Configuring Code Manager

To configure Code Manager, enable it in Puppet Enterprise (PE), set up authentication, and test the communication between the control repo and Code Manager.

When you finished configuration, you're ready to deploy environments with Code Manager.

You can enable and configure Code Manager either during or after r10k installation.

To enable Code Manager after a new installation or in an existing PE installation, set Code Manager parameters in the console. You can also configure Code Manager during a fresh PE installation, but only during a text-mode installation.

  1. Enable and configure Code Manager, after installation or upgrade, by setting parameters in the master profile class in the PE console. Alternatively, enable during a fresh installation, by setting parameters in pe.conf

  2. Test your control repo.

  3. Set up authentication for Code Manager.

  4. Test Code Manager.

Upgrading from r10k to Code Manager

If you are upgrading from r10k to Code Manager, you must first disable your old r10k installation.

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 console using the pe_r10k class. If so, you must remove the pe_r10k class in the console before configuring Code Manager.
  • If you used any previous versions of r10k, disable any tools that might automatically run it. Most commonly, this is the zack-r10k module. Code Manager cannot install or update code properly if other tools are running r10k.

When you start using Code Manager, it runs r10k in the background. You can no longer directly interact with r10k or use the zack-r10k module.

Enable Code Manager

Usually, you enable Code Manager after PE is already installed. If you are automating your PE installation and using an existing control repo and SSH key, you can enable Code Manager during the PE installation process.

Before you begin
  • Your SSH key should be generated without setting a passphrase
  • The private key file must be located on the master, owned by the user, and located in a directory that the user has permission to view. We recommend /ect/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa

Enable Code Manager after installation

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

  1. 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, as accessed by SSH. Enter a string that is a valid SSH URL for your Git control repository. For example: "git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git".
      Note: Some Git providers, such as Bitbucket, might have additional requirements for enabling SSH access. See your provider's documentation for information.
    • r10k_private_key: Enter a string specifying the path to the SSH private key that permits the user to access your Git repositories.
  2. Run Puppet on all masters.

    If you run Puppet for all your masters at the same time, such as with Run Puppet in the console, you might see errors like this your compilers' 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 compilers are trying to poll for new code. These errors generally stop as soon as the Puppet Server on the master has finished restarting.

Next, set up authentication.

Enable Code Manager during installation

To configure Code Manager during a fresh installation of PE, add parameters to the pe.conf file.

Use these parameters only with text-mode PE installation, not with web-based installation. Adding the listed parameters enables and configures file sync and Code Manager.

  1. Add the following three parameters to pe.conf before installation, adding your specific URL and directory information: 
    "puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_remote": "git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git"

"puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_private_key": "/etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa"

puppet_enterprise::profile::master::code_manager_auto_configure": true

    These parameters specify the private key location and the control repo URL, and enables Code Manager and file sync.

    • puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_private_key

      This setting accepts a string that specifies the path to the future location of the SSH private key used to access your Git repositories. After PE installation is completed, place the key in the specified location. You do this in step 3 below.

    • "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.

    • 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. Accepts the values true or false . Set it to true to enable and configure Code Manager. A false setting disables Code Manager and file sync.

  2. Complete the installation, following the steps in the text-based installation instructions.
  3. After installation is complete, place the SSH private key you created when you set up your control repository in the r10k_private_key location.

Next, set up authentication.

Set up authentication for Code Manager

To securely deploy environments, Code Manager needs an authentication token for both authentication and authorization.

Before you begin

If needed, configure the Puppet access command line tool. This comes pre-installed on your master. See Installing PE client tools for more information.

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

Assign a user to the deployment role

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

  1. In the console, create a deployment user. We recommend that you create a dedicated deployment user for Code Manager use.
  2. 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 authentication token.

Request an authentication token for deployments

Request an authentication token for the deployment user to enable secure deployment of your code.

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

Generate the authentication token using the puppet-access command.

  1. From the command line on the master, run puppet-access login --lifetime 180d. This command both requests the token and sets the token lifetime to 180 days.
    Tip: You can add flags to the request specifying additional settings such as the token file's location or the URL for your RBAC API. See Configuration file settings for puppet-access.
  2. 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

To make sure that Code Manager can connect to the control repo, test the connection to the repository.

From the command line, run puppet-code deploy --dry-run.

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

  • If an environment is not set up properly or causes an error, it does not appear in the returned list. Check the Puppet Server log for details about the errors.

Test Code Manager

To test whether Code Manager deploys your environments correctly, trigger a single environment deployment on the command line.

Deploy a single environment

Test Code Manager by deploying a single test environment.

This deploys the test environment, and then returns deployment results with the SHA (a checksum for the content stored) for the control repo commit.

From the command line, deploy one environment by running puppet-code deploy my_test_environment --wait

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.

After Code Manager is fully enabled and configured, you can trigger it to deploy your environments.

There are several ways to trigger deployments, depending on your needs.

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

Code Manager console settings

After Code Manager is configured, you can adjust some settings in the master profile in the console.

These options are required for Code Manager to work, unless otherwise noted.

Setting Description Example
code_manager_auto_configure Set to true to auto-configure Code Manager. true
r10k_remote The location of the Git control repository. Enter a string that is a valid URL for your control repository. 'git@<YOUR.GIT.SERVER.COM>:puppet/control.git'
r10k_private_key Required when using the SSH protocol; optional in all other cases. Enter a string that is the path to the file containing the private key used to access all Git repositories. '/etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ssh/id-control_repo.rsa'
r10k_proxy Optional. A proxy setting r10k Code Manager uses when accessing the Forge. If empty, no proxy settings are used. 'http://proxy.example.com:3128'

To further customize your Code Manager configuration with Hiera, see the related topic about customizing your configuration.