install_noop

Sometimes you want to install a Puppet Enterprise agent on some nodes, but you're too afraid to let it actually manage anything yet. In these cases you might install it and set "noop=true" in the puppet.conf before its first run. That way it's running, its facts and reports are getting stored in PuppetDB, but it's really only reporting on what it would change if you gave it the chance to do its job.

These Bolt tasks automate the job. Briefly, they:

1. Fetch the installer script from a master,
2. Run the installer, but tell it to add "noop=true" to the puppet.conf before starting Puppet,
3. Try a limited run of the agent, only applying "puppet_enterprise" classes, and
4. Start up the Puppet (in noop mode) and PXP-Agent services

With Autosigning (one-step)

If you have autosigning enabled on your master, these tasks will have your agent up and running in one fell swoop.

• Puppet agent running,
• Puppet execution protocol configured, and
• Puppet execution protocol running.

Installing an agent in noop mode is as simple as, for example:

bolt task run install_noop::linux master=kermit.puppetlabs.vm \
  --no-host-key-check --user root --password \
  --nodes ssh://waldorf,ssh://statler

Or an example for Windows:

bolt task run install_noop::windows master=kermit.puppetlabs.vm \
  --no-ssl --user Administrator --password \
  --nodes winrm://rizzo

For more information on Bolt's configuration and command-line options, refer to the Bolt online documentation.

Without Autosigning (two-step)

If you don't have autosigning enabled on your master, you will need to do a two-step process.

1. Run install_noop::linux or install_noop::windows on nodes,
2. Sign the new nodes' certificates, and
3. Run install_noop::linux_postsign or install_noop::windows_postsign.

For instance, the whole process on Linux:

# Install the agent on the node, in "noop" mode:
bolt task run install_noop::linux master=kermit.puppetlabs.vm \
  --no-host-key-check --user root --password \
  --nodes ssh://waldorf,ssh://statler
#
# Sign the node's certificate on the master
#
# Run the agent in a limited fashion, to finish configuring it:
bolt task run install_noop::linux_postsign \
  --no-host-key-check --user root --password \
  --nodes ssh://waldorf,ssh://statler

Limitations

• This task can only install Puppet Enterprise, fetching from a Puppet Enterprise master.
• The methodology here has not been rigorously tested -- but it has been field tested in a handful of environments.
• Your master must be classified with the proper pe_repo classes for each platform you wish to install to.