[Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Peter Nijssen]

Hi,

I started to use vagrant with puphpet . Very nice. 
However, the gui of puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to 
configure everything myself.
So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. Modules like 
apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge etc etc.

Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for apache. 
Which vhost files. etc.

Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. However, I was 
wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file?
Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up using 
"import", but it's not really good practice apparently.

I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in the 
modules itself. 

Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write your own? 
If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of people who all 
wrote the apache part on their own for example.

Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in classes.

Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I can 
configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is best 
practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't have to take 
a lot of OS'es into account.

Thanks!

Peter

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Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Christopher Wood]

Looks like you might want to start here:

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html

Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3.

Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit site-dependent.

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote:
>Hi,
>I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the gui of
>puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure everything
>myself.
>So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. Modules
>like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge etc etc.
>Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for apache.
>Which vhost files. etc.
>Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. However, I
>was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file?
>Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up using
>"import", but it's not really good practice apparently.
>I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in the
>modules itself. 
>Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write your own?
>If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of people who
>all wrote the apache part on their own for example.
>Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in
>classes.
>Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I can
>configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is best
>practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't have to take
>a lot of OS'es into account.
>Thanks!
>Peter
> 
>--
>You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
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>email to puppet-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com.
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>
> [2]https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com.
>For more options, visit [3]https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
> 
> References
> 
>Visible links
>1. https://puphpet.com/
>2. 
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com
>3. https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out

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Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Peter Nijssen]

I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer.

Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined 
modules?
And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those modules 
happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which is getting 
harder to read the more you need to configure). In the modules itself? Or 
do you have to write modules which will start those modules?

Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood:
>
> Looks like you might want to start here: 
>
>
> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html 
>
> Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3. 
>
> Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit 
> site-dependent. 
>
> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote: 
> >Hi, 
> >I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the gui 
> of 
> >puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure everything 
> >myself. 
> >So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. 
> Modules 
> >like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge etc 
> etc. 
> >Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for 
> apache. 
> >Which vhost files. etc. 
> >Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. However, 
> I 
> >was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file? 
> >Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up using 
> >"import", but it's not really good practice apparently. 
> >I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in the 
> >modules itself.  
> >Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write your 
> own? 
> >If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of people 
> who 
> >all wrote the apache part on their own for example. 
> >Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in 
> >classes. 
> >Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I can 
> >configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is 
> best 
> >practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't have to 
> take 
> >a lot of OS'es into account. 
> >Thanks! 
> >Peter 
> > 
> >-- 
> >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
> Groups 
> >"Puppet Users" group. 
> >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, 
> send an 
> >email to puppet-users...@googlegroups.com . 
> >To view this discussion on the web visit 
> >[2]
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com.
>  
>
> >For more options, visit [3]https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. 
> > 
> > References 
> > 
> >Visible links 
> >1. https://puphpet.com/ 
> >2. 
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com
>  
> >3. https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out 
>

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Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Johan De Wit]

This is just a question with so many answers.

have you tried the puppet enterprise quick start guide ?

It is a good way to learn the concepts and get you started quickly.

Get in touch with local puppet users.  Looks to me you are dutch 
speaking, so get in touch with the dutch or belgian puppet user group.


https://puppetlabs.com/community/PUG for the list.

Just start writing a simple module, learn 'puppet apply' for 
test/execute your module.


grts

jo












On 12/20/2013 07:15 PM, Peter Nijssen wrote:

I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer.

Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined 
modules?
And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those 
modules happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which 
is getting harder to read the more you need to configure). In the 
modules itself? Or do you have to write modules which will start those 
modules?


Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood:

Looks like you might want to start here:

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html




Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3.

Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit
site-dependent.

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote:
>Hi,
>I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However,
the gui of
>puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure
everything
>myself.
>So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using
modules. Modules
>like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet
forge etc etc.
>Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled
for apache.
>Which vhost files. etc.
>Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp.
However, I
>was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file?
>Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up
using
>"import", but it's not really good practice apparently.
>I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down
in the
>modules itself.
>Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just
write your own?
>If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of
people who
>all wrote the apache part on their own for example.
>Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything
up in
>classes.
>Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files
where I can
>configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what
actually is best
>practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't
have to take
>a lot of OS'es into account.
>Thanks!
>Peter
>
>--
>You received this message because you are subscribed to the
Google Groups
>"Puppet Users" group.
>To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from
it, send an
>email to puppet-users...@googlegroups.com .
>To view this discussion on the web visit
>  
 [2]https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com


.

>For more options, visit
[3]https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out
.
>
> References
>
>Visible links
>1. https://puphpet.com/
>2.

https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com



>3. https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out


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--
Johan De Wit

Open Source Consultant

Red Hat Certified Engineer (805008667232363)
Puppet Certified Professional 2013 (PCP006)
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Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Peter Nijssen]

Thanks for your answer.
I've only been a week now in the world of puppet. I started to use it, 
because I am charmed with the puppet + vagrant combination as a developer. 
Also, we currently are managing a growing number of servers by hand and I 
believe puppet can be a nice answer to keep everything consistent and up 2 
date.

I've used the puphpet gui interface which works quiet nice. In the end, it 
offers me too less functionality and I want to stay more in control. So I 
started to explore puppet a bit more. I wrote my own basic modules, based 
on this box I found:
https://github.com/bryannielsen/Laravel4-Vagrant
I believe it's a nice example of how you can easily write your own modules.

However, I have also been using the default modules through puppet forge. 
 In the end, it makes it easier for you since almost everything can be done 
through it and is probably done in the best possible way. However, I 
noticed then that configuring those default modules happens in the general 
site.pp manifest, which can become quiet lenghty. That doesn't feel like a 
best practice either.

So, at one hand I could write my own custom modules which exactly do what I 
want and it is configured within those modules, or I could use the default 
modules from the puppet forge and do the whole configuration within the 
site.pp.
That's my currently my view, but maybe I am missing something or I should 
something different.

I'll see if I can dive further into some puppet books and guides :)

Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 23:09:47 UTC+1 schreef Johan De Wit:
>
>  This is just a question with so many answers.
>
> have you tried the puppet enterprise quick start guide ?
>
> It is a good way to learn the concepts and get you started quickly.
>
> Get in touch with local puppet users.  Looks to me you are dutch speaking, 
> so get in touch with the dutch or belgian puppet user group.   
>
> https://puppetlabs.com/community/PUG for the list.
>
> Just start writing a simple module, learn 'puppet apply' for test/execute 
> your module.
>
> grts
>
> jo
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 12/20/2013 07:15 PM, Peter Nijssen wrote:
>  
> I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer. 
>
>  Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined 
> modules?
> And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those modules 
> happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which is getting 
> harder to read the more you need to configure). In the modules itself? Or 
> do you have to write modules which will start those modules?
>
> Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood: 
>>
>> Looks like you might want to start here: 
>>
>>
>> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html 
>>
>> Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3. 
>>
>> Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit 
>> site-dependent. 
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote: 
>> >Hi, 
>> >I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the 
>> gui of 
>> >puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure everything 
>> >myself. 
>> >So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. 
>> Modules 
>> >like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge 
>> etc etc. 
>> >Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for 
>> apache. 
>> >Which vhost files. etc. 
>> >Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. 
>> However, I 
>> >was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file? 
>> >Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up using 
>> >"import", but it's not really good practice apparently. 
>> >I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in the 
>> >modules itself.  
>> >Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write 
>> your own? 
>> >If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of people 
>> who 
>> >all wrote the apache part on their own for example. 
>> >Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in 
>> >classes. 
>> >Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I 
>> can 
>> >configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is 
>> best 
>> >practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't have 
>> to take 
>> >a lot of OS'es into account. 
>> >Thanks! 
>> >Peter 
>> > 
>> >-- 
>> >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google 
>> Groups 
>> >"Puppet Users" group. 
>> >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, 
>> send an 
>> >email to puppet-users...@googlegroups.com. 
>> >To view this discussion on the web visit 
>> >[2]
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.

Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Jason Antman]

Peter,

I looked at puphpet a bit, and had it generate a sample config for me. The 
puppet manifests that it outputs are VERY far from anything that could be 
called "best practices". The 'all one .pp file' paradigm leads me to believe 
they're not even intended to be read or modified by a human, but just used 
withun the puphpet ecosystem.

The good news is that most of the modules that puphpet uses are widely used 
forge modules. They have many many more options and functionality than puphpet 
exposes.

My advice would be that if you've outgrown what puphpet does, you throw out the 
manifests that it generates (though you can certainly use the same forge/github 
modules that it uses) and write new manifests in whatever way makes sense to 
you. Or, use that one giant manifest as a starting point, and break it up into 
your own manifests and/or modules however makes the most sense 
(docs.puppetlabs.com has a gresat reference and some good tutorials.

You can probably even keep the rest of the output of puphpet if you need the 
vagrant configs, etc but just replace or heavily edit the puppet directory.

PS - if you're managing a "growing number of servers", you should probably look 
into either running an actual puppeg master, or at least keeping all your 
puppet stuff in version control (git seems to be the most popular in the puppet 
world by far).

Hope that helps,
jantman


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone

 Original message 
From: Peter Nijssen  
Date: 2013/12/21  08:00  (GMT-05:00) 
To: puppet-users@googlegroups.com 
Subject: Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest? 
 
Thanks for your answer.
I've only been a week now in the world of puppet. I started to use it, because 
I am charmed with the puppet + vagrant combination as a developer. Also, we 
currently are managing a growing number of servers by hand and I believe puppet 
can be a nice answer to keep everything consistent and up 2 date.

I've used the puphpet gui interface which works quiet nice. In the end, it 
offers me too less functionality and I want to stay more in control. So I 
started to explore puppet a bit more. I wrote my own basic modules, based on 
this box I found:
https://github.com/bryannielsen/Laravel4-Vagrant
I believe it's a nice example of how you can easily write your own modules.

However, I have also been using the default modules through puppet forge.  In 
the end, it makes it easier for you since almost everything can be done through 
it and is probably done in the best possible way. However, I noticed then that 
configuring those default modules happens in the general site.pp manifest, 
which can become quiet lenghty. That doesn't feel like a best practice either.

So, at one hand I could write my own custom modules which exactly do what I 
want and it is configured within those modules, or I could use the default 
modules from the puppet forge and do the whole configuration within the site.pp.
That's my currently my view, but maybe I am missing something or I should 
something different.

I'll see if I can dive further into some puppet books and guides :)

Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 23:09:47 UTC+1 schreef Johan De Wit:
This is just a question with so many answers.

have you tried the puppet enterprise quick start guide ?

It is a good way to learn the concepts and get you started quickly.

Get in touch with local puppet users.  Looks to me you are dutch   
speaking, so get in touch with the dutch or belgian puppet user group.   

https://puppetlabs.com/community/PUG for the list.

Just start writing a simple module, learn 'puppet apply' for test/execute your 
module.

grts

jo












On 12/20/2013 07:15 PM, Peter Nijssen wrote:
I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer.

Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined modules?
And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those modules 
happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which is getting harder 
to read the more you need to configure). In the modules itself? Or do you have 
to write modules which will start those modules?

Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood:  
Looks like you might want to start here: 

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html 

Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3. 

Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit site-dependent. 

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote: 
>    Hi, 
>    I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the gui of 
>    puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure everything 
>    myself. 
>    So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. Modules 
>    like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge et

Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Chad Huneycutt]

Hi Peter,
 Your instinct is correct.  Just like many programming languages
that allow you to keep all of your code in one file (or one function,
even), it's not a good idea.  As you mentioned, you can use import to
pull in other files, but the better solution is to use puppet's
autoloading functionality.  The autoloader determines where to find
your classes based on the your modulepath and the the directory
structure in your module.  So the answer to your question is that your
puppet code should mostly be in modules.  There are a few approaches
to do that, but a lot of people have settled on a roles and profiles
pattern for describing nodes, with hiera being used for providing data
to the modules.

It's not really something I can describe in a single email, but there
is a lot of info in blog entries and documentation.  I've linked some
starting points below.  If you follow their links, you'll get a much
better understanding.

A full example:
https://ask.puppetlabs.com/question/1655/an-end-to-end-roleprofile-example-using-hiera/
Some thoughts on module design:
http://www.devco.net/archives/2012/12/13/simple-puppet-module-structure-redux.php

- Chad

On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 1:15 PM, Peter Nijssen  wrote:
> I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer.
>
> Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined
> modules?
> And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those modules
> happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which is getting
> harder to read the more you need to configure). In the modules itself? Or do
> you have to write modules which will start those modules?
>
> Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood:
>>
>> Looks like you might want to start here:
>>
>>
>> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html
>>
>> Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3.
>>
>> Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit
>> site-dependent.
>>
>> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote:
>> >Hi,
>> >I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the gui
>> > of
>> >puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure everything
>> >myself.
>> >So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules.
>> > Modules
>> >like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge etc
>> > etc.
>> >Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for
>> > apache.
>> >Which vhost files. etc.
>> >Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. However,
>> > I
>> >was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file?
>> >Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up using
>> >"import", but it's not really good practice apparently.
>> >I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in the
>> >modules itself.
>> >Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write your
>> > own?
>> >If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of people
>> > who
>> >all wrote the apache part on their own for example.
>> >Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in
>> >classes.
>> >Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I can
>> >configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is
>> > best
>> >practice. I am only going to use it for one OS, so it doesn't have to
>> > take
>> >a lot of OS'es into account.
>> >Thanks!
>> >Peter
>> >
>> >--
>> >You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>> > Groups
>> >"Puppet Users" group.
>> >To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
>> > send an
>> >email to puppet-users...@googlegroups.com.
>> >To view this discussion on the web visit
>> >
>> > [2]https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com.
>> >For more options, visit [3]https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
>> >
>> > References
>> >
>> >Visible links
>> >1. https://puphpet.com/
>> >2.
>> > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/9b216ae5-b811-46ce-a869-778d07d49717%40googlegroups.com
>> >3. https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out
>
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Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Peter Nijssen]

Hi,

Thanks for the respons. Very interesting. I used the modules from puppet 
forge, but that let me to one big manifest, configuring all those modules. 
That didn't look like best practice.

For now, I am not going to use puppet yet on our servers. I am trying to 
get out dev virtual machine up and running and learn puppet through that. I 
believe I already learned a lot, but what I noticed it, is that everyone is 
doing differently. All most all tutorials are about writing your own apache 
module, own mysql module etc. To me, it sounds more interesting to use 
existing modules. But that means I have to put the configuration, I guess, 
all in one big manifest. That was my biggest problem.

Greetings,

Peter

Op zaterdag 21 december 2013 14:33:39 UTC+1 schreef Jason Antman:
>
> Peter,
>
> I looked at puphpet a bit, and had it generate a sample config for me. The 
> puppet manifests that it outputs are VERY far from anything that could be 
> called "best practices". The 'all one .pp file' paradigm leads me to 
> believe they're not even intended to be read or modified by a human, but 
> just used withun the puphpet ecosystem.
>
> The good news is that most of the modules that puphpet uses are widely 
> used forge modules. They have many many more options and functionality than 
> puphpet exposes.
>
> My advice would be that if you've outgrown what puphpet does, you throw 
> out the manifests that it generates (though you can certainly use the same 
> forge/github modules that it uses) and write new manifests in whatever way 
> makes sense to you. Or, use that one giant manifest as a starting point, 
> and break it up into your own manifests and/or modules however makes the 
> most sense (docs.puppetlabs.com has a gresat reference and some good 
> tutorials.
>
> You can probably even keep the rest of the output of puphpet if you need 
> the vagrant configs, etc but just replace or heavily edit the puppet 
> directory.
>
> PS - if you're managing a "growing number of servers", you should probably 
> look into either running an actual puppeg master, or at least keeping all 
> your puppet stuff in version control (git seems to be the most popular in 
> the puppet world by far).
>
> Hope that helps,
> jantman
>
>
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone
>
>
>
> ---- Original message 
> From: Peter Nijssen > 
> Date: 2013/12/21 08:00 (GMT-05:00) 
> To: puppet...@googlegroups.com  
> Subject: Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest? 
>
>
> Thanks for your answer.
> I've only been a week now in the world of puppet. I started to use it, 
> because I am charmed with the puppet + vagrant combination as a developer. 
> Also, we currently are managing a growing number of servers by hand and I 
> believe puppet can be a nice answer to keep everything consistent and up 2 
> date.
>
> I've used the puphpet gui interface which works quiet nice. In the end, it 
> offers me too less functionality and I want to stay more in control. So I 
> started to explore puppet a bit more. I wrote my own basic modules, based 
> on this box I found:
> https://github.com/bryannielsen/Laravel4-Vagrant
> I believe it's a nice example of how you can easily write your own modules.
>
> However, I have also been using the default modules through puppet forge. 
>  In the end, it makes it easier for you since almost everything can be done 
> through it and is probably done in the best possible way. However, I 
> noticed then that configuring those default modules happens in the general 
> site.pp manifest, which can become quiet lenghty. That doesn't feel like a 
> best practice either.
>
> So, at one hand I could write my own custom modules which exactly do what 
> I want and it is configured within those modules, or I could use the 
> default modules from the puppet forge and do the whole configuration within 
> the site.pp.
> That's my currently my view, but maybe I am missing something or I should 
> something different.
>
> I'll see if I can dive further into some puppet books and guides :)
>
> Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 23:09:47 UTC+1 schreef Johan De Wit:
>>
>>  This is just a question with so many answers.
>>
>> have you tried the puppet enterprise quick start guide ?
>>
>> It is a good way to learn the concepts and get you started quickly.
>>
>> Get in touch with local puppet users.  Looks to me you are dutch 
>> speaking, so get in touch with the dutch or belgian puppet user group.   
>>
>> https://puppetlabs.com/community/PUG for the list.
>>
>> Just start writing a simple module, learn 'puppet apply' for test/execute 
>>

Re: [Puppet Users] One big manifest?

[Peter Nijssen]

Hi Chad,

Greet to hear that my instinct was correct. As noted in the docs of puppet, 
using import is not recommended. So that's why I didn't want to use that 
either. So basically my configuration should be in modules.
That was basically my biggest "problem".

Let's say I use a apache module from the puppet forge. So I include it in 
my module directories. Now I need to define which apache mods should be 
loaded, how the vhosts should look like, etc.
Till now, I did that in one big manifest called site.pp. For only apache, 
that is acceptable. But if you use like 10 modules, that manifests gets too 
big as you also noted.
Should I then create a module which is called like "apache settings" and in 
that module I configure everything? Or should I modify the original apache 
module? The latter sounds like best practice too, since it will hard to 
keep it up 2 date.

If I write my own apache module, then of course I can activate any mods or 
vhosts within the same module. Basically, the alinea above and this line 
were my biggest problem.

I am now going to check out the roles and profiles like you wrote down. 
Curious if this is going to answer all my questions.

Thanks!

- Peter


Op zaterdag 21 december 2013 14:51:23 UTC+1 schreef Chad Huneycutt:
>
> Hi Peter, 
>  Your instinct is correct.  Just like many programming languages 
> that allow you to keep all of your code in one file (or one function, 
> even), it's not a good idea.  As you mentioned, you can use import to 
> pull in other files, but the better solution is to use puppet's 
> autoloading functionality.  The autoloader determines where to find 
> your classes based on the your modulepath and the the directory 
> structure in your module.  So the answer to your question is that your 
> puppet code should mostly be in modules.  There are a few approaches 
> to do that, but a lot of people have settled on a roles and profiles 
> pattern for describing nodes, with hiera being used for providing data 
> to the modules. 
>
> It's not really something I can describe in a single email, but there 
> is a lot of info in blog entries and documentation.  I've linked some 
> starting points below.  If you follow their links, you'll get a much 
> better understanding. 
>
> A full example: 
>
> https://ask.puppetlabs.com/question/1655/an-end-to-end-roleprofile-example-using-hiera/
>  
> Some thoughts on module design: 
>
> http://www.devco.net/archives/2012/12/13/simple-puppet-module-structure-redux.php
>  
>
> - Chad 
>
> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 1:15 PM, Peter Nijssen 
> > 
> wrote: 
> > I read that document, however, it doesn't provide me the answer. 
> > 
> > Should I write, in general, my own modules? Or should I use predefined 
> > modules? 
> > And I if use predefined modules, should the configuration of those 
> modules 
> > happen all in site.pp? (Which sounds me like a big file which is getting 
> > harder to read the more you need to configure). In the modules itself? 
> Or do 
> > you have to write modules which will start those modules? 
> > 
> > Op vrijdag 20 december 2013 19:04:33 UTC+1 schreef Christopher Wood: 
> >> 
> >> Looks like you might want to start here: 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html 
> >> 
> >> Also check up on how to do hiera lookups from within puppet3. 
> >> 
> >> Other than that, structuring your modules tends to be a bit 
> >> site-dependent. 
> >> 
> >> On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 08:38:03AM -0800, Peter Nijssen wrote: 
> >> >Hi, 
> >> >I started to use vagrant with [1]puphpet. Very nice. However, the 
> gui 
> >> > of 
> >> >puphpet gives me too few options, so I want to configure 
> everything 
> >> >myself. 
> >> >So, I decided to write everything from scratch, using modules. 
> >> > Modules 
> >> >like apache, mysql, php, phpmyadmin which are in the puppet forge 
> etc 
> >> > etc. 
> >> >Now I need to configure those parts like which mods enabled for 
> >> > apache. 
> >> >Which vhost files. etc. 
> >> >Everything is done in the main manifest file called site.pp. 
> However, 
> >> > I 
> >> >was wondering, does it really has to become one gigantic file? 
> >> >Isn't it somehow better to split up? I noticed I can split up 
> using 
> >> >"import", but it's not really good practice apparently. 
> >> >I guess it's neither a good practice to somehow write it down in 
> the 
> >> >modules itself. 
> >> >Or isn't it really common to use existing modules and just write 
> your 
> >> > own? 
> >> >If I look around at github for default boxes, I see a lot of 
> people 
> >> > who 
> >> >all wrote the apache part on their own for example. 
> >> >Or do I have to write my own module, which splits everything up in 
> >> >classes. 
> >> >Basically what I want to achieve is that I seperate files where I 
> can 
> >> >configure apache, php, mysql etc etc. Or to hear what actually is 
> >>