Testing Puppet code with jobs

Jobs are fully customizable tests for your Puppet code. You can create a job that runs any sort of test you wish, from module validation to linting.

Important: Make sure you have set up job hardware and installed any needed software (such as Docker or Puppet Development Kit) before you attempt add one of these jobs to a pipeline.

What is a job?

In Continuous Delivery for PE, jobs are tests for your Puppet code. Jobs are created and stored in the web UI, where you can run them on demand and add them to an automated pipeline that runs tests every time new code is committed to a repository.

Jobs are fully customizable and can be written to test any aspect of your code. Jobs can be written to take advantage of Puppet Development Kit (PDK) and other testing tools created and maintained by the Puppet community, such as:

  • rspec-puppet

  • onceover

  • puppet-lint

  • rspec-puppet-facts

It's important to be aware of any prerequisites or dependencies needed to run your jobs, and to ensure that your job hardware has the necessary software, operating systems, and other resources installed before attempting to run the job.

Pre-built job reference

Continuous Delivery for PE offers users six pre-built Docker-based jobs for testing control repos and modules. These jobs run inside a Docker container, and must be run on job hardware on which you've set a Docker capability.

Validate the syntax of a control repo's Puppetfile

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name control-repo-puppetfile-syntax-validate
Description Validate that a control repo’s Puppetfile is syntactically correct
Commands: Job rake -f /Rakefile r10k:syntax
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Validate the syntax of a control repo's Puppet templates

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name control-repo-template-syntax-validate
Description Validate that a control repo’s Puppet templates are syntactically correct
Commands: Job rake -f /Rakefile syntax:templates
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Validate the syntax of a control repo's Hiera data

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name control-repo-hiera-syntax-validate
Description Validate that a control repo’s Hiera data is syntactically correct
Commands: Job rake -f /Rakefile syntax:hiera
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Validate the syntax of a control repo's Puppet manifest code

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name control-repo-manifest-validate
Description Validate that a control repo’s Puppet manifest code is syntactically correct
Commands: Job rake -f /Rakefile syntax:manifests
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Validate the syntax of a module's Puppet manifest code

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name module-pdk-validate
Description Validate that a module’s Puppet manifest code is syntactically correct
Commands: Job pdk validate --parallel
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Run rspec-puppet unit tests on a module

To add this job to your Continuous Delivery for PE instance, click New job. Fill in the fields indicated with the information provided, then click Create job.

Field Content
Job Name module-rspec-puppet
Description Run rspec-puppet unit tests on a module
Commands: Job pdk test unit
Docker Configuration Run this job in a Docker container
Docker Image Name puppet/puppet-dev-tools
Job Hardware: Capabilities DOCKER

Before running this job, configure job hardware and ensure that Docker is installed.

Sample non-Docker-based module jobs

This section lists sample jobs that you can use with Continuous Delivery for PE. These jobs can be entered as-is into the New Job creation screen in the Continuous Delivery for PE web UI, or you can make alterations to suit your deployment's needs.

Note: When composing a non-Docker-based job, the $REPO_DIR environment variable can be used to reference the directory that houses the relevant module repo.

Puppet Development Kit validation tests

Use the sample jobs below to validate your module code against PDK. Select the version appropriate to your operating system.  

In order to use this job successfully, you must:

  • Install PDK on your job hardware

  • Install puppet-agent on your job hardware

Job name Description Commands Capabilities
module-pdk-validate-linux Validate via PDK pdk validate LINUX
module-pdk-validate-windows Validate via PDK powershell.exe -c "pdk validate" WINDOWS

Puppet Development Kit rspec-puppet tests

Use the sample jobs below to run unit tests on your module code with rspec-puppet. Select the version appropriate to your operating system.  

In order to use this job successfully, you must:

  • Install PDK on your job hardware

  • Install puppet-agent on your job hardware

Job name Description Commands Capabilities
module-pdk-test-unit-linux Run unit tests via PDK pdk test unit LINUX
module-pdk-test-unit-windows Run unit tests via PDK powershell.exe -c "pdk test unit" WINDOWS

Sample non-Docker-based control repo jobs

This section lists sample jobs that you can use with Continuous Delivery for PE. These jobs can be entered as-is into the New Job creation screen in the Continuous Delivery for PE web UI, or you can make alterations to suit your deployment's needs.

Note: When composing a non-Docker-based job, the $REPO_DIR environment variable can be used to reference the directory that houses the relevant control repo.

Syntax validation

This job validates the syntax of everything in your control repo.

In order to use this job successfully, you must:

  • Use a *nix host

  • Install puppet-agent on your job hardware

Job name Description Commands Capabilities
control-repo-validate-linux Validate syntax [See below] LINUX 
#!/bin/bash
 
shopt -s globstar nullglob
green="$(tput setaf 2)"
red="$(tput setaf 1)"
reset="$(tput sgr0)"
 
for f in **/**pp; do
   [[ $f =~ plans/ ]] && continue
 
   if puppet parser validate "$f"; then
      echo "${green}SUCCESS: $f${reset}"
   else
      echo "${red}FAILED: $f${reset}"
      failures+=("$f")
   fi
done
 
if (( ${#failures[@]} > 0 )); then
   echo "${red}Syntax validation on the Control Repo has failed in the following manifests:"
   echo -e "\t ${failures[@]}${reset}"
   exit 1
else
   echo "${green}Syntax validation on the Control Repo has succeeded.${reset}"
fi

Puppet linter

This job checks the Puppet code in your control repo for programming and stylistic errors.

In order to use this job successfully, you must:

  • Use a *nix host

  • Install puppet-agent on your job hardware

Job name Description Commands Capabilities
control-repo-lint-linux Lint Puppet code [See below] LINUX 
#!/bin/bash
 
shopt -s globstar nullglob
green="$(tput setaf 2)"
red="$(tput setaf 1)"
reset="$(tput sgr0)"
 
sudo /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/gem install puppet-lint || {
   echo "${red}Failed to install puppet-lint gem"
   exit 2
}
 
LINT_OPTS=("--fail-on-warnings" "--no-documentation-check" "--no-140chars-check" "--no-autoloader_layout-check" "--no-class_inherits_from_params_class-check")
 
for f in **/**pp; do
   [[ $f =~ plans/ ]] && continue
 
   if /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/bin/puppet-lint "${LINT_OPTS[@]}" "$f"; then
      echo "${green}SUCCESS: $f${reset}"
   else
      echo "${red}FAILED: $f${reset}"
      failures+=("$f")
   fi
done
 
if (( ${#failures[@]} > 0 )); then
   echo "${red}Puppet-lint validation on the Control Repo has failed in the following manifests:"
   echo -e "\t ${failures[@]}${reset}"
   exit 1
else
   echo "${green}Puppet-lint validation on the Control Repo has succeeded.${reset}"
fi