What gets installed and where?

On *nix nodes, all software is installed under /opt/puppetlabs.

On Windows nodes, all software is installed in Program Files at Puppet Labs\Puppet.

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/puppetlabs/bin

To make essential Puppet tools available to all users, the installer automatically creates symlinks in /usr/local/bin for the facter, puppet, pe-man, r10k, and hiera binaries. Symlinks are created only if /usr/local/bin is writeable. Users of AIX and Solaris 11 must add /usr/local/bin to their default path.

For macOS agents, symlinks aren't created until the first successful run that applies the agents' catalogs.

puppet_enterprise::manage_symlinks: false

Binaries provided by other software components, such as those for interacting with the PostgreSQL server, PuppetDB, or Ruby packages, do not have symlinks created.

Modules included with the software are installed on the primary server in /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/modules. Don't modify anything in this directory or add modules of your own. Instead, install non-default modules in /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/<environment>/modules.

On *nix nodes, configuration files live at /etc/puppetlabs.

On Windows nodes, configuration files live at <COMMON_APPDATA>\PuppetLabs. The location of this folder varies by Windows version; in 2008 and 2012, its default location is C:\ProgramData\PuppetLabs\puppet\etc.

The agent software's confdir is in the puppet subdirectory. This directory contains the puppet.conf file, auth.conf, and the SSL directory.

• Puppet tools — Tools that control basic functions of the software such as puppet agent and puppet ssl.
• Puppet Server tools — The primary server contains a tool to manage and interact with the provided certificate authority, puppetserver ca.
• Client tools — The pe-client-tools package collects a set of CLI tools that extend the ability for you to access services from the primary server or a workstation. This package includes:
  • Orchestrator — The orchestrator is a set of interactive command line tools that provide the interface to the orchestration service. Orchestrator also enables you to enforce change on the environment level. Tools include puppet job and puppet task.
  • Puppet Access — Users can generate tokens to authenticate their access to certain command line tools and API endpoints.
  • Code Manager CLI — The puppet-code command allows you to trigger Code Manager from the command line to deploy your environments.
  • PuppetDB CLI — This a tool for working with PuppetDB, including building queries and handling exports.
• Module tool — The module tool is used to access and create modules, which are reusable chunks of Puppet code users have written to automate configuration and deployment tasks. For more information, and to access modules, visit the Forge.
• Console — The console is the web user interface for PE. The console provides tools to view and edit resources on your nodes, view reports and activity graphs, and more.

Use the native PostgreSQL tools to perform database exports and imports. At a minimum, perform backups to a remote system nightly, or as dictated by your company policy.

Primary server logs

Code Manager access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/code-manager-access.log

File sync access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/file-sync-access.log

Puppet Communications Protocol (PCP) broker log

This is the log file for PCP brokers on compilers.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/pcp-broker.log

General Puppet Server log

This is where the primary server logs its activity, including compilation errors and deprecation warnings.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/puppetserver.log

Puppet Server access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/puppetserver-access.log

Puppet Server daemon log

This is where you can find fatal errors and crash reports.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/puppetserver-daemon.log

Puppet Server status log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver/puppetserver-status.log

Agent logs

The agent log locations depend on the agent node's operating system.

On Windows nodes, the agent service logs its activity to the Event Log. Browse the Event Viewer to view those messages. You might need to enable Logging and debugging.

Console and console services logs

General console services log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/console-services/console-services.log

Console services API access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/console-services/console-services-api-access.log

Console services access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/console-services-access.log

Console services daemon log

This is where you can find fatal errors and crash reports.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/console-services-daemon.log

NGINX access log

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/nginx/access.log

NGINX error log

Contains console errors that aren't logged elsewhere and errors related to NGINX.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/nginx/error.log

Installer logs

HTTP log

Contains web requests sent to the installer.

Only exists on machines from which a web-based installation was performed.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/installer/http.log

Orchestrator info log

Contains run details about puppet infrastructure commands that use the orchestrator. This includes commands to provision and upgrade compilers, convert legacy compilers, and regenerate agent and compiler certificates.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/installer/orchestrator_info.log

Last installer run logs, by hostname

Contains the contents of the last installer run.

There can be multiple log files, labeled by hostname.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/installer/install_log.lastrun.<HOSTNAME>.log

Installer operation logs, by timestamp

Captures operations performed during installation and any errors that occurred.

There can be multiple log files, labeled by timestamp.

/var/log/puppetlabs/installer/installer-<TIMESTAMP>.log

Disaster recovery command logs, by action, timestamp, and description

Contains details about disaster recovery command execution.

There can be multiple log files for each command because each action triggers multiple Puppet runs (Some on the primary server and some on the replica).

Location:/var/log/puppetlabs/installer/<ACTION-NAME>_<TIMESTAMP>_<RUN-DESCRIPTION>.log

Bolt info log

Can be valuable when Troubleshooting disaster recovery.

Location: /var/log/puppetlabs/installer/bolt_info.log

Database logs

Orchestration logs

These certs can be found at /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/certs.

A certificate with the same name as the agent that runs on the primary server is generated during installation. This certificate is used by PuppetDB and the console.

Services that run on the primary server — for example, pe-orchestration-services and pe-console-services — use the agent certificate to authenticate.

The certificate authority, if active, stores its certificate information at /etc/puppetlabs/puppetserver/ca. You can learn more about the certificate authority service on the PE software architecture page.