Example42 Puppet Modules 2.0 : NextGen

Released under the terms of Apache2 licence.

Official website: http://www.example42.com

Official Support forum: Google Groups

This repository collects all the Next-gen Example42 Puppet modules, included here as git submodules.

The official repository of Example42 Puppet modules on GitHub currently contains both old and next-gen modules for a transitional period that should last until all the modules are migrated. Old and new modules can cohexist on the same setup, but new modules have different usage patterns and are generally recommended.

INSTALLATION AND UPDATES

From September 2013 most of the modules are published, and regularly updated, on the Puppet Forge.

Use the Puppet module tool to query and install Example42 modules:

    puppet module search example42

You can get the Next-gen only module set with:

    git clone --recursive https://github.com/example42/puppet-modules-nextgen.git

To update your local copy with the upstream version:

    cd /etc/puppet/modules # Or the directory where's you local copy
    git pull origin master
    git submodule init
    git submodule update

If you want to force an update on each submodule, even if not tracked on the main repo:

    git submodule foreach git pull origin master

The above commands (excluded the first cd and included the last) are done by the script:

    Example42-tools/sync.sh

At times you may need to resync git modules urls. You can do that with:

    git submodule sync

You can test these modules on a safe environment using the Example42 Puppet Playground. Check it out!

FEATURES

The main features of Example42 Puppet modules (second generation):

Coherent and standardized structure, logic and usage based on best practices
Cross OS support (main targets are Redhat and Ubuntu derivatives)
Use of parametrized classes and fully qualified variables for Puppet 3 compliance
Full API exposure and classes introspection
Separation between core module and user's customizations, no arbitrary logic enforced.
Optional Puppi support for application deployments and "Puppet knowledge to the CLI"
Optional automatic Monitoring support based on an extensible set of tools
Optional automatic Firewalling support
Decommissiong support: you can remove (almost) whatever you've added
Complete documentation compliant with PuppetDoc
Integrated rspec-puppet tests. Code puppet-lint compliant (as much as possible)
Based on common "foo" templates for easy scaffolding on the modules.

DOCUMENTATION AND SUPPORT

You can find more documentation in the Example42-documentation directory.

Some Usage examples are in the example42 module.

A presentation about the features of NextGen modules: Puppet Modules: A Holistic approach.

An introductory Blog Post: The next generation of Example42 Puppet modules.

The official Support forum is on Google Groups use it for questions and discussions.

SPECIAL MODULES

Generally there's a module for each application and each module is a separated git submodule than can be indipendently retrieved from GitHub. There are some special modules or directories with different functions:

Example42-tools/ contains scripts useful for maintenance of the modules. No Puppet code there.
Example42-documentation/ contains documentation about Example42 Puppet modules and their usage.
Example42-tutorials/ contains Puppet the markdown code for Puppet Tutorials slides.
Example42-templates/ contains various differnet templates for modules' layout. The ones with the 42 suffix are used as starting scaffold for these modules.
example42/ is a sample project/customer/site specific module. It contains files and subclasses specific to the Example42 test lab. Here are supposed to be placed all the customizations, and ideally this module (or the equivalent with your company name) is one of the few parts where to make changes.
puppi/ is an Example42 Puppet module that can be used to automate and simplify the deployment of (web) applications and provides a CLI command that exposes most of the information that Puppet has (and defines) about the system. Puppi is a required dependency for all the Example42 modules because it contains some functions used by them, BUT you are not forced to use it. You just have it among your modules to retrieve (via pluginsync) the common functions.
monitor/ is an Example42 "meta-module" used for monitoring abstraction. It contains the definitions to use different monitor tools for a set of common resources
firewall/ is an Example42 "meta-module" used for firewalling abstraction.

OPERATING SYSTEMS SUPPORT

Currently the modules are generally tested on the following Operating systems:

RedHat / Centos versions 5 and 6
Scientific Linux version 6
Debian 6
Ubuntu 10.04 and 12.04
OpenSuse 11 and 12
Suse Enterprise Linux 11

Some of the modules have support for:

Solaris 11

Most of the modules are expected to work on:

Amazon Linux
Fedora
Mint

If you need support or better testing for specific operating systems and versions the best thing you can do is to provide a usable Vagrant Base box for the Example42 Puppet Playground.

CONTRIBUTE

Pull requests via GitHub are welcomed, please review the general style and logic of the modules in order to submit consistent patches.

Do not keep your fork detached from the upstream version, please!

These modules are intended to be used anywhere without any modification of their content: if you have to change them to suit your needs either they have some bugs or missing features or you're using them in the wrong way.

example42 / puppet-modules-nextgen