Configuring and tuning the console

After installing Puppet Enterprise, you can change product settings to customize the console's behavior, adjust to your team's needs, and improve performance. Many settings can be configured in the console itself.

Configure the PE console and console-services

Configure the behavior of the console and console-services, as needed.

Note: Use the Hiera or pe.conf method to configure non-profile classes, such as puppet_enterprise::api_port and puppet_enterprise::console_services::no_longer_reporting_cutoff.

To configure settings in the console:

  1. Click Classification, and select the node group that contains the class you want to work with.
  2. On the Configuration tab, find the class you want to work with, select the Parameter name from the list and edit its value.
  3. Click Add parameter and commit changes.
  4. On the nodes hosting the master and console, run Puppet.

Console and console-services parameters

Use these parameters to customize the behavior of the console and console-services. Parameters that begin with puppet_enterprise::profile can be modified from the console itself. See the configuration methods documents for more information on how to change parameters in the console or Hiera.

puppet_enterprise::profile::console::classifier_synchronization_period
Integer representing, in seconds, the classifier synchronization period, which controls how long it takes the node classifier to retrieve classes from the master.
Default: "600" (seconds).
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::rbac_failed_attempts_lockout
Integer specifying how many failed login attempts are allowed on an account before that account is revoked.
Default: "10" (attempts).
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::rbac_password_reset_expiration
Integer representing, in hours, how long a user's generated token is valid for. An administrator generates this token for a user so that they can reset their password.
Default: "24" (hours).
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::rbac_session_timeout
Integer representing, in minutes, how long a user's session can last. The session length is the same for node classification, RBAC, and the console.
Default: "60" (minutes).
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::session_maximum_lifetime
Integer representing the maximum allowable period that a console session can be valid. To not expire before the maximum token lifetime, set to '0'.
Supported units are "s" (seconds), "m" (minutes), "h" (hours), "d" (days), "y" (years). Units are specified as a single letter following an integer, for example "1d"(1 day). If no units are specified, the integer is treated as seconds.
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::console_ssl_listen_port
Integer representing the port that the console is available on.
Default: [443]
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::ssl_listen_address
Nginx listen address for the console.
Default: "0.0.0.0"
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::classifier_prune_threshold
Integer representing the number of days to wait before pruning the size of the classifier database. If you set the value to "0", the node classifier service is never pruned.
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::classifier_node_check_in_storage
"true" to store an explanation of how nodes match each group they're classified into, or "false".
Default: "false"
puppet_enterprise::profile::console::display_local_time
"true" to display timestamps in local time, with hover text showing UTC time, or "false" to show timestamps in UTC time.
Default: "false"
Modify these configuration parameters in Hiera or pe.conf, not the console:
puppet_enterprise::api_port
SSL port that the node classifier is served on.
Default: [4433]
puppet_enterprise::console_services::no_longer_reporting_cutoff
Length of time, in seconds, before a node is considered unresponsive.
Default: 3600 (seconds)
console_admin_password
The password to log into the console, for example "myconsolepassword".
Default: Specified during installation.

Manage the HTTPS redirect

By default, the console redirects to HTTPS when you attempt to connect over HTTP. You can customize the redirect target URL or disable redirection.

Customize the HTTPS redirect target URL

By default, the redirect target URL is the same as the FQDN of your master, but you can customize this redirect URL.

To change the target URL in the console:
  1. Click Classification, and select the PE Infrastructure node group.
  2. On the Configuration tab, find the puppet_enterprise::profile::console::proxy::http_redirect class, select the server_name parameter from the list, and change its value to the desired server.
  3. Click Add parameter and commit changes.
  4. On the nodes hosting the master and console, run Puppet.

Disable the HTTPS redirect

The pe-nginx webserver listens on port 80 by default. If you need to run your own service on port 80, you can disable the HTTPS redirect.

  1. Add the following to your default .yaml file with the parameter set to false. 
    puppet_enterprise::profile::console::proxy::http_redirect::enable_http_redirect: false
  2. To compile changes, run puppet agent -t on the master.

Tuning the PostgreSQL buffer pool size

If you are experiencing performance issues or instability with the console, adjust the buffer memory settings for PostgreSQL.

The most important PostgreSQL memory settings for PE are shared_buffers and work_mem.

Parameter Value
shared_buffers in MB. Set at about 25 percent of your hardware's RAM.
work_mem In MB. Increase the value from the default for large deployments.

To change the PostgreSQL memory settings using the console:

  1. Click Classification, and in the PE Infrastructure group, select PE Database group.
  2. On the Configuration tab, find the shared_buffers and work_mem parameters from the drop down and edit their values as desired.
  3. Click Add parameter and commit changes.
  4. On the nodes hosting the master and console, run Puppet.
  5. Restart the PostgreSQL server: sudo /etc/init.d/pe-postgresql restart

Enable data editing in the console

The ability to edit configuration data in the console is enabled by default in new installations. If you upgrade from an earlier version and didn't previously have configuration data enabled, you must manually enable classifier configuration data, because enabling requires edits to your hiera.yaml file.

On your master, edit /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/hiera.yaml to add: 
hierarchy: 
- name: "Classifier Configuration Data"
  data_hash: classifier_data
Place any additional hierarchy entries, such as hiera-yaml or hiera-eyaml under the same hierarchy key, preferably below the Classifier Configuration Data entry.
Note: If you enable data editing in the console, add both Set environment and Edit configuration data to groups that set environment or modify class parameters in order for users to make changes.
What to do next:

If your environment is configured for high availability, you must also update hiera.yaml on your replica.