My first experience with puppet was puppetizing an already deployed 500-node HPC cluster. The cluster admin was kind enough to pull a node out of the cluster so I could test my manifest/modules on it without affecting production nodes. Once I was confident I had it dialed in, I converted while racks at a time until all nodes were under puppet's watchful eye.
If this is not possible for you, you could use VMware or Virtualbox and clone a server to a VM during a maintenance window and use that for your development. Snapshots are very nice to have when testing your manifests as they allow rapid and complete undos. As for reverting changes on non-virtual servers, you can use puppet's filebucket -- it is well documented. I, however, am a great fan of having regular, non-puppet backups from which to restore original files. -- Peter (from phone) On May 16, 2012, at 8:07 AM, Mister IT Guru <misteritg...@gmx.com> wrote: > Good Afternoon Puppet List, > > I'm investigating the possibility of using puppet to take over an already > existing cluster of servers. Ordinarily this doesn't sound like anything out > the ordinary, but I've had my hands tied by the cluster owner saying he > doesn't want anything to break/fail while I'm wrestling the cluster to be > under my control. > > Ordinarily, I'd say lets upgrade your working practices while we're at it, > and properly manage your whole workflow, manage access and manage who can > make changes. Lets start by rebuilding your boxes to specification, and > migrating your existing data over. Sounds great, "Client says no" huh? - Now > I need to rethink my strategy. > > I was planning on using my current manifests, but I think I'll end up over > writing some config file that had a critical setting in it, or change a > password somewhere. Usually, I'm not too worried about that, but it did occur > to me that I don't have any real sanity checks in my modules. > > • Are there any recommended ways of using puppet to take over a production > environment? > • How can I ensure that when I'm spreading my manifests across the globe, > I mean cluster, that any changes can be reverted? > • I understand that every file puppet changes, gets backed up? Where? > (embarrassed he doesn't know!) > • Finally, can I force puppet to replace changed files, or is this a > manual process? > > Thanks, > -- Mister Guru > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Puppet Users" group. > To post to this group, send email to puppet-users@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > puppet-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/puppet-users?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Puppet Users" group. To post to this group, send email to puppet-users@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to puppet-users+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/puppet-users?hl=en.
