Puppet users - Jun 2007 - More on class includes

After some through I have decided that I don''t want to keep all my
configuration variables in LDAP; too many variables and the variables
are too specific to manage efficiently.

What I want to keep in ldap are some general class definitions, like
samba-bdc, and samba-dev-shares, etc. So I build a manifest like the
one below; but there are a few problems.
First, I can''t be sure what order the classes are resolved, so I will
often realize samba-base from samba-dev-shares, which doesn''t include
information I need from samab-bdc.
Other options like "case $puppetclass" and "include
$puppetclass" from
within samba-base don''t seem to work, and if they did they may result
in the same problem.

Does anybody have a solution or method for gathering variables from
multiple classes together like this?

--
class samba-bdc {
	$domainmaster = "no"
	$oslevel = "35"
	$winssupport = "no"
	include samba-base
}
class samba-dev-shares {
	$shares = [ template("$files/samba/etc/unattended.shares") ]
	include samba-base
}
class samba-base {
  file { "$smbconf":
        # build the file using variables from samba-bdc and samba-dev-shares
	content => template("$files/samba/etc/dc.conf.template"),
  }
}
-- 
--
Perfection is just a word I use occasionally with mustard.
--Atom Powers--

On Jun 28, 2007, at 7:04 PM, Atom Powers wrote:
> After some through I have decided that I don''t want to keep all my
> configuration variables in LDAP; too many variables and the variables
> are too specific to manage efficiently.
>
> What I want to keep in ldap are some general class definitions, like
> samba-bdc, and samba-dev-shares, etc. So I build a manifest like the
> one below; but there are a few problems.
> First, I can''t be sure what order the classes are resolved, so I
will
> often realize samba-base from samba-dev-shares, which doesn''t
include
> information I need from samab-bdc.
> Other options like "case $puppetclass" and "include
$puppetclass" from
> within samba-base don''t seem to work, and if they did they may
result
> in the same problem.
>
> Does anybody have a solution or method for gathering variables from
> multiple classes together like this?
This will just never work well in Puppet -- it''s good at specifying  
resources, but not so good at specifying attributes.

I recommend maybe creating an external node tool that can do this for  
you, at least until Kinial is up to speed.  Well, really, I recommend  
you remodel your samba management so that you use a
''sambashare''
resource type or something like that, since so much of this will  
suddenly become easier, since you''ll be managing resources instead of  
attributes.

If you fight Puppet''s recommended MO, then it''s always going
to be
difficult.

  --
  A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for
  the first time.        --Alfred E. Wiggam
  ---------------------------------------------------------------------
  Luke Kanies | http://reductivelabs.com | http://madstop.com