Supported operating systems

Supported operating systems and devices

When choosing an operating system, first consider the machine's role. Different roles support different operating systems and architectures.

Tip: For details about platform support lifecycles and planned end-of-life support, see Platform support lifecycle on the Puppet website.

Primary server platforms

The primary server can be installed on these operating systems and architectures.


Operating system	Versions	Architecture
Enterprise Linux CentOS Oracle Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux Scientific Linux	7, 8	x86_64 FIPS 140-2 compliant RHEL version 7
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server	12	x86_64
Ubuntu (General Availability kernels)	18.04	amd64

Agent platforms

The agent role can be installed on these operating systems and architectures.


Operating system	Versions	Architecture
AIX	7.1, 7.2 Note: We support only technology levels that are still under support from IBM.
Amazon Linux	2
Debian	Stretch (9), Buster (10)	i386 for version 9 amd64
Enterprise Linux CentOS Oracle Linux Red Hat Enterprise Linux Scientific Linux	6, 7, 8 Note: Scientific Linux 8 is not supported.	x86_64 i386 for versions 6 aarch64 for version 7, 8 FIPS 140-2 compliant RHEL version 7
Fedora	30, 31, 32	x86_64
macOS	10.14, 10.15
Microsoft Windows	10	x64 x86 FIPS 140-2 compliant x64 version 10
Microsoft Windows Server	2012, 2012 R2, 2012 R2 core, 2016, 2016 core, 2019, 2019 core	x64 for 2012 versions FIPS 140-2 compliant x64 versions 2012 R2 and 2012 R2 core
Solaris	11	SPARC i386
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server	12, 15	x86_64
Ubuntu (General Availability kernels)	16.04, 18.04, 20.04	amd64 i386 for versions 16.04

Note: Some operating systems require an active subscription with the vendor's package management system (for example, the Red Hat Network) to install dependencies.

CentOS dependencies

When you install PE or an agent, these packages are also installed from the various operating system repositories.

If the machine you're installing on has internet access, dependencies are set up during installation. If your machine doesn't have internet access, you must manually install dependencies.


	All nodes	Primary server
cronie	x	x
dmidecode	x	x
libxml2	x	x
logrotate	x	x
net-tools	x	x
pciutils	x	x
which	x	x
zlib	x	x
curl		x
libjpeg		x
libtool-ltdl (versions 7 and later)		x
libxslt		x
mailcap		x

RHEL dependencies

When you install PE or an agent, these packages are also installed from the various operating system repositories.

If the machine you're installing on has internet access, dependencies are set up during installation. If your machine doesn't have internet access, you must manually install dependencies.


	All nodes	Primary server
cronie	x	x
dmidecode	x	x
libxml2	x	x
logrotate	x	x
net-tools	x	x
pciutils	x	x
which	x	x
zlib	x	x
curl		x
libjpeg		x
libtool-ltdl (versions 7 and later)		x
libxslt		x
mailcap		x

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server dependencies

When you install PE or an agent, these packages are also installed from the various operating system repositories.

If the machine you're installing on has internet access, most dependencies are installed during installation. If you encounter problems, inspect the error messages for packages that require other SUSE Linux Enterprise Server packaging modules to be enabled, and use zypper package-search <PACKAGE NAME> to locate them for manual installation.


	All nodes	Primary server
cron	x	x
libxml2	x	x
libxslt	x	x
logrotate	x	x
net-tools	x	x
pciutils	x	x
pmtools	x	x
zlib	x	x
curl		x
db43		x
libjpeg		x
unixODBC		x

Ubuntu dependencies

When you install PE or an agent, these packages are also installed from the various operating system repositories.

If the machine you're installing on has internet access, dependencies are set up during installation. If your machine doesn't have internet access, you must manually install dependencies.


	All nodes	Primary server
cron	x	x
dmidecode	x	x
gnupg	x	x
hostname	x	x
libldap-2.4-2	x	x
libreadline5	x	x
libxml2	x	x
logrotate	x	x
pciutils	x	x
zlib	x	x
ca-certificates-java		x
curl		x
file		x
libcap2		x
libgtk2.0-0		x
libjpeg62		x
libmagic1		x
libossp-uuid16		x
libpcre3		x
libxslt1.1		x
mime-support		x
perl		x

AIX dependencies and limitations

Before installing the agent on AIX systems, install these packages.

bash
zlib
readline
curl
openssl

CAUTION: For curl and openssl packages, you must use the versions provided by the "AIX Toolbox Cryptographic Content" repository, which is available via IBM support. Note that the cURL version must be 7.9.3. Do not use the cURL version in the AIX toolbox package for Linux applications, as that version does not include support for OpenSSL.

To install the bash, zlib, and readline packages on a node directly, run rpm -Uvh with the following URLs. The RPM package provider must be run as root.

If you are behind a firewall or running an http proxy, the above commands might not work. Instead, use the AIX toolbox packages download available from IBM.

GPG verification does not work on AIX, because the RPM version it uses is too old. The AIX package provider doesn't support package downgrades (installing an older package over a newer package). Avoid using leading zeros when specifying a version number for the AIX provide, for example, use 2.3.4 not 02.03.04.

The PE AIX implementation supports the NIM, BFF, and RPM package providers. Check the type reference for technical details on these providers.

Upgrade your operating system with PE installed

If you have PE installed, take extra precautions before performing a major upgrade of your machine's operating system.

Performing major upgrades of your operating system with PE installed can cause errors and issues with PE. A major operating system upgrade is an upgrade to a new whole version, such as an upgrade from CentOS 6.0 to 7.0; it does not refer to a minor version upgrade, like CentOS 6.5 to 6.6. Major upgrades typically require a new version of PE.

Back up your databases and other PE files.
Perform a complete uninstall (using the -p and -d uninstaller options).
Upgrade your operating system.
Install PE.
Restore your backup.