How text-mode installation works

When you run the Puppet Enterprise installer in text mode, you pass a configuration file (pe.conf), which contains values for the parameters needed to install PE, to the installer.

Text-mode installation requires you to run the installer with a pe.conf file on each node on which you are installing a PE component. In other words, for a monolithic installation, you run the installer with pe.conf on one node, but for a split installation, you run the installer with pe.conf on three nodes.

• Monolithic text-mode installation instructions
• Split text-mode installation instructions

The pe.conf file

A pe.conf file is a HOCON formatted file that declares parameters and values needed to install and configure PE. For example, for a monolithic installation, you only need two key/value pairs:

"console_admin_password": "puppet"
"puppet_enterprise::puppet_master_host": "%{::trusted.certname}"

See the pe.conf parameter reference for more details about setting parameters in pe.conf and for a complete list of mandatory and optional parameters.

Obtaining a pe.conf file

You have a few options for creating or obtaining a pe.conf file to use during installations.

• Use the example pe.conf file provided in the conf.d directory in the PE installer tarball.

  Tip: In most cases, for a monolithic installation, you can use the example pe.conf file without making any changes.

• When prompted by the installer, select the text-mode installation option. This opens your default editor with the example pe.conf file, which you can edit. Installation will proceed using that pe.conf after you quit the editor.
• Use the web-based installer to create a pe.conf file. After you run the web-based installer, you can find the file at /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d. You can also download the file by following the link provided on the confirmation page of the web-based installer.

For a complete list of mandatory and optional parameters, see the pe.conf parameter reference.

Configuring PE settings with Hiera when installing

Any PE settings you configure via Hiera in the default datadir (/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/%{environment}/hieradata) will be respected by pe.conf when you upgrade.

If you are using a non-default location for the Hiera datadir you can add those Hiera parameters or overrides to pe.conf when upgrading, but note that you must add them to your production Hiera when the installation completes, or they will be overwritten when Puppet runs.