Puppetd Cron Not Running

[Franck]

So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
the daemon. I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.

I'm using the following pattern:

class cron {
$minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
%60+0))')

cron { "manual-puppet":
command => "/usr/sbin/puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --logdest=/
var/log/puppet/puppet.log --verbose --onetime --no-daemonize",
user => "root",
hour => "*",
minute => $minute,
ensure => present,
}
}


Six of the puppet clients are running the cronjob just fine at random
intervals, except one. The thing about this host is that if I run the
crontab entry command manually, it's successful:

[root@ps-dev-app1 puppet]# /usr/sbin/puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --
logdest=/var/log/puppet/puppet.log --verbose --onetime --no-daemonize
info: Caching catalog for ps-dev-app1.plansourcedev.com
info: Applying configuration version '1282328744'
notice: /Stage[main]/Cron/Cron[manual-puppet]/minute: minute changed
'5' to '31'
notice: /Stage[main]/Cron/Cron[manual-puppet]/hour: defined 'hour' as
'*'
notice: Finished catalog run in 0.39 seconds


However, when I run this through crontab, nothing happens.
Here's what the /var/log/cron shows, when it executes the command
through crontab:
Aug 23 16:01:01 ps-dev-app1 crond[16367]: (root) CMD (/usr/sbin/
puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --logdest=/var/log/puppet/puppet.log --
verbose --debug --onetime --no-daemonize)

And although the command seems to execute through crontab, there's no
evidence of this otherwise. For one, the "/var/log/puppet.log" does
not get created or append to existing log. The crontab entry should
also reflect a change in interval time, but there's no evidence of
this either.

I've tried several different things, including removing the crontab
file - "crontab -r" and re-running the command manually to re-create
the crontab entry. I've, verified, my crond is running normally, by
running random commands and verifying they executed through cron. It
would seem only "puppetd" is not success at running through
crontab.

Fortunately, only one of my puppet clients is experiencing this
issue.

Anyone have an idea of what could be perpetuating this behavior ?

Thanks.

[Brandon Evans]

On 8/23/10 9:15 AM, Franck wrote:
> So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
> the daemon. I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.
>
> I'm using the following pattern:
>
> class cron {
> $minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
> %60+0))')
>
> cron { "manual-puppet":
> command => "/usr/sbin/puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --logdest=/
> var/log/puppet/puppet.log --verbose --onetime --no-daemonize",
> user => "root",
> hour => "*",
> minute => $minute,
> ensure => present,
> }
> }

Have you considered using the --splay & --splaylimit options built into
puppet rather than constantly editing the crontab?

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/references/stable/configuration.html?action=diff&version=41#splay

>
> Six of the puppet clients are running the cronjob just fine at random
> intervals, except one. The thing about this host is that if I run the
> crontab entry command manually, it's successful:
>
> [root@ps-dev-app1 puppet]# /usr/sbin/puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --
> logdest=/var/log/puppet/puppet.log --verbose --onetime --no-daemonize
> info: Caching catalog for ps-dev-app1.plansourcedev.com
> info: Applying configuration version '1282328744'
> notice: /Stage[main]/Cron/Cron[manual-puppet]/minute: minute changed
> '5' to '31'
> notice: /Stage[main]/Cron/Cron[manual-puppet]/hour: defined 'hour' as
> '*'
> notice: Finished catalog run in 0.39 seconds
>
>
> However, when I run this through crontab, nothing happens.
> Here's what the /var/log/cron shows, when it executes the command
> through crontab:
> Aug 23 16:01:01 ps-dev-app1 crond[16367]: (root) CMD (/usr/sbin/
> puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --logdest=/var/log/puppet/puppet.log --
> verbose --debug --onetime --no-daemonize)

> And although the command seems to execute through crontab, there's no
> evidence of this otherwise. For one, the "/var/log/puppet.log" does
> not get created or append to existing log. The crontab entry should
> also reflect a change in interval time, but there's no evidence of
> this either.

Maybe just a typo, but the command you are running shows the puppet.log
should be created in /var/log/puppet/puppet.log but you are looking in
/var/log/puppet.log. Perhaps there is a permission issue or
/var/log/puppet/ does not exist?

[Franck]

I have not considered --splay, but I definitely will give that a
shot.

I meant that the puppet.log was to be created in the /var/log/puppet
directory, that was a typo.

Thanks Brandon.

On Aug 23, 5:23 pm, Brandon Evans <bev...@adicio.com> wrote:
> On 8/23/10 9:15 AM, Franck wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
> > the daemon.  I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.
>
> >   I'm using the following pattern:
>
> > class cron {
> >      $minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
> > %60+0))')
>
> >      cron  { "manual-puppet":
> >          command =>  "/usr/sbin/puppetd --server=ps-dev-web1 --logdest=/
> > var/log/puppet/puppet.log --verbose --onetime --no-daemonize",
> >          user    =>  "root",
> >          hour    =>  "*",
> >          minute  =>  $minute,
> >          ensure  =>  present,
> >     }
> > }
>
> Have you considered using the --splay & --splaylimit options built into
> puppet rather than constantly editing the crontab?
>

> http://docs.puppetlabs.com/references/stable/configuration.html?actio...

[Daniel Pittman]

Franck <ffall...@gmail.com> writes:

> So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
> the daemon. I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.
>
> I'm using the following pattern:
>
> class cron {
> $minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
> %60+0))')

$minute = fqdn_rand(59)

That generates a random, but consistent, number in the 0-59 range based on the
name of the host. This will give some spread, but not the complete randomness
of the method above.

Daniel

--
✣ Daniel Pittman ✉ dan...@rimspace.net ☎ +61 401 155 707
♽ made with 100 percent post-consumer electrons

[Jeff McCune]

On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Daniel Pittman <dan...@rimspace.net> wrote:
> Franck <ffall...@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
>> the daemon.  I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.
>>
>>  I'm using the following pattern:
>>
>> class cron {
>>     $minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
>> %60+0))')
>
>    $minute = fqdn_rand(59)
>
> That generates a random, but consistent, number in the 0-59 range based on the
> name of the host.  This will give some spread, but not the complete randomness
> of the method above.
>
>        Daniel

This seems overly complicated. Why not just have a bash wrapper
script execute from cron and execute puppetd for you:

#! /bin/bash
sleep $((RANDOM % 600))
exec puppetd $@

--
Jeff McCune
http://www.puppetlabs.com/

[Daniel Pittman]

Jeff McCune <je...@puppetlabs.com> writes:
> On Mon, Aug 23, 2010 at 4:54 PM, Daniel Pittman <dan...@rimspace.net> wrote:
>> Franck <ffall...@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> So I've decided to use crontab for all my puppet clients rather than
>>> the daemon.  I've set-up a puppetmaster with seven puppet clients.
>>>
>>>  I'm using the following pattern:
>>>
>>> class cron {
>>>     $minute = generate('/usr/bin/env', 'sh', '-c', 'printf $((RANDOM
>>> %60+0))')
>>
>>    $minute = fqdn_rand(59)
>>
>> That generates a random, but consistent, number in the 0-59 range based on the
>> name of the host.  This will give some spread, but not the complete randomness
>> of the method above.
>

> This seems overly complicated. Why not just have a bash wrapper script
> execute from cron and execute puppetd for you:

If you were going to do that, using splay might also make sense[1]. However,
that was already suggested earlier in the thread, and it doesn't give you a
predictable runtime for each node.

Personally, I would favour using the mcollective puppet execution director to
trigger off running on your nodes, but that is much, much further from where
the OP wanted to be and all. :)

Daniel

Footnotes:
[1] ...though it would presumably tie up more memory for longer, since
puppetd has a larger footprint than sleep(1) does.

[Ohad Levy]

Another options which I've used successfully in the past is:
http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/puppet/wiki/Cron_Patterns - see the section title: Setting Cron using a Puppet custom function

One important thing to note is that when you get a random value, puppet will change it on each puppet run.

Ohad

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Puppet Users" group.
To post to this group, send email to puppet...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to puppet-users...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/puppet-users?hl=en.

[Aurelien Degremont]

As puppet will change the cron object at each run, use something that is different per machine, but the same for the
same machine: its IP.

Use ipaddress fact.

Here two ideas to get this value

# Get the last IP digit
$digits = split($ipaddress)

# Modulo 60
$minute = inline_template("<%= digits[3] % 60 %>")

Aur�lien

Franck a �crit :

--
Aurelien Degremont
CEA

[Daniel Pittman]

Ohad Levy <ohad...@gmail.com> writes:

> Another options which I've used successfully in the past is:
> http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/puppet/wiki/Cron_Patterns - see the
> section title: Setting Cron using a Puppet custom function
>
> One important thing to note is that when you get a random value, puppet will
> change it on each puppet run.

...but not, to be clear, the result of the fqdn_rand function, which does
something pretty similar to what you are proposing here with a custom
function.

Is there some extra benefit to the model you suggest over fqdn_rand?

[Ohad Levy]

On Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 3:29 PM, Daniel Pittman <dan...@rimspace.net> wrote:

Ohad Levy <ohad...@gmail.com> writes:

> Another options which I've used successfully in the past is:
> http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/puppet/wiki/Cron_Patterns - see the
> section title: Setting Cron using a Puppet custom function
>
> One important thing to note is that when you get a random value, puppet will
> change it on each puppet run.

...but not, to be clear, the result of the fqdn_rand function, which does
something pretty similar to what you are proposing here with a custom
function.

Is there some extra benefit to the model you suggest over fqdn_rand?

it allows you to define different time intervals, e.g. you want to run it 3 times an hour with random values, so it will automatically return an array of 3 "random" numbers.

Ohad

[Franck]

Thanks for that tip Daniel.
I went ahead and switched to use the "fqdn_rand" function as it's a
lot more consistent which is what I wanted.
I'm new to Puppet so I'm still learning some of the functions that can
be used.

On Aug 23, 7:54 pm, Daniel Pittman <dan...@rimspace.net> wrote:

[Franck]

Yes, I did take that into account when using the original function's
implementation.

But the issue wasn't residing with that, rather one the puppet clients
is not executing through cron.

On Aug 24, 5:43 am, Ohad Levy <ohadl...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Another options which I've used successfully in the past is:http://projects.puppetlabs.com/projects/puppet/wiki/Cron_Patterns- see the

> > puppet-users...@googlegroups.com<puppet-users%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > .