On second-thought, #3 would be out of the question if you wanted to use
%{primary_group} as a hierarchy level in Hiera. You will need to either
write a fact to determine the group based on something atomic about the
system or do something at provision time. Do you have this
node-to-primary/secondary-group mapping in a source of truth like a MySQL
database? If so, then you could utilize a Hiera backend to query this
source of truth. There are Hiera-mysql backends that will allow you to
read from database tables, so this is also an option. I would likely lean
toward option #1, however.
Hope this helps.
On Sat, Mar 24, 2012 at 3:55 AM, Gary Larizza <g...@puppetlabs.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 23, 2012 at 3:42 AM, Pablo Fernandez
> <pablo.fernan...@cscs.ch>wrote:
>
>> **
>>
>> Dear all,
>>
>>
>>
>> This is a continuation of another thread, but I think the question
>> diverged enough to create a new one.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have a hiera hierarchy like this:
>>
>> :hierarchy:
>>
>> - %{fqdn}
>>
>> - %{secundary_group}
>>
>> - %{primary_group}
>>
>> - %{productname}
>>
>> - all
>>
>>
>>
>> And I need to define the secondary/primary groups as facts, on the nodes.
>> Gary has suggested me to use plugins, that they will provide the facts
>> before puppet runs... but I was thinking: for plugins to give facts, taken
>> directly from within the puppet code, puppet needs to run first, doesn't
>> it?
>>
>>
>>
>> So, I guess I could create a module and a ruby script:
>>
>> - mygroups/lib/facter/addgroup.rb
>>
>> And write some code in Ruby to call Facter.add(:primary_group).
>>
>>
>>
>> My problem is (besides the fact that I know nothing about Ruby)... how do
>> I insert the values for primary_group and secondary_group inside that
>> function, within a simple puppet run?
>>
>
> I would ask how you could classify a node's primary or secondary group
> based on looking at? Is there a file on disk that indicates its group?
> Will you use its IP address? Hostname? Something like this?
>
> It sounds like you want to use Puppet to place a file on the filesystem
> indicating its primary_group, but that you want to Puppet to manage this
> file (or you want to manage the data in Puppet itself). You have a number
> of options here:
>
> 1. Use something atomic about the machine to determine its primary_group.
> If you can say 'based on its IP address, it should be in this group' or
> 'based on its hostname, it will be in THIS group', then write a fact to
> determine this for you. Remember that in your custom fact you can do:
> Facter.value(:ipaddress) or Facter.value(:hostname) to get a node's
> ipaddress or hostname. This is the better method since it relies on
> something NOT provided by Puppet to determine its group. The Facter fact
> would run before the Puppet run, determine its group, and then you'd be
> fine. Most places I visit do something like this.
>
> 2. Do something at provision-time. Do you already have a source of truth
> that maps each node to a primary_group? In your kickstart before running
> Puppet you could query this source of truth and create a file (to be read
> by a fact) that would determine the primary_group.
>
> 3. Set it in the %{fqdn} level of the Hiera hierarchy. This is
> less-optimal as you would need to create a YAML file for every node in your
> infrastructure and set its 'primary_group' parameter in the YAML file. If
> you don't have a source of truth that maps each node to a primary_group,
> and you can't determine the group based on something ABOUT the node itself
> (as in case #1), then Hiera can/will be your node/group source of truth.
>
> Does this sound like what you need?
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> I guess I could use a file with the definitions, like
>> /etc/facts.d/groups... but that would require two puppet runs: one to
>> create the file, and the second that loads the facts.
>>
>>
>>
>> I was thinking of a possible alternative... a module "mygroups" with
>> sub-classes, that I import from the nodes:
>>
>>
>>
>> node 'blabla' { include mygroups::green }
>>
>>
>>
>> And then in the module, make a mygroups/lib/facter/green.rb that does
>> Facter.add(:primary_group) = 'green' (or however you do it with Ruby). But
>> how do I make sure the module green.rb is loaded, but not the other modules
>> that will be there too?
>>
>>
>>
>> Or maybe I could use parameters, that the plugin will recognize somehow?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I hope the questions are clear enough, because this is clearly not clean
>> in my head.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> Pablo
>>
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>
>
>
> --
>
> Gary Larizza
> Professional Services Engineer
> Puppet Labs
>
>
--
Gary Larizza
Professional Services Engineer
Puppet Labs
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