puppet apply manifest command line parameters

[Sachin Nikam]

I am newbie to puppet(versin 2.7) and came up with a manifest that contains some "exec" tasks. when I invoke the puppet apply <manifest>, I want to pass in some parameters specific to my application. How do I do that? I searched the online documentation but couldn't find any examples.

Regards

Sachin

[Jake Lundberg]

I suppose it depends on how you structure your manifest.   We typically apply a manifest to a particular node when testing new manifests.   So something like:

site.pp:

node default {

  $param1 = "value1"

  $param2 = "value2"

  include exec_class

}

/etc/puppet/modules/exec_class/manifests/init.pp

class exec_class ( $param1, $param2) {

  exec { "do something" :

    command => "/usr/local/bin/exec_something.sh"

  }

}

# puppet apply --modulepath=/etc/puppet/modules site.pp

I also think you can pass parameters via facter: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/15901850/pass-variable-to-puppet-on-commandline

[Jake Lundberg]

Oops, that should probably read:

exec { "do something" :

    command => "/usr/local/bin/exec_something.sh ${param1} ${param2}"

[Sachin Nikam]

Jake,

I want to do something like this...

# puppet apply --modulepath=/etc/puppet/modules site.pp "somevalue1" "somevalue2"

is this possible?

Regards

Sachin

[Jake Lundberg]

No, not like that.  

You could create your own custom fact and use that via command line.  See: http://www.practicalclouds.com/content/guide/converting-user-data-arguments-facts.   It's not a perfect example, but does have some logic for parsing arguments.

As you're a self proclaimed newbie, this may take longer than you wish.   

Another option is you can wrap creating your manifest (site.pp or imports) in a script, but that's probably not the ideal solution.

What are you trying to do?   Arbitrary remote execution of commands?   If so, Puppet might not be the best platform.   Consider something like Fabric/Capistrano, Ansible or Salt Stack (or just plain Bash).

[Sachin Nikam]

Jake,

Thanks for the info. My puppet manifest is doing the same thing as bash script. 

Regards

Sachin

[Felix Frank]

Custom facts is a good keyword, and you can get the same effect easier:

FACTER_param1=foo FACTER_param2=bar puppet apply /my/manifest.pp

The "facts" $::param1 and $::param2 will be available to puppet.

Note that it is likely preferable to write an actual bash script instead
of a puppet manifest for this. The whole approach sounds as if you're
using puppet in a way that doesn't cater to its strengths, and hempers
you with some of its weeknesses.

HTH,
Felix