A beginner's thoughts on making Puppet modules, by David Klann, Puppet Camp Chicago '12

1. On the Journey to Puppeteering
Puppet noob, but a seasoned sysadmin
● UNIX internals developer (compiler, packaging,
drivers)
● Software project manager and sysadmin
● Networking: ThickNet Ethernet Coax
● Enterprise network design, manage, security
● etc. ...

2. On the Journey to Config Automation
● Why config management?
– small operation
– scripts and version control (mostly) just fine
– what are the issues we're trying to solve?

3. Why Puppet
● Standardization
● Community Support
● Puppet Labs' Apparent Commitment to Free
Software and the Open Source model
● Architecture

4. Bumps in the Road
● Community Puppet
– Puppet DSL: alien language (Rails déjà vu)
– frequent Puppet releases caused breakage
– packaging

5. Fixing Potholes
● Puppet Enterprise
– packaging: solved
– update breakage: solved
– DSL: not solved, but getting used to it

6. Intro to Puppet Modules
● What's to Like
– consistent view
– consistent interface
– separation of data and logic

7. Intro to Puppet Modules
● What's to Despise
– bugs
– useless error messages
– pe_accounts: huh?

8. Puppet Mastery
● Goal: a series of modules to manage ISP
services (NTP, SNMP, postfix, dovecot,
RADIUS, etc.)
– stand-alone modules?
– how to integrate? e.g., /etc/sysconfig/iptables:
stand-alone? as part of another module?