Key FeaturesStep-by-step instructions to jump start your Puppet deployment and automate your IT configurationsDesign, implement, and deploy Puppet in your infrastructure and tackle everyday IT infrastructure challengesGain expert understanding of Puppets latest and most advanced featuresBook DescriptionPuppet is a configuration management tool that allows you to automate all your IT configurations, giving you control. It was written for and by system administrators to manage large numbers of systems efficiently and prevent configuration drifts. Puppet gives you control of what you do to each node, when you do it, and how you do it.This Learning Path will take you from the basics of Puppet to extending it and then mastering it. We will start off with a primer on Puppet, its installation and get a sneak peek under its hood. We will then move on to designing and deploying your Puppet architecture, learning best practices for writing reusable and maintainable code, and executing, testing, and deploying Puppet across your systems. Finally, we will deal with problems of scale and exceptions in your code, automate workflows, and support multiple developers working simultaneously.This course is based on the following books:Puppet 4 Essentials - Second EditionExtending Puppet - Second EditionMastering Puppet - Second EditionWhat you will learnWrite and employ individual Puppet manifestsUnderstand how Puppet implements system abstractionUse Puppet to manage network, cloud, and virtualization devicesManage and test the Puppet code workflowTweak, hack, and adapt the Puppet extension pointsUse exported resources to orchestrate change between machinesDebug a puppetserver using Java techniquesAbout the AuthorFelix has used and programmed computers for most of his life. During and after working on his computer science diploma, he gained experience on the job as a systems administrator, server operator, and open source software developer. He spent 6 years of his 11-year career as a Puppet power user. In parallel, he spent about two years intensifying his studies through ongoing source code contributions and active participation in several conferences.Martin is a co-founder and CEO of example42 GmbH. He is a Puppet and automation enthusiast since 2007. In the past, he would have said he is a system administrator. Nowadays, he likes the term infrastructure engineer. The big difference is that system administrators sshs into systems to fix them, whereas infrastructure engineers fix their automation.Martin is serving as a Puppet Labs training partner in Germany since 2011, conducting official Puppet training. In his spare time, he likes reading books and visiting interesting locations.Alessandro is a long time Puppet user, trainer, and consultant. He started using Puppet in 2007, automating a remarkable amount of customers infrastructures of different sizes, natures, and complexities.He has attended several PuppetConf and PuppetCamps as both speaker and participant, always enjoying the vibrant and friendly community, each time learning something new.Over the years, he started to publish his Puppet code, trying to make it reusable in different scenarios. The result of this work is the example42 Puppet modules and control repo, complete, feature rich, sample Puppet environment. You can read about example42 at www.example42.com.You can follow Franceschi on his Twitter account at @alvagante.Jaime was born in Teruel, a small city in Spain. He has always been passionate about technology and sciences. While studying computer science at the university in his hometown, he had his first encounter with Linux and free software, which is what shaped his career.He worked for several companies on different and interesting projects, from operating systems in embedded devices to the cloud, giving him a wide view on several fields of software development and systems administration.Currently, automation, configuration management, and continuous integration form a part of his daily work in the SRE team at Tuenti Technologies.Thomas a long-time user of Puppet. He has presented Puppet tutorials at LOPSA-East, Cascada, and PuppetConf. He has also been a system administrator for over 20 years, working primarily with RedHat systems; he is currently a RedHat Certified Architect (RHCA). When not running the Puppet User Group of Seattle (PUGS), he volunteers for the LOPSA board and his local LOPSA chapter, SASAG. He blogs at http://ramblings.narrabilis.com.Table of ContentsWriting Your First ManifestsThe Master and Its AgentsA Peek under the Hood – Facts, Types, and ProvidersModularizing Manifests with Classes and Defined TypesExtending Your Puppet Infrastructure with ModulesLeveraging the Full Toolset of the LanguageNew Features from Puppet 4Separating Data from Code Using HieraPuppet EssentialsManaging Puppet Data with HieraIntroducing PuppetDBDesigning Puppet ArchitecturesUsing and Writing Reusable ModulesHigher Abstraction ModulesPuppet Migration PatternsCode Workflow ManagementScaling Puppet InfrastructuresExtending PuppetBeyond the SystemFuture PuppetDealing with Load/ScaleOrganizing Your Nodes and DataGit and EnvironmentsPublic ModulesCustom Facts and ModulesCustom TypesReporting and OrchestrationExported ResourcesRoles and ProfilesTroubleshootingBibliography