ENC vs manifest - cage match

59 views
Skip to first unread message

JonY

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 6:44:41 AM10/29/14
to puppet...@googlegroups.com
If we throw these two into the octagon.. who wins? If one says "add it" and the other says "remove it".. what do I end up with? 

Felix Frank

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 6:49:28 AM10/29/14
to puppet...@googlegroups.com
On 10/29/2014 11:44 AM, JonY wrote:
> If we throw these two into the octagon.. who wins? If one says "add it"
> and the other says "remove it".. what do I end up with?

There are exactly two things that might compel me to consider using an ENC:

1. If I really wanted a web interface for managing my nodes.
2. If I had an existing database such as LDAP to rely on.

Note that Hiera can stand in as an ENC equivalent, which I prefer when
neither of the above applies.

Using neither ENC nor Hiera is a no-no, though.

Cheers,
Felix

Thomas Bendler

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 7:58:42 AM10/29/14
to puppet-users
It depend on the scope, there are already some modules with in module hiera that do not fully work in conjunction with ENC (i.e. puppetlabs/mcollective). You can still use the module but you can't benefit from in module hiera. If you can accept this limitations, Foreman is from my point of view the best ENC that is currently available. Maybe they'll support Hiera in later versions, but currently they don't.

Regards Thomas


--
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 https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/5450C62D.4050907%40alumni.tu-berlin.de.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
Linux ... enjoy the ride!

jcbollinger

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 9:09:04 AM10/29/14
to puppet...@googlegroups.com


On Wednesday, October 29, 2014 5:44:41 AM UTC-5, JonY wrote:
If we throw these two into the octagon.. who wins? If one says "add it" and the other says "remove it".. what do I end up with? 

Two techs enter, one tech leaves!

Or not.

I really can't agree with the premise that a winner between those two can be declared in absolute terms, and in any case they are not mutually exclusive.

Felix makes an excellent point that Hiera can serve many of the same purposes that an ENC can do.  When you throw in the possibility of providing a custom Hiera back end, I'm prepared to say that anything it is possible to do with an ENC, it is also possible to do with Hiera + manifest.  Some things may be more convenient to do via the ENC interface, however, at least for some sites.  As a special case, if you want to use an existing third-party ENC, such as Foreman's, then it would be silly to wrap it in an Hiera interface instead of using it directly.


John

R.I.Pienaar

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 9:13:42 AM10/29/14
to puppet-users


----- Original Message -----
> From: "jcbollinger" <John.Bo...@stJude.org>
> To: "puppet-users" <puppet...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 1:09:04 PM
> Subject: [Puppet Users] Re: ENC vs manifest - cage match

> On Wednesday, October 29, 2014 5:44:41 AM UTC-5, JonY wrote:
>>
>> If we throw these two into the octagon.. who wins? If one says "add it"
>> and the other says "remove it".. what do I end up with?
>>
>
> Two techs enter, one tech leaves!
>
> Or not.
>
> I really can't agree with the premise that a winner between those two can
> be declared in absolute terms, and in any case they are not mutually
> exclusive.
>
> Felix makes an excellent point that Hiera can serve many of the same
> purposes that an ENC can do. When you throw in the possibility of
> providing a custom Hiera back end, I'm prepared to say that anything it is
> possible to do with an ENC, it is also possible to do with Hiera +
> manifest. Some things may be more *convenient* to do via the ENC

with the exception of setting the environment from the master side which ENCs
can do and hiera cant

JonY

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 9:26:24 AM10/29/14
to puppet...@googlegroups.com
I have to use an ENC as there are DB calls to be made to determine which nodes get which SW.

AFAIU hiera can't do this.

Atom Powers

unread,
Oct 29, 2014, 9:55:28 AM10/29/14
to puppet...@googlegroups.com
Jon,

Were you asking which tool you should use, or asking what happens when
you define the same variable in both tools?

An ENC sets global variables, "parameters".
A manifest uses data from variables/parameters.

Puppet won't let you redefine or duplicate a variable or resources so
in that context if you "throw these two into the octagon" to try and
redefine a variable/resource then nobody wins. You loose.

On the other hand, as Felix has pointed out, the ENC is simply a way
to define data outside your modules. Something that Heira does very
well too. You want to take data out of your modules and use an ENC
and/or Heira. So again, an ENC and modules do different things so
throwing them down together to try and do the same thing is a loosing
situation.

On Wed, Oct 29, 2014 at 3:44 AM, JonY <ethr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> If we throw these two into the octagon.. who wins? If one says "add it" and
> the other says "remove it".. what do I end up with?
>
> --
> 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
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/puppet-users/6807bc66-e5cc-4593-b486-13cff74d6086%40googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.



--
Perfection is just a word I use occasionally with mustard.
--Atom Powers--
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages