Puppet users - Apr 2010 - Possible options to transfer information from nodes to master?

What options does puppet provide to transfer information back to
puppetmaster?

I just wrote a quick manifest to create files on the puppetmaster
based on information from the nodes:
http://pastebin.com/MyurwLrE

Then it struck me, this wont work at all since (of course) the
configuration is compiled locally on the master, then transfered to
the nodes. Hence, all files would have the same content, but different
names.

I''m little stuck here, what options do I have to solve this problems?
I have a few cases where just retrieving file X from all nodes would
be excellent, e.g. httpd.conf, just to diff them locally to verify
that no differences is present, before adding a manifest for handling
that file.

Does puppet have anything in stock for me here?

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This is what facter is used for. This should get you started.
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/custom_facts.html

-- cwebber

On Apr 7, 2010, at 6:57 AM, Tore wrote:
> What options does puppet provide to transfer information back to
> puppetmaster?
> 
> I just wrote a quick manifest to create files on the puppetmaster
> based on information from the nodes:
> http://pastebin.com/MyurwLrE
> 
> Then it struck me, this wont work at all since (of course) the
> configuration is compiled locally on the master, then transfered to
> the nodes. Hence, all files would have the same content, but different
> names.
> 
> I''m little stuck here, what options do I have to solve this
problems?
> I have a few cases where just retrieving file X from all nodes would
> be excellent, e.g. httpd.conf, just to diff them locally to verify
> that no differences is present, before adding a manifest for handling
> that file.
> 
> Does puppet have anything in stock for me here?
> 
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Tore <tore.lonoy@gmail.com> writes:
> What options does puppet provide to transfer information back to
> puppetmaster?
Facter, as was already pointed out, and the option of exported and imported
resources if you have storeconfig enabled.  However...

[...]
> I have a few cases where just retrieving file X from all nodes would
> be excellent, e.g. httpd.conf, just to diff them locally to verify
> that no differences is present, before adding a manifest for handling
> that file.
>
> Does puppet have anything in stock for me here?
...this is not something that puppet is really designed to do, as far as I am
aware.  So, it doesn''t really offer many tools to support this sort of
discovery.

I tend to use ''noop'' on the specific resource and
''puppetd --test'' on the
servers, or to use our ad-hoc change tools to fetch the appropriate files back
to my central system for me.

        Daniel
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Hi,

Thanks again for the answers. I''ve haven''t got to much time to
play
with puppet, but I always seems to forget that puppet compiles the
code at the master, and sends this code to the nodes. The only thing
that is transferred from the nodes regarding information, is facter
information. Hence the variable ($ifconfig = generate("/usr/sbin/
ifconfig", "eth0") will be equal on all nodes when they get the
compiled configuration.

The only simple way I can think of is creating a manifest which uses
curl to POST a file to a HTTP server (or some other protocol). It can
be quite time consuming to compare 30 httpd.conf just to verify that
they are equal (they should be, but you never know without checking
it) before managing them with puppet.

Thanks for your help

/Tore


On 7 apr, 16:36, Daniel Pittman <dan...@rimspace.net>
wrote:
> Tore <tore.lo...@gmail.com> writes:
> > What options does puppet provide to transfer information back to
> > puppetmaster?
>
> Facter, as was already pointed out, and the option of exported and imported
> resources if you have storeconfig enabled.  However...
>
> [...]
>
> > I have a few cases where just retrieving file X from all nodes would
> > be excellent, e.g. httpd.conf, just to diff them locally to verify
> > that no differences is present, before adding a manifest for handling
> > that file.
>
> > Does puppet have anything in stock for me here?
>
> ...this is not something that puppet is really designed to do, as far as I
am
> aware.  So, it doesn''t really offer many tools to support this
sort of
> discovery.
>
> I tend to use ''noop'' on the specific resource and
''puppetd --test'' on the
> servers, or to use our ad-hoc change tools to fetch the appropriate files
back
> to my central system for me.
>
>         Daniel
> --
> ✣ Daniel Pittman            ✉ dan...@rimspace.net            ☎ +61 401 155
707
>                ♽ made with 100 percent post-consumer electrons
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Tore <tore.lonoy@gmail.com> writes:
> Thanks again for the answers. I''ve haven''t got to much
time to play with
> puppet, but I always seems to forget that puppet compiles the code at the
> master, and sends this code to the nodes. The only thing that is
transferred
> from the nodes regarding information, is facter information. Hence the
> variable ($ifconfig = generate("/usr/sbin/ ifconfig",
"eth0") will be equal
> on all nodes when they get the compiled configuration.
Yes, it would, because it would run ifconfig on master on each node.
> The only simple way I can think of is creating a manifest which uses curl
to
> POST a file to a HTTP server (or some other protocol). It can be quite time
> consuming to compare 30 httpd.conf just to verify that they are equal (they
> should be, but you never know without checking it) before managing them
with
> puppet.
*nod*

For what it is worth, I would suggest that you set up a suite of ad-hoc change
tools to work alongside puppet (or, in fact, alongside any tool that works
like puppet.)

For those ad-hoc tools the ability to run a shell command, as an arbitrary
user, and to transfer files to and from the systems is invaluable.

It is also ideal if you can easily say "only these systems" to the
tool.


Then you can use that to drag down the httpd.conf on all the machines, or
sha1sum them and find what is identical, or...


You don''t want to use ad-hoc change tools often, but when you need them
they
are invaluable.  This is *especially* true when you have a one-shot job like
"compare these files before we take ''em over" to do.

        Daniel

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