Fast track to learning Puppet?

[Ian Hayes]

I've given myself the job of learning Puppet over the next couple of weeks, but to be honest I'm a little overwhelmed by the volume of docs available.

I'm hoping that if I describe my learning scenario a few kind folks can point me at the appropriate tutorial docs to help fast track this process.

My test scenario involves the deployment of four(Java) services - let's call them 'service A', 'service B' , 'service C' and 'service D'. For this example assume that I am creating VM's in AWS. I want to have three different models for how the services are deployed:

• Micro - where all services are deployed onto a single VM
  
• Mini - where two services are deployed onto two VM's (server 1 hosting services A and B; server 2 hosting C and D);
  
• Maxi - where there are four VM's with a separate service on each VM (server1 hosting service A, server 2 hosting service B etc.)
  

Can somebody point me at some quick start docs that explain:

• How to create my different environments?
  
• How to logically map services to the environment servers
  
• How to spin up new environments on demand (e.g. push button instantiation of a new 'maxi' environment)
  

TIA

[Dan White]

First comment: Do you currently use a tool like Jenkins or Mavin to deploy these Java services ?

If so, continue.  If not, consider it.

My experience with Puppet is that it is not The Universal Tool That Does Everything.  It does a lot, but there are some things that other tools do better.  Case in point is deploying a Java application / service.  There are puppet modules for these other tools that will still allow you to run things centrally.

IMHO, there is no One Tool, but rather a combination of Tools That Do A Few Things Very Well.

Hope this helps.

“Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.”  (Bill Waterson: Calvin & Hobbes)

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[jcbollinger]

I think you're proposing to start at the wrong end.  It is far easier to use Puppet effectively when you understand the basics of its mode of operation and have an idea of the nature and scope of the things it can help you do.  To that end, I recommend reading the official architecture overview and the language reference sections of the Puppet reference manual.  Don't let "language reference" scare you: Puppet's official docs are a pretty easy read.  I generally recommend also that people at least skim the resource type reference, to get an idea of the kinds of resources Puppet can handle straight out of the box.

You could also consider grabbing the VM-based tutorial (which I recommend for after the above resources, but YMMV).

Once you have a foundational understanding of how Puppet works, you will be better able to judge what other resources you want or need to seek out.


Good luck,

John

[jcbollinger]

On Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 1:03:54 PM UTC-5, LinuxDan wrote:

IMHO, there is no One Tool, but rather a combination of Tools That Do A Few Things Very Well.

Haven't you ever thrown Puppet into your fireplace?

One Tool to rule them all, one tool to find them.
One tool to bring them all, and in Oregon to bind them.

:-)

John

[Dan White]

Just call me Old Nine-Fingers  😀

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[Trevor Vaughan]

I think you may have just created a new shirt for the next conf!

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Trevor Vaughan
Vice President, Onyx Point, Inc
(410) 541-6699
tvau...@onyxpoint.com

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