Upgrade cautions

These are the major changes to PE since the last long-term support release, 2021.7. Review these recommendations and plan accordingly before upgrading to this version.

Update `puppet_agent` module to support AIX

If you use the puppet_agent module and have the agent installed on any AIX nodes, then before you upgrade to PE 2023.y, you must ensure that you are using puppet_agent module version 4.18.0 or later. This ensures that the puppet_agent module identifies the correct directory for AIX resources and your AIX agents function as expected.

r10k upgrade in PE 2023.4 and later

In PE 2023.4 and later, r10k is updated to version 4.0, which includes new dependencies for Puppet 8. Before attempting upgrade, review the following information and make any necessary changes to your settings, Puppetfile Ruby code, local repo permissions, and known_hosts file.

Starting in PE 2023.4, if you use Code Manager or r10k, with SSH protocol for remote Git repository access, you must set up SSH host key verification.
Important: Omitting to set up SSH host key verification for Code Manager or r10k causes code management and deployment processes to fail.

To manage the known_hosts file and enable host key verification for Code Manager or r10k, you must define the puppet_enterprise::profile::master::r10k_known_hosts parameter with an array of hashes specifying "name", "type", and"key" with your hostname, key type, and public key, respectively.
For more information about how to set up SSH host key verification, see the following topics:
- If you use Code Manager, see Enable Code Manager.
- If you use r10k as your code deployment tool, see Configure r10k.
Starting in version 4.0, r10k no longer accesses repos on local file systems not owned by the pe-puppet user. If you use r10k on the local file system, ensure that your control repo and module repos are owned by the pe-puppet user.
Git-based modules no longer have a default reference such as master. Now, when pointing to Git-based modules, you must specify the branches or revisions. Alternatively, you can use the global default_ref setting to manually set your default reference.
By default, the exclude_spec setting is now set to true so that spec directories are automatically deleted from Git-based sources.
If you use your own Ruby install, note that r10k 4.0 drops support for Ruby versions 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5.
The purge_whitelist setting has been removed. Instead, you can use purge_allowlist when manually configuring r10k 4.0.
The protected method basedir is removed from the Puppetfile @librarian instance. Protected methods should no longer be used in Puppetfile. However, if you require a temporary workaround, you can use the environment_name accessor.

Logback upgrades in PE 2023.4 and later

In PE 2023.4, logback is upgraded to version 1.3.7, and in PE 2023.6 and later, it is upgraded to version 1.3.14. Using a Java argument, the logappender variable is now set by default to F1 for all projects. If you customize this setting, to avoid disruptions in logging, ensure that all logappender variable references are correctly defined. Using invalid appender references or omitting to use a reference causes logback versions 1.3.7 and 1.3.14 to stop logging.

Java 17 upgrade in PE 2023.0 and later

PE 2023.0 and later includes an upgrade from Java version 11 to version 17. With this upgrade, PE uses the G1 garbage collector by default, instead of Parallel.

Thoroughly test PE 2023.y in a non-production environment before upgrading if you customized PE Java services or you use plug-ins that include Java code.

FIPS-enabled PE 2023.0 and later can't use the default system cert store

FIPS-compliant builds running PE 2023.0 and later can't use the default system cert store, which is used automatically with some reporting services. This setting is configured by the report_include_system_store Puppet parameter that ships with PE.

Removing the puppet-cacerts file (located at /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/puppet-cacerts) can allow a report processor that eagerly loads the system store to continue with a warning that the file is missing.

If HTTP clients require external certs, we recommend using a custom cert store containing only the necessary certs. You can create this cert store by concatenating existing pem files and configuring the ssl_trust_store Puppet parameter to point to the new cert store.

Puppet upgrade in 2023.4 and later

PE 2023.4 introduced a new major version of Puppet. Consider the information presented here about changes in Puppet 8 that might impact your Puppet Enterprise installation, and plan accordingly before upgrading.

Legacy facts no longer collected or sent to Puppet Server

Puppet 8 completes the transition away from legacy facts, which were deprecated in Puppet 7. Starting in Puppet 8, legacy facts are no longer collected or sent to the Puppet Server. Instead of using legacy facts, which were written as key-value pairs, Puppet 8 now uses structured facts, which are array and hash data structures.

Starting in PE 2023.4, to help ensure that nodes are classified correctly, the PE node classifier service examines your node group rules and automatically replaces most legacy facts with exact equivalent structured facts.

Restriction: Some legacy facts cannot be mapped to an exact equivalent structured fact, so they must be manually removed or replaced by a close equivalent structured fact. The classifier generates warning messages in the logs prompting you to remove or replace any unmappable legacy facts that are included in your node group rules. For a list of unmappable legacy facts together with close equivalent structured facts you can use, see the table below.

Important: Starting in PE 2023.4, the installer examines your existing node group rules and if any unmappable legacy facts are found, the installation process stops with a warning. To proceed with installation, you can manually replace or remove unmappable legacy facts and re-run the installer.

To avoid disruptions associated with legacy facts, take the following actions as required.

If you have Puppet code containing legacy facts, you can use the legacy_facts plugin in the puppet-lint tool to automatically convert any legacy facts that map to an exact equivalent structured fact.
If legacy facts are referenced in your Embedded Ruby (ERB) templates, your Embedded Puppet (EPP) templates, or in your Hiera configuration file, you must manually find those legacy facts and either remove them or replace them with exact or close equivalent structured facts.
If you plan to use any of the /v*/classified/nodes endpoints, you must enter structured facts to obtain accurate results.
If unmappable legacy facts are included in any of your PE node group rules or in any Puppet code you use, you must manually remove those legacy facts or replace them with close equivalent structured facts. See the table below for more information.

The following table lists the unmappable legacy facts that cannot be automatically converted by the PE classifier or the legacy_facts plugin in the puppet-lint tool. You can manually replace these unmappable legacy facts with their respective close equivalent structured facts.


Unmappable legacy fact	Close equivalent structured facts
`memoryfree_mb` Returned a double specifying the size of the free system memory, in mebibytes.	`$facts['memory']['system'][available']` or `$facts['memory']['system']['available_bytes']` See Facter documentation on memory.
`memorysize_mb` Returned a double specifying the size of the total system memory, in mebibytes.	`$facts['memory']['system']['total']` or `$facts['memory']['system']['total_bytes']` See Facter documentation on memory.
`swapfree_mb` Returned a string specifying the size of the free swap memory, in mebibytes.	`$facts['memory']['swap']['available']` or `$facts['memory']['swap']['available_bytes']` See Facter documentation on memory.
`swapsize_mb` Returned a string specifying the size of the total swap memory, in mebibytes.	`$facts['memory']['swap']['used']` or `$facts['memory']['swap']['used_bytes']` See Facter documentation on memory.
`blockdevices` Returned a string containing all block devices separated by a comma.	Can be replicated using puppetlabs/stdlib and the following: `join(keys($facts['disks']), ',')`
`interfaces` Returned a string containing all interfaces separated by a comma.	Can be replicated using puppetlabs/stdlib and the following: `join(keys($facts['networking']['interfaces']), ',')`
`zones` Returned a string containing all zone names separated by a comma.	Can be replicated using puppetlabs/stdlib and the following: `join(keys($facts['solaris_zones']['zones']), ',')`
`sshfp_dsa` Returned a string containing both the SHA1 and SHA256 fingerprint for the DSA algorithm.	Can be replicated using the following string: `"$facts['ssh']['dsa']['fingerprints']['sha1'] $facts['ssh']['dsa']['fingerprints']['sha256']"` See Facter documentation on SSH.
`sshfp_ecdsa` Returned a string containing both the SHA1 and SHA256 fingerprint for the ECDSA algorithm.	Can be replicated using the following string: `"$facts['ssh']['ecdsa']['fingerprints']['sha1'] $facts['ssh']['ecdsa']['fingerprints']['sha256']"` See Facter documentation on SSH.
`sshfp_ed25519` Returned a string containing both the SHA1 and SHA256 fingerprint for the Ed25519 algorithm.	Can be replicated using the following string: `"$facts['ssh']['ed25519']['fingerprints']['sha1'] $facts['ssh']['ed25519']['fingerprints']['sha256']"` See Facter documentation on SSH.
`sshfp_rsa` Returned a string containing both the SHA1 and SHA256 fingerprint for the RSA algorithm.	Can be replicated using the following string: `"$facts['ssh']['rsa']['fingerprints']['sha1'] $facts['ssh']['rsa']['fingerprints']['sha256']"` See Facter documentation on SSH.

Strict mode enabled by default

Starting in Puppet 8, strict validation is enabled by default through the strict=error and strict_variables=true settings in puppet.conf. With these default settings, if your Puppet code does not conform to strict rules, then catalog compilation fails with an error. To avoid disruption, consider the following points and manually update your code where necessary.

Automatic type coercion is not allowed in strict mode. For example, a string such as “1”+1 in your Puppet code cannot be automatically converted to a numeric. For more information about automatic type coercion see, Automatic coercion in the Open Source Puppet documentation.
Unknown variables are not permitted with the default strict mode settings in Puppet 8. For example, if you use modules that contain unknown variables, catalog compilations will fail. Before upgrading PE, review your puppetserver.log files and address the issues identified in any existing warnings about unknown variables. Resolving issues helps ensure that existing warnings do not become fatal errors after you run the upgrade.
If your Hiera code references legacy facts in top-level variables, then those variables cannot be defined because Puppet agents no longer collect or send legacy facts. When top-level variables are undefined, strict validation causes Hiera lookups to fail. For example, when strict mode is enabled, a lookup error occurs with the following hierarchy:
```
hierarchy:
  - name: "osfamily"
    path: "%{osfamily}.yaml"
```
To avoid Hiera lookup failures, replace the legacy fact with the equivalent structured fact as follows:
```
hierarchy:
  - name: "osfamily"
    path: "%{facts.os.family}.yaml".
```
If a hierarchy currently references an optional fact, you must use the facts hash as follows to ensure that the Hiera lookup proceeds to the common layer when agents omit the fact:
```
hierarchy:
  - name: "optional"
    path: "%{facts.optional}.yaml"
  - name: "common"
    path: "common.yaml".
```

If you want to permit automatic type coercions after upgrading, you can disable strict mode in the console:

Click Node groups > PE Infrastructure > PE Agent.
Select the Classes tab and locate the puppet_enterprise::profile::agent class.
From the Parameter name dropdown, select strict and enter "warning" as the value.
Click Add to node group and commit your changes.

Alternatively, you can disable strict mode using the CLI:

On the Puppet Server host, run puppet config set strict warning --section main.
Restart the pe-puppetserver service by running systemctl restart pe-puppetserver.

If you want to permit unknown variables after upgrading, you must change the strict_variables setting to false on all nodes that run pe-puppetserver. You can do this by running the following tasks on the Puppet Server host:

puppet task run puppet_conf \
  --params '{"action":"set","setting":"strict_variables","value":"false"}' \
  --query 'resources[certname] { type = "Class" and title = "Puppet_enterprise::Profile::Master" }

puppet task run service name=pe-puppetserver action=restart \
  --query 'resources[certname] { type = "Class" and title = "Puppet_enterprise::Profile::Master" }'

Important: If you disable strict mode settings, you must still ensure that you remove all references to legacy facts from your global layer, environment layer, and module layer hiera.yaml files. Otherwise, Hiera lookups will return corrupted data to compilers.

Lazy resolution of deferred data types

In Puppet 7, Deferred data types were resolved eagerly at the beginning of the agent run. However, in Puppet 8, the Deferred data type instructs the agent to call functions dynamically during the Puppet run. This functionality is particularly useful for tasks like retrieving a password from a secret store over HTTPS and saving it in a configuration file.

During the Puppet run in Puppet 8, the agent sequentially executes deferred functions based on their order within resource declarations. If a deferred function requires any resources, like an SDK necessary to interact with a secret store, these dependencies can be automatically managed before the deferred function is executed.

After upgrading to Puppet 8, if you encounter Puppet run errors due to resource compatibility issues in your Puppet code, you can turn on the preprocess_deferred setting so the agent calls deferred functions and identifies dependency errors before a Puppet run starts.

To turn on the preprocess_deferred setting:

In the PE console, click Node groups > PE Infrastructure > PE Agent.
Select the Classes tab and locate the puppet_enterprise::profile::agent class.
From the Parameter name dropdown, select preprocess_deferred and enter true as the value.
Click Add to node group and commit your changes.

Ruby version upgrade

The upgrade to Ruby 3.2 in Puppet 8 might result in compatibility issues that affect Puppet extensions in your code. To check compatibility, use the latest version of PDK to update and test your modules.

OpenSSL version upgrade

Puppet 8 includes OpenSSL 3.0. This upgrade might result in compatibility issues when the agent is connecting to other servers in your environment. To avoid SSL errors, ensure that the OpenSSL version used by your servers is updated to OpenSSL 3.0.

Hiera 3 gem removed

All deprecated Hiera 3 functionality is implemented in Hiera 5, which is included in Puppet 8. If your PE infrastructure relies on a custom Hiera 3 backend, you must manually install the Hiera 3 gem on all Puppet Server hosts or convert your backend to Hiera 5. For further information, see Upgrading to Hiera 5.

PSON removed

In previous releases, Pure JavaScript Open Notation (PSON) was used in Puppet to serialize data for transmission. PSON was deprecated in Puppet 7 and is removed in Puppet 8.

Platforms removed in 2023.0 and later

Platforms that were previously deprecated have been removed in PE 2023.0 and later.

Before upgrading, remove the pe_repo::platform class for these operating systems from the PE Master node group in the console, and from your code and Hiera.

Platforms removed in 2023.0
Removed primary server platforms: CentOS 8
Removed agent platforms: CentOS 8; Debian 9; Fedora 32; Fedora 34; Ubuntu 16.04
Removed client tools platforms: No client tools platforms removed.
Removed patching platforms: Debian 9; Fedora 34

For information about supported platforms, see:

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