet

Puppet is also highly extensible. This section lists additional

information that can help you create new types, providers and

functions for Puppet. Also documented is the process for adding

custom facts for Facter.

-   (docs.puppetlabs.com)[http://docs.puppetlabs.com/#extending_puppet] -- Documentation site information on Providers, Types, Functions, etc

-   [API Documentation](http://puppetlabs.com/downloads/puppet/apidocs/)     -- API documentation

-   [[Dsl_Hints_And_Tips_Patterns|Recipes/Dsl Hints And Tips]]     -- Initial page on how to use Puppet types from plain old Ruby.

-   [[Development_Writing_Tests|Development/Writing Tests]] --     Writing RSpec tests for your Puppet contributions.

-   Puppet's [[Development_Development_Lifecycle|Development/Development Lifecycle]] process

## Related Applications

A number of applications that extend, support or supplement Puppet

have been developed. These include:

-   [Puppet Dashboard](http://www.puppetlabs.com/puppet/related-projects/dashboard/)

-   [PuppetShow](http://github.com/shadoi/puppetshow/) -- A

    Rails-application for viewing information about Puppet and

    configured hosts (legacy project)

-   [The Foreman](http://theforeman.org) -- A Rails-application for

    managing server lifecycle.  

    integrates with Puppet (external nodes, PuppetCA, inventory and

    reporting) and provides dynamicly generated with Kickstart /

    jumpstart and preseed handsfree.

-   [Viper](http://www.spinlocksolutions.com/viper/) -- A

    LDAP-based system for automated hosts installation, configuration

    and monitoring

-   [iClassify](https://wiki.hjksolutions.com/display/IC/Home) -- A

    node management tool for Puppet. (legacy project)

-   [PuppetView](http://www.devco.net/pubwiki/Puppet/PuppetView) --

    A light weight web-based Puppet log viewer written in PHP.

-   [Cft](http://cft.et.redhat.com/) -- A configuration file

    tracker that uses Puppet at its base.

-   [Augeas](http://augeas.net/) -- Augeas is a configuration

    editing tool.

-   [Carpet](http://www.agileweboperations.com/configuration-management-remixed-introducing-carpet/)

    -- Carpet is a combination of Puppet and Capistrano.

-   [Cobbler](http://fedorahosted.org/cobbler) -- An OS installer that can function as a Puppet external nodes source

## Additional Documentation

While the above links represent the standard, recommended documentation, there is additional information available for those who are interested.

Also available is

[Pulling Strings with Puppet](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590599780?ie=UTF8&tag=puppet0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1590599780)

- the first book on Puppet written by James Turnbull. Puppet is

also mentioned in Chapter 19 (together with provisioning and

bootstrapping) of

[Pro Linux System Administration](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1430219122?ie=UTF8&tag=puppet0e-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1430219122)

by James Turnbull, Peter Lieverdink and Dennis Matotek.

-   [[Frequently Asked Questions]]

-   [[Branch Testing]] describes how to manage and test your

    configuration across multiple Puppet masters

-   [[Puppet Internals]] describes how manifests are processed and

    used

-   PuppetVsCfengine? -- How Cfengine compares to Puppet

-   [[Transitioning From Cfengine]] -- Using the Cfengine module

-   [[Puppet With Launchd]] -- A tutorial for starting puppet with

    Apple's new launchd.

-   If you're considering contributing documentation, please take a

    look at the [[Documentation Standards]] .

-   [[Puppet MacOSX]] -- Describes recommendations when running

    Puppet on Mac OS X.

-   [[Puppet Solaris]] -- Describes installing and running Puppet

    on Solaris.

-   [[Puppet FreeBSD]] -- Tips for running Puppet on FreeBSD.

-   [[Puppet Gentoo]] -- Tips for running Puppet on Gentoo

-   [[Puppet Debian]] -- Tips for running Puppet on Debian

-   [[Puppet Presentations]] -- Presentations about Puppet

-   [[Puppet Best Practice]] -- How Puppet is used to manage a

    large network at Stanford

-   [[Infrastructure Design Guidelines]] -- Another suggested best

    practice guide to managing infrastructure with Puppet

-   [[Multiple Certificate Authorities]] -- How to setup multiple

    puppetmaster daemons with mutual trust.

-   [Puppet on Ubuntu Installation](http://www.howtoforge.com/installing_puppet_on_ubuntu)

    -- Walk through of how to get Puppet running on Ubuntu.

-   A

    [detailed example](http://people.redhat.com/dlutter/puppet-app.html)

    of using Puppet and how the way it modularizes configurations can

    be used for sharing 'system recipes'

-   [Puppet Tutorial](http://bitfieldconsulting.com/puppet-tutorial)

-   [Puppet Workshop](http://www.kanarip.com/courses/Configuration_Management_Using_Puppet/)

    -- A Puppet workshop designed to introduce new users to Puppet

-   [Scaling Puppet with distributed version control](http://bitfieldconsulting.com/scaling-puppet-with-distributed-version-control)

    -- Using Git (or another DVCS) to distribute manifests, removing

    the need for a Puppet server