Puppet Configuration Management Fundamentals

Module 1: Puppet architecture and workflow

• Components and flow Puppet Server, agents, catalogs, reports
• Resource abstraction and idempotence
• Environments and code layout for teams
• Puppet Forge overview for vetted community content

Module 2: Manifest authoring

• Resources and attributes packages, services, files, users
• Classes and parameterized classes for reuse
• Defined types for repeatable building blocks
• Ordering and dependencies with require, notify, before, subscribe

Module 3: Files, templates, and variables

• Managing files and directories with file resources
• Templates with EPP and variable interpolation
• Conditionals and selector patterns for clarity
• Validation and safe defaults to avoid drift

Module 4: Organizing with roles and profiles

• Profiles for technology stacks web, database, messaging
• Roles to map profiles to node purpose
• Node classification options code, ENC, and console
• Version control structure and review practices

Module 5: Hiera and YAML data management

• Separation of code and data and lookup basics
• Hierarchies across environment, site, role, and node
• YAML structure, merge behavior, and secrets integration
• Migrating parameters from manifests to Hiera cleanly

Module 6: Typical platform use cases

• Baseline hardening users, sudo, time sync, packages
• Application deployment file layout, services, notifications
• Service configuration from Hiera without duplication
• Cross node coordination tags, exports, and ordering

Module 7: Operating Puppet in practice

• Agent runs, reports, and basic troubleshooting
• Environment promotion and change control with Git
• Module dependencies and metadata management
• Health signals logs, last run, resource failures

Module 8: Quality and next steps

• Linting and style guidance for readable manifests
• Simple testing approaches on a small scale
• Reusable starter templates for roles and profiles
• Ninety day adoption checklist and improvement plan