Puppet users - Nov 2011 - newbie question : How to use modules/external recipes properly

Hi Guys,

At my company, we''ve been trying to get puppet to run properly for
quite some time and it really looks great... except for using external
recipes using parameters etc.

Let me explain the problem:


We''ve got a an environment with a puppetmaster and some hosts, and
we''ve created about a dozen of homebrew recipes (in order to
understand how to use puppet properly)...
Okay, my current recipes all have a class in /etc/puppet/modules/
<modulename>/manifests/init.pp and look like this:
<code>

class nagios-nrpe-server {

    package { "nagios-nrpe-server":
        ensure => present,
    }

    file { "/etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg":
        owner   => root,
        group   => root,
        mode    => 644,
        source  => "puppet:///nagios-nrpe-server/nrpe.cfg",
    }


    file { "/etc/nagios/nrpe_local.cfg":
        owner   => root,
        group   => root,
        mode    => 644,
        source  => "puppet:///nagios-nrpe-server/nrpe_local.cfg",
    }


    service { ''nagios-nrpe-server'':
      ensure     => running,
      enable     => true,
      hasrestart => true,
      hasstatus  => true,
      subscribe  =>
[File[''/etc/nagios/nrpe.cfg''],File[''/etc/nagios/
nrpe_local.cfg'']],
      require   => Package[''nagios-nrpe-server''],
    }
}
</code>
Sometimes we  use an ERB-style template, which is pretty cool too.

Classes are applied to client-machines using this (simplified)
manifests/nodes.pp file:
<code>
node basenode {
	include ntp
	include denyhosts
	include ssh
	include nrpe
	include apt
	include mailname
	include sudo
	include motd
	include be-ict-essentials
	include munin-node
}


node ''xs4all-host'' inherits basenode {
	include resolv
}

node ''www.foo.nl'' inherits xs4all-host {
}

node ''sql.foo.nl'' inherits basenode {
# some more modules....
}

node ''www2.foo.nl'' inherits xs4all-host {
# some more modules....
}
</code>


That''s fine, but I''m very interested in using the parametrised
modules/
classes which everybody seems to use . I do see how they work, but I
don''t actually understand in what way they''re being deployed
to
clients (ie. I do not know how include them properly in my nodes.pp
and whether to create a class OR a module for those).

For example, please have a look at:
http://bitfieldconsulting.com/puppet-and-mysql-create-databases-and-users

They''re creating a mysql::server class.
How should I incorporate it in the sql.foo.nl node aforementioned?

We''ve put the class in /etc/puppet/modules/mysql/manifests/init.pp ,
and that''s the first question I have. What should be the path?
I''m
actually a bit puzzled by the :: in the class name, but since it
declares the server class as part of the mysql module the
aforementioned path should be correct (I presume!). Agree?

Okay, the next part is telling the sql.foo node to become a mysql
server. I tried several constructions, all of which fail due to name
resolution problems.

<code>
node ''sql.foo'' inherits basenode
{
	$mysql_password = "C6dDIls49ci3GEzl1vgwRUXT"
	include mysql::server
}
</code>
I think it should be like this, but apparently this is incorrect.


Would someone please be so kind to explain how to use that kind of
recipe? Of point me to the relevant documentation about it (most is
either about setting up the basic puppet, or creating very nifty
recipes....but I''m currently missing the link between those).


Cheers,

Boudewijn Ector

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On Nov 28, 2011, at 9:45 AM, Boudewijn Ector wrote:
> They''re creating a mysql::server class.
> How should I incorporate it in the sql.foo.nl node aforementioned?
> 
> We''ve put the class in /etc/puppet/modules/mysql/manifests/init.pp
,
> and that''s the first question I have. What should be the path?
I''m
> actually a bit puzzled by the :: in the class name, but since it
> declares the server class as part of the mysql module the
> aforementioned path should be correct (I presume!). Agree?
Here''s a start:

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/modules.html
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/parameterized_classes.html

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On Nov 28, 8:45 am, Boudewijn Ector <beh...@boudewijnector.nl> wrote:
> At my company, we''ve been trying to get puppet to run properly for
> quite some time and it really looks great... except for using external
> recipes using parameters etc.
>
> Let me explain the problem:
>
> [...] I''m very interested in using the parametrised modules/
> classes which everybody seems to use .

You do realize that "Everybody is doing it" is one of the
stereotypically terrible reasons for doing anything, right?

You should deploy parameterized classes only when and where you decide
that they provide the best available solution to a specific problem
you are facing.  In making such evaluations, you should account for
the following considerations:

1) Class parameterization''s key purpose is to solve an historical
Puppet problem involving the (dynamic) scope of variable names.  If
you are running Puppet 2.7 now, and it is not warning you about
resolving variable names via dynamic scope, then you do not have that
problem.

2) Parameterized classes do not serve well in some capacities where
unparameterized ones do:
2a) they cannot safely be included more than once in the same catalog
2b) they are usually unsuited for subclassing
2c) they are messy to use where one class includes another, especially
when such inclusions are chained.

3) There are alternatives to parameterization for feeding data to your
classes:
3a) global variables, including node facts
3b) (other-) class variables
3c) external data (i.e. extlookup() or hiera)

4) Contrary to your perception, not everybody uses or even likes class
parameterization

5) On the other hand, if you intend to use run stages (another
convenience feature for which there are alternatives), then you may as
well give in to the dark side now.  You will have many of the problems
attending class parameterization for every class that you explicitly
assign to a stage, whether those classes are explicitly parameterized
or not.


John

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Op 28/11/2011 18:21, Phillip Frost schreef:
> On Nov 28, 2011, at 9:45 AM, Boudewijn Ector wrote:
>
>> They''re creating a mysql::server class.
>> How should I incorporate it in the sql.foo.nl node aforementioned?
>>
>> We''ve put the class in
/etc/puppet/modules/mysql/manifests/init.pp ,
>> and that''s the first question I have. What should be the path?
I''m
>> actually a bit puzzled by the :: in the class name, but since it
>> declares the server class as part of the mysql module the
>> aforementioned path should be correct (I presume!). Agree?
> Here''s a start:
>
> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/modules.html
> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/parameterized_classes.html
>
That''s indeed a goot start, thank you very much.


But I''m still not being able to get it to work. I''ve changed:


- put the mysql::server module in 
/etc/puppet/modules/mysql/manifests/server.pp
- in nodes.pp:

node ''sql.foo'' inherits basenode
{
        $mysql_password = "C6dDIls49ci3GEzl1vgwRUXT"
        include mysql::server

}


This works fine, except for the $mysql_password not being passed 
properly to the class.

Therefore I''ve tried to parametrize the class, and I think I should be 
using this syntax (according to the  table in 
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/modules.html)


foo::params { "example": value => ''meow'' }

So....

node ''sql.foo'' inherits basenode
{

         mysql::server { "mysql_password":value =>  
''C6dDIls49ci3GEzl1vgwRUXT'' }
}

And more importantly, I''ve changed the heading of the server class to:

class mysql::server ($mysql_password)  {


This still isn''t working, I''m getting erorrs such as:

err: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on SERVER: 
Puppet::Parser::AST::Resource failed with error ArgumentError: Invalid 
resource type mysql::server at /etc/puppet/manifests/nodes.pp:21 on node 
sql.foo

When I also add  the include keyword I get:


debug: catalog supports formats: b64_zlib_yaml dot marshal pson raw 
yaml; using pson
err: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on SERVER: 
Could not parse for environment production: Syntax error at
''{'';
expected ''}'' at /etc/puppet/manifests/nodes.pp:21 on node 
lsp-vp-db1.boudewijnector.nl


Can you please tell me where I''m messing up despite reading the 
documentation?


Cheers,

Boudewijn








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On 11/28/2011 05:07 PM, Boudewijn Ector ICT wrote:
> Op 28/11/2011 18:21, Phillip Frost schreef:
>> On Nov 28, 2011, at 9:45 AM, Boudewijn Ector wrote:
>>
>>> They''re creating a mysql::server class.
>>> How should I incorporate it in the sql.foo.nl node aforementioned?
>>>
>>> We''ve put the class in
/etc/puppet/modules/mysql/manifests/init.pp ,
>>> and that''s the first question I have. What should be the
path? I''m
>>> actually a bit puzzled by the :: in the class name, but since it
>>> declares the server class as part of the mysql module the
>>> aforementioned path should be correct (I presume!). Agree?
>> Here''s a start:
>>
>> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/modules.html
>> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/parameterized_classes.html
>>
>         mysql::server { "mysql_password":value =>  
> ''C6dDIls49ci3GEzl1vgwRUXT'' }
>
> This still isn''t working, I''m getting erorrs such as:
>
> err: Could not retrieve catalog from remote server: Error 400 on 
> SERVER: Puppet::Parser::AST::Resource failed with error ArgumentError: 
> Invalid resource type mysql::server at 
> /etc/puppet/manifests/nodes.pp:21 on node sql.foo
What you are asking puppet to do is create a "mysql::server" with the 
name "mysql_password", passing it a parameter called "value"
with the
value "C6dD...". Probably not what you intended. You would use this 
syntax if you had defined a resource, with something starting with 
"define mysql::server" in server.pp.

However, I assume mysql::server is a class, ie server.pp begins with 
"class mysql::server". So, the type of the resource is
"class", and the
name is "mysql::server". To declare it (ie, to say that your node is
one
of this class), you would put this in your node:

class { "mysql::server":
   mysql_password => "...",
   other_parameter => "other_value",
   [etc...]
}

This is detailed here:

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/parameterized_classes.html#declaring-a-parameterized-class

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