Managing NTP with PE

Install the puppetlabs-ntp module, which helps manage your NTP service.

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/etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules
└── puppetlabs-ntp (v3.1.2)

Using the PE console, you add the module's ntp class to a node group that you create, called NTP, which will contain all of your nodes. Depending on your needs or infrastructure, you might have a different group that you'll assign NTP to, but these same instructions would apply.

The role of a classification node group is to assign classification data, such as classes, parameters, and variables, to nodes .

1. In the PE console, click Nodes> Classification, and click Add group. 
2. Specify options for the new node group:
   • Parent name : select All nodes
   • Group name : enter a name that describes the role of this environment node group

   • Environment: select production

   • Environment group: don't select this option

3. Click Add
4. Click the NTP group, and select the Rules tab.
5. In the Fact field, enter name.
6. From the Operator drop-down list, select ~ (matches regex).
7. In the Value field, enter .*.
8. Click Add rule.

Node groups contain classes and other elements.

1. In the console, click Classification , and find and select the NTP group.
2. On the Configuration tab, in the Class name field, select ntp.
   Tip: You only need to add the main ntp class; it contains the other classes from the module.
3. Click Add class, and commit changes.
   Note: The ntp class now appears in the list of classes for the NTP group, but it has not yet been configured on your nodes. For that to happen, you need to kick off a Puppet run.
4. From the command line of your Puppet master, run puppet agent -t.
5. From the command line of each PE-managed node, run puppet agent -t.

   This configures the nodes using the newly-assigned classes.

You can view and research infrastructure changes and events on the console's Events page. After applying the ntp class, check the Events page to confirm that changes were indeed made to your infrastructure.

1. Click Intentional changes in the Classes: with events summary view. The main pane shows you that the Ntp::Config and Ntp::Service classes were successfully added when you ran PE after adding the main ntp class.
2. Navigate through further levels to see more data.

You can edit or add class parameters in the PE console without needing to edit the module code directly.

1. In the console, click Classification , and find and select the NTP group.
2. On the Configuration tab, find ntp in the list of classes.
3. From the Parameter name drop-down list, choose servers.
   Note: The grey text that appears as values for some parameters is the default value, which can be either a literal value or a Puppet variable. You can restore this value by selecting Discard changes after you have added the parameter.
4. In the In the Value field, enter the new server name (for example, ["time.apple.com"]). Note that this should be an array, in JSON format.
5. Click Add parameter, and commit changes.
6. From the command line of your Puppet master, run puppet agent -t.
7. From the command line of each PE-managed node, run puppet agent -t.