Open Source Puppet Installation Instructions

Downloading and installing open source Puppet

Step 1: Plan and prepare

Just like Puppet Enterprise, Puppet Open Source is a powerful tool and requires a few key preparations for proper installation. To get started, it’s important to define the following:

• Determine which server should act as the Puppet master (the Puppet master is a Ruby application that compiles configurations for any number of Puppet agent nodes, using Puppet code and various other data sources).
• Ensure your network and servers are prepared for Puppet by following a few key pre-install instructions:
  • Decide on a server deployment type.
    • The fastest and easiest way to get started with Puppet is with PUPPERWARE, our Docker Compose-based stack. If you’ve got Docker and want to get started, just
      • clone the repo https://github.com/puppetlabs/pupperware
      • run docker-compose up
      • continue with step 3
    • If you don’t have Docker or need to run “closer to the metal”, you can set up your server infrastructure using traditional operating system-specific packages. Read the docs for details.

Installing Puppet Agents

Once Puppet Server is installed and configured, install the Puppet agent package on the nodes you want Puppet to manage:

• Linux (including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (and its derivatives), Fedora, Ubuntu, and Debian)
• OS X
• Microsoft Windows

Start Automating

Now that you’re ready to go, you’ll need to make Puppet actually manage some configuration! If you don’t already have a problem you’re trying to automate, a good starting place is with common system services like NTP and sudoers. We have helpful quick start guides for these services to get you up and running quickly using modules from the Puppet Forge.

To learn more about using Puppet, check out our new training course: Getting Started with Puppet.

Related information

To install Puppet Enterprise, our supported commercial offering, see the Puppet Enterprise User’s Guide.