Configuring Code Manager

Puppet Enterprise — 2016.4

This version is no longer supported, maintained, or updated. For current versions, see Puppet Enterprise support lifecycle.

Sections

To set up Code Manager, you’ll need to enable, configure, and test it. When you’re done, you’ll be ready to deploy environments with Code Manager.

You can enable and configure Code Manager either during or after PE installation.

Configuring Code Manager with a fresh PE installation is the easiest method, but you can do this only during a text-mode installation. To enable Code Manager after a new installation or in an existing PE installation, you’ll set Code Manager’s parameters in the PE console.

Enable and configure Code Manager, either
- During a fresh installation, by setting parameters in pe.conf, or
- After installation or upgrade, by setting parameters in the master profile class in the PE console.
Test your control repo.
Set up authentication for Code Manager.
Test Code Manager.

Note: If you enable Code Manager and file sync, do not attempt to follow the workflows in the Puppet Enterprise Quick Start Guides. The puppet module command is not currently compatible with Code Manager.

Before you begin, you should have a control repo with a Puppetfile. Additionally, you should have configured the puppet access command, so that you can generate an authentication token. If so, you’re ready to set up Code Manager.

Upgrading from r10k to Code Manager

If you are upgrading from r10k to Code Manager, check the following before enabling Code Manager:

If you used r10k prior to PE 2015.3, you might have configured r10k in the PE console using the pe_r10k class. If so, you must remove the pe_r10k class in the PE console before moving to the steps below. These steps will provide a standard Code Manager configuration that you can further customize in Hiera as needed.
If you used any previous versions of r10k, disable any tools that might automatically run r10k. Most commonly, this is the zack-r10k module. Code Manager cannot install or update code properly if other tools are running r10k.

Note that when you start using Code Manager, Code Manager is running r10k in the background. You can no longer directly interact with r10k or use the zack-r10k module.

Enable Code Manager during installation

To configure Code Manager during a fresh installation, add parameters to the pe.conf file. Use these parameters only with text-mode installation, not with web-based installation. Adding the listed parameters enables and configures file sync and Code Manager.

Add the following three parameters to pe.conf before installation.
- puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_remote
This setting specifies the location of the control repository. It accepts a string that is a valid URL for your Git control repository. For example:
```
"puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_remote": "git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git"
```
- puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_private_key
This setting specifies the path to the file that contains the SSH private key used to access your Git repositories. The pe-puppet user must be able to access this location; we recommend /etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa.

This SSH private key file, which you created when you set up your control repository, must be located on the Puppet master and owned by the pe-puppet user. After PE installation is completed, place the key in the specified location. You’ll do this in step 3 below.

The setting accepts a string, such as:
```
"puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_private_key": "/etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa"
```
- puppet_enterprise::profile::master::code_manager_auto_configure
This setting configures Code Manager, the Git control repository to use for storing code, and the private key for accessing your Git repos.

Acceptable values are true or false (case sensitive). Set it to true to enable and configure Code Manager. If you set it to false, Code Manager and file sync are disabled.
Complete PE installation.
After PE installation is complete, place the SSH private key you created when you set up your control repository in the r10k_private_key location.

Configuration is now complete. Next, set up authentication for Code Manager.

Enable Code Manager after installation

To enable Code Manager after installing PE or in an existing PE installation, set parameters in the PE console.

In the console, set the following parameters in the puppet_enterprise::profile::master class in the PE Master node group:
- code_manager_auto_configure to true. This enables and configures both Code Manager and file sync.
- r10k_remote: This is the location of your control repository. Enter a string that is a valid URL for your Git control repository. For example: "git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git".
- r10k_private_key: This is the path to the private key that permits the pe-puppet user to access your Git repositories. This file must be located on the Puppet master, owned by the pe-puppet user, and in a directory that the pe-puppet user has permission to view. We recommend /etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa. Enter a string, such as "/etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa".
Run Puppet on all of your masters.

If you run Puppet for all your masters at the same time, such as with the Run Puppet button in the console, you might see errors like this your compile masters’ logs:
```
2015-11-20 08:14:38,308 ERROR [clojure-agent-send-off-pool-0]
[p.e.s.f.file-sync-client-core] File sync failure: Unable to get
latest-commits from server (https://master.example.com:8140/file-sync/v1/latest-commits).
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused
```
You can ignore these errors. They occur because Puppet Server is restarting while the compile masters are trying to poll for new code. These errors should stop as soon as the Puppet Server on the master of masters has finished restarting.

After the Puppet run is complete, set up authentication.

Set up authentication for Code Manager

Code Manager needs an authentication token for both authentication and authorization. This token allows Code Manager to securely deploy the requested environment.

To generate a token for Code Manager, you’ll first assign a user to the deployment role, and then request an authentication token.

Before you begin, you must configure the Puppet access command line tool.

Assign a user to the deployment role

Before you request a token, you must assign a user the correct permissions with role-based access control (RBAC).

Create a deployment user. We recommend that you create a dedicated deployment user for Code Manager use.
Add the deployment user to the Code Deployers role. This role is automatically created on install, with default permissions for code deployment and token lifetime management.

Next, request the token.

Request an authentication token

Note that by default, authentication tokens have a five-minute lifetime. With the Override default expiry permission set, you can change the lifetime to a duration better suited for a long-running, automated process.

Generate the authentication token using the puppet-access command:

On the command line on the master, run puppet-access login --service-url https://<HOSTNAME OF PUPPET ENTERPRISE CONSOLE>:4433/rbac-api --lifetime 180d.
Enter the username and password of the deployment user when prompted.

The generated token is stored in a file for later use. The default location for storing the token is ~/.puppetlabs/token. To view the token, run puppet-access show.

Next, test the connection to the control repo.

Test the control repo

Because Code Manager is running r10k in the background, you can test the connection to the control repo with a read-only r10k command. To make sure that Code Manager can connect to the control repo, enter the following on the command line:

r10k deploy display --fetch

If the control repo is set up properly, this command fetches and displays a list of the environments in the control repo.

Test Code Manager

To make sure Code Manager deploys your environments correctly, you should test it. To test, trigger Code Manager on the command line to deploy a single environment.

Deploy a single environment

Run the following command to deploy one environment:

puppet-code deploy my_test_environment --wait

This command deploys the test environment, and then returns deployment results with the SHA (a checksum for the content stored) for the control repo commit. Check to make sure the environment was deployed. If so, you’ve set up Code Manager correctly.

If the deployment does not work as you expect, check over the configuration steps, or refer to the troubleshooting guide for help.

Reference: Code Manager settings

After Code Manager is configured, you can adjust some settings in the master profile in the PE console. These options are required for Code Manager to work, unless otherwise noted.

code_manager_auto_configure: Set to true to auto-configure Code Manager.
r10k_remote: The location of the Git control repository. Enter a string that is a valid URL for your Git control repository. For example: 'git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git'.
r10k_private_key: Required when using the SSH protocol; optional in all other cases. The file containing the private key used to access all Git repositories. Enter a string, such as ‘/etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa’.
r10k_proxy: Optional. A proxy setting r10k uses when accessing the Forge. If empty, no proxy settings are used.

You can further customize your Code Manager configuration with Hiera.

Next steps

When Code Manager is fully enabled and configured, you can trigger Code Manager to deploy your environments:

Manually, on the command line.
Automatically, with a webhook.
Automatically, with a custom script that hits the Code Manager endpoint.