About Puppet
Version 9 (James Turnbull, 05/26/2010 12:14 pm)
| 1 | 9 | James Turnbull | # Puppet is system administration - Automated |
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| 2 | 1 | ||
| 3 | 1 | By saving you countless hours of frustration, monotony, and/or |
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| 4 | 1 | reinventing the wheel, Puppet can change your life. Here are some |
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| 5 | 1 | key points about Puppet: |
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| 6 | 1 | ||
| 7 | 1 | ## Puppet speaks the local language |
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| 8 | 1 | ||
| 9 | 1 | Puppet lets you perform normal administrative tasks (such as adding |
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| 10 | 1 | users, installing packages, and updating server configurations) on |
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| 11 | 1 | any number of systems, even if those systems are running completely |
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| 12 | 1 | different operating systems. Through the use of providers, Puppet |
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| 13 | 1 | takes a generic instruction from you (such as ensuring MySQL is |
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| 14 | 1 | installed) and performs the task the "right way" for each system. |
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| 15 | 1 | ||
| 16 | 1 | ## Administer One Server or 1,000 |
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| 17 | 1 | ||
| 18 | 1 | Whether you have a small, heterogeneous network of user |
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| 19 | 1 | workstations or a cluster of rack-mounted number-crunchers, Puppet |
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| 20 | 1 | can help reduce your overhead and get the everyday management of |
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| 21 | 1 | your network under control so you can concentrate on the real |
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| 22 | 1 | problems. |
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| 23 | 1 | ||
| 24 | 1 | ## The Robustness of Open Source |
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| 25 | 1 | ||
| 26 | 1 | Our commitment to developing Puppet as an Open Source product means |
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| 27 | 1 | you'll always have free access to the latest version of Puppet's |
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| 28 | 1 | source code. And because Puppet's source code is available to |
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| 29 | 1 | anyone, community developers are continually contributing to the |
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| 30 | 1 | stability and functionality of Puppet. |
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| 31 | 1 | ||
| 32 | 1 | ## Powerful, Flexible, Extensible |
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| 33 | 1 | ||
| 34 | 1 | New providers and new functionality are being added to Puppet all |
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| 35 | 1 | the time, and since Puppet's providers are written entirely in |
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| 36 | 1 | Ruby, many developers already have a head start in writing their |
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| 37 | 6 | James Turnbull | own custom extensions and because it's Open Source, developers |
| 38 | 1 | from around the world can contribute their solutions back to the |
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| 39 | 1 | project, making everyone's existing solutions better. |
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| 40 | 1 | ||
| 41 | 1 | ## Facter Sets the Stage |
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| 42 | 1 | ||
| 43 | 1 | Puppet uses Facter, a system assay tool, to get the lay of the |
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| 44 | 1 | land. Facter produces a profile of each host, and makes system |
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| 45 | 1 | information available to Puppet as variables. This will let you |
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| 46 | 1 | categorize your systems by network, hostname, operating system or |
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| 47 | 1 | hardware type without having to constantly update config files, |
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| 48 | 1 | augment LDAP entries, or edit eye-crossing XML description |
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| 49 | 1 | documents. |
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| 50 | 1 | ||
| 51 | 1 | ## Repeatable Configurations |
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| 52 | 1 | ||
| 53 | 1 | By using Puppet's unique, declarative language to describe your |
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| 54 | 1 | systems' configuration, you can easily reproduce any configuration |
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| 55 | 1 | on any number of additional systems, sometimes without even |
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| 56 | 1 | changing a single line of your Puppet manifest. |
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| 57 | 1 | ||
| 58 | 1 | # How Does Puppet Work? |
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| 59 | 1 | ||
| 60 | 1 | If you want a brief introduction to the way Puppet puppet changes |
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| 61 | 6 | James Turnbull | System Administration, look at our [[Big Picture]]. |
| 62 | 1 | ||
| 63 | 1 | # Want to Know More? |
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| 64 | 8 | James Turnbull | |
| 65 | 9 | James Turnbull | If you want to go deeper than the [[Big Picture]], the [Puppet Introduction](http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/introduction.html) will give you a more in-depth description of what Puppet does and what makes it special. |
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| 67 | 1 | # Ready to start? |
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| 68 | 1 | ||
| 69 | 1 | Ready to dig down and get your hands dirty? Then you are ready to |
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| 70 | 1 | proceed to the [[Getting Started]] section. |
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| 71 | 1 | ||
| 72 | 1 | # Where do I go for help? |
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| 73 | 1 | ||
| 74 | 1 | If you are stuck, lost, curious, or just want to feel like part of |
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| 75 | 1 | the community, check out the [[Getting Help]] section. |