Puppet is system administration – Automated
By saving you countless hours of frustration, monotony, and/or reinventing the wheel, Puppet can change your life. Here are some key points about Puppet:
Puppet speaks the local language
Puppet lets you perform normal administrative tasks (such as adding users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) on any number of systems, even if those systems are running completely different operating systems. Through the use of providers, Puppet takes a generic instruction from you (such as ensuring MySQL is installed) and performs the task the “right way” for each system.
Administer One Server or 10,000
Whether you have a small, heterogeneous network of user workstations or a cluster of rack-mounted number-crunchers, Puppet can help reduce your overhead and get the everyday management of your network under control so you can concentrate on the real problems.
The Robustness of Open Source
Our commitment to developing Puppet as an Open Source product means you’ll always have free access to the latest version of Puppet’s source code. And because Puppet’s source code is available to anyone, community developers are continually contributing to the stability and functionality of Puppet.
Powerful, Flexible, Extensible
New providers and new functionality are being added to Puppet all the time, and since Puppet’s providers are written entirely in Ruby, many developers already have a head start in writing their own custom extensions and because it’s Open Source, developers from around the world can contribute their solutions back to the project, making everyone’s existing solutions better.
Facter Sets the Stage
Puppet uses Facter, a system assay tool, to get the lay of the land. Facter produces a profile of each host, and makes system information available to Puppet as variables. This will let you categorize your systems by network, hostname, operating system or hardware type without having to constantly update config files, augment LDAP entries, or edit eye-crossing XML description documents.
Repeatable Configurations
By using Puppet’s unique, declarative language to describe your systems' configuration, you can easily reproduce any configuration on any number of additional systems, sometimes without even changing a single line of your Puppet manifest.
How Does Puppet Work?
If you want a brief introduction to the way Puppet puppet changes System Administration, look at our Big Picture.
Want to Know More?
If you want to go deeper than the Big Picture, the Puppet Introduction help writing will give you a more in-depth description of what Puppet does and what makes it special.
Ready to start?
Ready to dig down and get your hands dirty? Then you are ready to proceed to the Getting Started section.
Where do I go for help?
If you are stuck, lost, curious, or just want to feel like part of the community, check out the Getting Help section.