The Art & Zen of Managing Nagios with Puppet
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The document discusses the integration of Puppet with Nagios for configuration management, emphasizing why such systems are crucial in managing numerous nodes within IT operations. It highlights key features of Puppet such as exported resources, hiera, inline templates, and Nagios resource types which enhance monitoring capabilities and streamline the configuration process. Additionally, it outlines the use of a GitHub repository for testing Puppet code and invites contributions to develop a Puppet Forge module for improved provisioning and resource management.
The Art & Zen of Managing Nagios with Puppet
- 1. The Art and Zen of Managing Nagios with Puppet Michael Merideth - VictorOps
- 2. Puppet and Nagios • Why use config management? • Using Puppet with Nagios: • Client-generated config • Server-generated config • Data separation • Provisioning and de-provisioning • Monitoring Puppet • Demo Time!
- 3. Why Config Management? The age of virtualization • IT pros, even at startups, are managing hundreds of nodes per person • There are simply too many running OSes for most shops to manage manually • Config management solves the problems of drift and inconsistency • Config management becomes living documentation
- 4. DevOps and Config Management DevOps from an IT perspective: • Infrastructure as code • SCM as an IT workflow tool • Continuous integration • Unit testing • Integration testing • Letting the developers into the sandbox
- 5. Key Puppet Features • Exported Resources • Hiera • Inline Templates • Facter • Nagios Resource Types • Puppet Forge
- 6. Key Puppet Features Exported Resources: • A resource gets defined on one host, and implemented on another • Requires the use of PuppetDB, which means a Puppet Master • Saves having to use shared storage or insecure file transfers • Keeps the number of config files low
- 7. Key Puppet Features Hiera: • Separate code from data • Set defaults and provide overrides • Encrypted back-ends mean security, even if your source code is stolen
- 8. Key Puppet Features Inline Templates: • Not just for file content • Allows the use of native Ruby code within Puppet policy
- 9. Key Puppet Features Facter: • Variable values defined at run-time, on the client • Easily extensible
- 10. Key Puppet Features Nagios Resource Types: • Makes creating Nagios configs dead simple • Enforces correct syntax • Not suitable for every config in every file • Warning: these will probably get deprecated and moved to a PuppetForge module
- 11. Key Puppet Features Puppet Forge: • A public repository of Puppet modules • Modules can be libraries, defined resource types, or classes • OMG CAUTION: 3rd party submissions are not guaranteed by Puppet Labs
- 12. Why Not Use an Existing Module? There are several user-submitted Nagios modules in the Forge, but I wanted one that would: • Automatically add new hosts • Provision some services within other modules • Automatically remove decommissioned hosts • Make use of host and service groups
- 13. Putting It All Together Hiera defines the variables • Sane defaults for most values • Environment-specific overrides (dev, staging, production) • Site-specific overrides for different datacenters
- 14. Putting It All Together Clients build their own config: • Each client figures out its own hostgroup memberships • Array is built with an inline template • Other facts integrate into the host definition • NRPE config built from a common template
- 15. Putting It All Together Special service definitions get embedded with the service module • A change to a service means a change to how you monitor it • Manage that all in one place
- 16. Putting It All Together Common service definitions are templatized • Not everything needs to get built dynamically • Some services are monitored on all hosts • Less dynamic config means shorter catalog compilation • Templates can be easier to debug
- 17. Ugly Hack Alert Dynamic files get built every run, installed if there’s a diff • Allows keeping backup directories with previous versions of the configs • Allows automatic removal of decommissioned hosts • Prevents excessive Nagios restarts
- 18. Sidebar: Monitoring Puppet On the Puppet master: • Apache and passenger processes • PuppetDB processes • Optionally puppet-dashboard or Foreman processes On the client: • Watch file age on last_run_summary.yaml
- 19. The Demo Environment Vagrant • AWESOME way to test Puppet code as you develop Github repository • Contains Vagrantfile and complete Puppet policy • github.com/victorops/puppet-nagios
- 20. • Running low on slides, so it must be… Demo Time!
- 21. The Demo Environment github.com/victorops/puppet-nagios • Check it out! • Contribute! • Or fork it! I don’t mind! • Help work towards a Puppet Forge module: • Cleaner Foreman provisioning • More types of config resources • Cross platform support • Documentation