####Table of Contents
- Overview - What is the PuppetDB module?
- Module Description - What does the module do?
- Setup - The basics of getting started with PuppetDB module
- Upgrading - Guide for upgrading from older revisions of this module
- Usage - The classes and parameters available for configuration
- Implementation - An under-the-hood peek at what the module is doing
- Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.
- Development - Guide for contributing to the module
- Release Notes - Notes on the most recent updates to the module
By guiding puppetdb setup and configuration with a puppet master, the PuppetDB module provides fast, streamlined access to data on puppetized infrastructure.
The PuppetDB module provides a quick way to get started using PuppetDB, an open source inventory resource service that manages storage and retrieval of platform-generated data. The module will install PostgreSQL and PuppetDB if you don't have them, as well as set up the connection to puppet master. The module will also provide a dashboard you can use to view the current state of your system.
For more information about PuppetDB please see the official PuppetDB documentation.
What PuppetDB affects:
- package/service/configuration files for PuppetDB
- package/service/configuration files for PostgreSQL (optional, but set as default)
- puppet master's runtime (via plugins)
- puppet master's configuration
- note: Using the
puppetdb::master::config
class will cause your routes.yaml file to be overwritten entirely (see Usage below for options and more information )
- note: Using the
- system firewall (optional)
- listened-to ports
Introductory Questions
To begin using PuppetDB, you’ll have to make a few decisions:
- Which database back-end should I use?
- PostgreSQL (default) or our embedded database
- Embedded database
- note: We suggest using the embedded database only for experimental environments rather than production, as it does not scale well and can cause difficulty in migrating to PostgreSQL.
- Should I run the database on the same node that I run PuppetDB on?
- Should I run PuppetDB on the same node that I run my master on?
The answers to those questions will be largely dependent on your answers to questions about your Puppet environment:
- How many nodes are you managing?
- What kind of hardware are you running on?
- Is your current load approaching the limits of your hardware?
Depending on your answers to all of the questions above, you will likely fall under one of these set-up options:
This approach assumes you will use our default database (PostgreSQL) and run everything (PostgreSQL, PuppetDB, puppet master) all on the same node. This setup will be great for a testing or experimental environment. In this case, your manifest will look like:
node puppetmaster {
# Configure puppetdb and its underlying database
class { 'puppetdb': }
# Configure the puppet master to use puppetdb
class { 'puppetdb::master::config': }
}
You can provide some parameters for these classes if you’d like more control, but that is literally all that it will take to get you up and running with the default configuration.
This approach is for those who prefer not to install PuppetDB on the same node as the puppet master. Your environment will be easier to scale if you are able to dedicate hardware to the individual system components. You may even choose to run the puppetdb server on a different node from the PostgreSQL database that it uses to store its data. So let’s have a look at what a manifest for that scenario might look like:
This is an example of a very basic 3-node setup for PuppetDB.
This node is our puppet master:
node puppet {
# Here we configure the puppet master to use PuppetDB,
# and tell it that the hostname is ‘puppetdb’
class { 'puppetdb::master::config':
puppetdb_server => 'puppetdb',
}
}
This node is our postgres server:
node puppetdb-postgres {
# Here we install and configure postgres and the puppetdb
# database instance, and tell postgres that it should
# listen for connections to the hostname ‘puppetdb-postgres’
class { 'puppetdb::database::postgresql':
listen_addresses => 'puppetdb-postgres',
}
}
This node is our main puppetdb server:
node puppetdb {
# Here we install and configure PuppetDB, and tell it where to
# find the postgres database.
class { 'puppetdb::server':
database_host => 'puppetdb-postgres',
}
}
This should be all it takes to get a 3-node, distributed installation of PuppetDB up and running. Note that, if you prefer, you could easily move two of these classes to a single node and end up with a 2-node setup instead.
Whether you choose a single node development setup or a multi-node setup, a basic setup of PuppetDB will cause: PostgreSQL to install on the node if it’s not already there; PuppetDB postgres database instance and user account to be created; the postgres connection to be validated and, if successful, PuppetDB to be installed and configured; PuppetDB connection to be validated and, if successful, the puppet master config files to be modified to use PuppetDB; and the puppet master to be restarted so that it will pick up the config changes.
If your logging level is set to INFO or finer, you should start seeing PuppetDB-related log messages appear in both your puppet master log and your puppetdb log as subsequent agent runs occur.
If you’d prefer to use PuppetDB’s embedded database rather than PostgreSQL, have a look at the database parameter on the puppetdb class:
class { 'puppetdb':
database => 'embedded',
}
The embedded database can be useful for testing and very small production environments, but it is not recommended for production environments since it consumes a great deal of memory as your number of nodes increase.
It is worth noting that there are some cross-node dependencies, which means that the first time you add the module's configurations to your manifests, you may see a few failed puppet runs on the affected nodes.
PuppetDB handles cross-node dependencies by taking a sort of “eventual consistency” approach. There’s nothing that the module can do to control the order in which your nodes check in, but the module can check to verify that the services it depends on are up and running before it makes configuration changes--so that’s what it does.
When your puppet master node checks in, it will validate the connectivity to the puppetdb server before it applies its changes to the puppet master config files. If it can’t connect to puppetdb, then the puppet run will fail and the previous config files will be left intact. This prevents your master from getting into a broken state where all incoming puppet runs fail because the master is configured to use a puppetdb server that doesn’t exist yet. The same strategy is used to handle the dependency between the puppetdb server and the postgres server.
Hence the failed puppet runs. These failures should be limited to 1 failed run on the puppetdb node, and up to 2 failed runs on the puppet master node. After that, all of the dependencies should be satisfied and your puppet runs should start to succeed again.
You can also manually trigger puppet runs on the nodes in the correct order (Postgres, PuppetDB, puppet master), which will avoid any failed runs.
###Upgrading from 3.x to version 4.x
For this release, all dependency versions have been bumped to their latest. Significant parameter changes are listed below:
- The PuppetDB module now only supports Puppet 3.7.1 or later
- 'puppetlabs/postgresql' 4.0.0 or later is now required
- 'puppetlabs/inifile' 1.1.3 or later is now required
- 'puppetlabs/firewall' 1.1.3 or later is now required
- 'puppetlabs/stdlib' 4.2.2 or later is now required
- The parameter
manage_firewall
for the classpuppetdb::database::postgresql
has now been removed, since the postgresql module no longer supports this. - The parameter
open_postgres_port
for the classpuppetdb
has also been removed, due to postgresql changes.
See the CHANGELOG file for more detailed information on changes for each release.
###Upgrading from 2.x to version 3.x
For this release a major dependency has changed. The module pupppetlabs/postgresql
must now be version 3.x. Upgrading the module should upgrade the puppetlabs/postgresql
module for you, but if another module has a fixed dependency that module will have to be fixed before you can continue.
Some other changes include:
- The parameter
manage_redhat_firewall
for the classpuppetdb
has now been removed completely in favor ofopen_postgres_port
andopen_ssl_listen_port
. - The parameter
manage_redhat_firewall
for the classpuppetdb::database::postgresql
, has now been renamed tomanage_firewall
. - The parameter
manage_redhat_firewall
for the classpuppetdb::server
has now been removed completely in favor ofopen_listen_port
andopen_ssl_listen_port
. - The internal class:
puppetdb::database::postgresql_db
has been removed. If you were using this, it is now defunct. - The class
puppetdb::server::firewall
has been marked as private, do not use it directly. - The class
puppetdb::server::jetty_ini
andpuppetdb::server::database_ini
have been marked as private, do not use it directly.
###Upgrading from 1.x to version 2.x
A major dependency has been changed, so now when you upgrade to 2.0 the dependency cprice404/inifile
has been replaced with puppetlabs/inifile
. This may interfer with other modules as they may depend on the old cprice404/inifile
instead, so upgrading should be done with caution. Check that your other modules use the newer puppetlabs/inifile
module as interoperation with the old cprice404/inifile
module will no longer be supported by this module.
Depending on how you install your modules, changing the dependency may require manual intervention. Double check your modules contains the newer puppetlabs/inifile
after installing this latest module.
Otherwise, all existing parameters from 1.x should still work correctly.
PuppetDB supports a large number of configuration options for both configuring the puppetdb service and connecting that service to the puppet master.
The puppetdb
class is intended as a high-level abstraction (sort of an 'all-in-one' class) to help simplify the process of getting your puppetdb server up and running. It wraps the slightly-lower-level classes puppetdb::server
and puppetdb::database::*
, and it'll get you up and running with everything you need (including database setup and management) on the server side. For maximum configurability, you may choose not to use this class. You may prefer to use the puppetdb::server
class directly, or manage your puppetdb setup on your own.
You must declare the class to use it:
class { 'puppetdb': }
Parameters within puppetdb
:
####listen_address
The address that the web server should bind to for HTTP requests (defaults to localhost
.'0.0.0.0' = all).
####listen_port
The port on which the puppetdb web server should accept HTTP requests (defaults to '8080').
####open_listen_port
If true, open the http_listen_port on the firewall (defaults to false).
####ssl_listen_address
The address that the web server should bind to for HTTPS requests (defaults to $::clientcert
). Set to '0.0.0.0' to listen on all addresses.
####ssl_listen_port
The port on which the puppetdb web server should accept HTTPS requests (defaults to '8081').
####disable_ssl
If true, the puppetdb web server will only serve HTTP and not HTTPS requests (defaults to false).
####open_ssl_listen_port
If true, open the ssl_listen_port on the firewall (defaults to true).
###manage_dbserver
If true, the PostgreSQL server will be managed by this module (defaults to true).
####database
Which database backend to use; legal values are postgres
(default) or embedded
. The embedded
db can be used for very small installations or for testing, but is not recommended for use in production environments. For more info, see the puppetdb docs.
####database_port
The port that the database server listens on (defaults to 5432
; ignored for embedded
db).
####database_username
The name of the database user to connect as (defaults to puppetdb
; ignored for embedded
db).
####database_password
The password for the database user (defaults to puppetdb
; ignored for embedded
db).
####database_name
The name of the database instance to connect to (defaults to puppetdb
; ignored for embedded
db).
####database_ssl
If true, puppetdb will use SSL to connect to the postgres database (defaults to false; ignored for embedded
db).
Setting up proper trust- and keystores has to be managed outside of the puppetdb module.
####node_ttl
The length of time a node can go without receiving any new data before it's automatically deactivated. (defaults to '0', which disables auto-deactivation). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.1.0.
####node_purge_ttl
The length of time a node can be deactivated before it's deleted from the database. (defaults to '0', which disables purging). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.2.0.
####report_ttl
The length of time reports should be stored before being deleted. (defaults to '7d', which is a 7-day period). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.1.0.
####gc_interval
This controls how often, in minutes, to compact the database. The compaction process reclaims space and deletes unnecessary rows. If not supplied, the default is every 60 minutes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 0.9.
####log_slow_statements
This sets the number of seconds before an SQL query is considered "slow." Slow SQL queries are logged as warnings, to assist in debugging and tuning. Note PuppetDB does not interrupt slow queries; it simply reports them after they complete.
The default value is 10 seconds. A value of 0 will disable logging of slow queries. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.1.
####conn_max_age
The maximum time (in minutes), for a pooled connection to remain unused before it is closed off.
If not supplied, we default to 60 minutes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.1.
####conn_keep_alive
This sets the time (in minutes), for a connection to remain idle before sending a test query to the DB. This is useful to prevent a DB from timing out connections on its end.
If not supplied, we default to 45 minutes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.1.
####conn_lifetime
The maximum time (in minutes) a pooled connection should remain open. Any connections older than this setting will be closed off. Connections currently in use will not be affected until they are returned to the pool.
If not supplied, we won't terminate connections based on their age alone. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.4.
####puppetdb_package
The puppetdb package name in the package manager.
####puppetdb_version
The version of the puppetdb
package that should be installed. You may specify an explicit version number, 'present', or 'latest' (defaults to 'present').
####puppetdb_service
The name of the puppetdb service.
####puppetdb_service_status
Sets whether the service should be running or stopped. When set to stopped the service doesn't start on boot either. Valid values are 'true', 'running', 'false', and 'stopped'.
####confdir
The puppetdb configuration directory (defaults to /etc/puppetdb/conf.d
).
####java_args
Java VM options used for overriding default Java VM options specified in PuppetDB package (defaults to {}
). See PuppetDB Configuration to get more details about the current defaults.
Example: to set -Xmx512m -Xms256m
options use { '-Xmx' => '512m', '-Xms' => '256m' }
####max_threads
Jetty option to explicitly set max-thread. The default is undef, so the PuppetDB-jetty default is used.
####read_database
Which database backend to use for the read database; Currently only supports postgres
(default). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_host
This parameter must be set to enable the puppetdb read-database.
The hostname or IP address of the read database server (defaults to undef
).
The default is to use the regular database for reads and writes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_port
The port that the read database server listens on (defaults to 5432
). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_username
The name of the read database user to connect as (defaults to puppetdb
). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_password
The password for the read database user (defaults to puppetdb
). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_name
The name of the read database instance to connect to (defaults to puppetdb
). This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_database_ssl
If true, puppetdb will use SSL to connect to the postgres read database (defaults to false). Setting up proper trust- and keystores has to be managed outside of the puppetdb module. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_log_slow_statements
This sets the number of seconds before an SQL query to the read database is considered "slow." Slow SQL queries are logged as warnings, to assist in debugging and tuning. Note PuppetDB does not interrupt slow queries; it simply reports them after they complete.
The default value is 10 seconds. A value of 0 will disable logging of slow queries. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_conn_max_age
The maximum time (in minutes), for a pooled read database connection to remain unused before it is closed off.
If not supplied, we default to 60 minutes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_conn_keep_alive
This sets the time (in minutes), for a read database connection to remain idle before sending a test query to the DB. This is useful to prevent a DB from timing out connections on its end.
If not supplied, we default to 45 minutes. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
####read_conn_lifetime
The maximum time (in minutes) a pooled read database connection should remain open. Any connections older than this setting will be closed off. Connections currently in use will not be affected until they are returned to the pool.
If not supplied, we won't terminate connections based on their age alone. This option is supported in PuppetDB >= 1.6.
The puppetdb::server
class manages the puppetdb server independently of the underlying database that it depends on. It will manage the puppetdb package, service, config files, etc., but will still allow you to manage the database (e.g. postgresql) however you see fit.
class { 'puppetdb::server':
database_host => 'puppetdb-postgres',
}
Parameters within puppetdb::server
:
Uses the same parameters as puppetdb
, with one addition:
####database_host
The hostname or IP address of the database server (defaults to localhost
; ignored for embedded
db).
The puppetdb::master::config
class directs your puppet master to use PuppetDB, which means that this class should be used on your puppet master node. It’ll verify that it can successfully communicate with your puppetdb server, and then configure your master to use PuppetDB.
Using this class involves allowing the module to manipulate your puppet configuration files; in particular: puppet.conf and routes.yaml. The puppet.conf changes are supplemental and should not affect any of your existing settings, but the routes.yaml file will be overwritten entirely. If you have an existing routes.yaml file, you will want to take care to use the manage_routes parameter of this class to prevent the module from managing that file, and you’ll need to manage it yourself.
class { 'puppetdb::master::config':
puppetdb_server => 'my.host.name',
puppetdb_port => 8081,
}
Parameters within puppetdb::master::config
:
####puppetdb_server
The dns name or ip of the puppetdb server (defaults to the certname of the current node).
####puppetdb_port
The port that the puppetdb server is running on (defaults to 8081).
####puppetdb_soft_write_failure
Boolean to fail in a soft-manner if PuppetDB is not accessable for command submission (defaults to false).
####manage_routes
If true, the module will overwrite the puppet master's routes file to configure it to use PuppetDB (defaults to true).
####manage_storeconfigs
If true, the module will manage the puppet master's storeconfig settings (defaults to true).
####manage_report_processor
If true, the module will manage the 'reports' field in the puppet.conf file to enable or disable the puppetdb report processor. Defaults to 'false'.
####manage_config
If true, the module will store values from puppetdb_server and puppetdb_port parameters in the puppetdb configuration file.
If false, an existing puppetdb configuration file will be used to retrieve server and port values.
####strict_validation
If true, the module will fail if puppetdb is not reachable, otherwise it will preconfigure puppetdb without checking.
####enable_reports
Ignored unless manage_report_processor
is true
, in which case this setting will determine whether or not the puppetdb report processor is enabled (true
) or disabled (false
) in the puppet.conf file.
####puppet_confdir
Puppet's config directory (defaults to /etc/puppet
).
####puppet_conf
Puppet's config file (defaults to /etc/puppet/puppet.conf
).
####puppetdb_version
The version of the puppetdb
package that should be installed. You may specify an explicit version number, 'present', or 'latest' (defaults to 'present').
####terminus_package
Name of the package to use that represents the PuppetDB terminus code.
####puppet_service_name
Name of the service that represents Puppet. You can change this to apache2
or httpd
depending on your operating system, if you plan on having Puppet run using Apache/Passenger for example.
####puppetdb_startup_timeout
The maximum amount of time that the module should wait for PuppetDB to start up. This is most important during the initial install of PuppetDB (defaults to 15 seconds).
####restart_puppet
If true, the module will restart the puppet master when PuppetDB configuration files are changed by the module. The default is 'true'. If set to 'false', you must restart the service manually in order to pick up changes to the config files (other than puppet.conf
).
The puppetdb::database::postgresql
class manages a postgresql server for use by PuppetDB. It can manage the postgresql packages and service, as well as creating and managing the puppetdb database and database user accounts.
class { 'puppetdb::database::postgresql':
listen_addresses => 'my.postgres.host.name',
}
####listen_addresses
The listen_address
is a comma-separated list of hostnames or IP addresses on which the postgres server should listen for incoming connections. This defaults to localhost
. This parameter maps directly to postgresql's listen_addresses
config option; use a *
to allow connections on any accessible address.
####database_name
Sets the name of the database. Defaults to puppetdb
.
####database_username
Creates a user for access the database. Defaults to puppetdb
.
####database_password
Sets the password for the database user above. Defaults to puppetdb
.
####manage_server
Conditionally manages the PostgresQL server via postgresql::server
. Defaults to true
. If set to false, this class will create the database and user via postgresql::server::db
but not attempt to install or manage the server itself.
In addition to the classes and variables mentioned above, PuppetDB includes:
puppetdb::master::routes
Configures the puppet master to use PuppetDB as the facts terminus. WARNING: the current implementation simply overwrites your routes.yaml file; if you have an existing routes.yaml file that you are using for other purposes, you should not use this.
class { 'puppetdb::master::routes':
puppet_confdir => '/etc/puppet'
}
The optional parameter routes can be used to specify a custom route configuration. For example to configure routes for masterless puppet.
class { 'puppetdb::master::routes':
routes => {
'apply' => {
'facts' => {
'terminus' => 'facter',
'cache' => 'puppetdb_apply',
}
}
}
}
puppetdb::master::storeconfigs
Configures the puppet master to enable storeconfigs and to use PuppetDB as the storeconfigs backend.
class { 'puppetdb::master::storeconfigs':
puppet_conf => '/etc/puppet/puppet.conf'
}
puppetdb::server::validate_db
Validates that a successful database connection can be established between the node on which this resource is run and the specified puppetdb database instance (host/port/user/password/database name).
puppetdb::server::validate_db { 'validate my puppetdb database connection':
database_host => 'my.postgres.host',
database_username => 'mydbuser',
database_password => 'mydbpassword',
database_name => 'mydbname',
}
puppetdb_conn_validator
Verifies that a connection can be successfully established between a node and the puppetdb server. Its primary use is as a precondition to prevent configuration changes from being applied if the puppetdb server cannot be reached, but it could potentially be used for other purposes such as monitoring.
Currently, PuppetDB is compatible with:
Puppet Version: 3.7.1+
Platforms:
- EL 5, 6, 7
- Debian 6, 7
- Ubuntu 10.04, 12.04, 14.04
Community Maintained Platforms:
- Archlinux
- OpenBSD 5.6-current and newer
- SLES 11 SP1
Puppet Labs modules on the Puppet Forge are open projects, and community contributions are essential for keeping them great. We can’t access the huge number of platforms and myriad of hardware, software, and deployment configurations that Puppet is intended to serve.
We want to keep it as easy as possible to contribute changes so that our modules work in your environment. There are a few guidelines that we need contributors to follow so that we can have a chance of keeping on top of things.
You can read the complete module contribution guide on the Puppet Labs wiki.