[Puppet Users] How to reference a class in site.pp without creating a module?

Hi Max,

Making the module directory structure is pretty easy and will serve you well as you develop your manifest.

mkdir -p /etc/puppet/manifests/jdk/manifests

Then copy your jdk class into init.pp in that new directory.

Alternatively you can add the import clause into site.pp to find your jdk class.

import '*.pp'

That will tell puppet to import any .pp file in the same directory as site.pp.

Regards,
Den

You will need to import your jdk class file in site.pp

Something like this:

import "jdk.pp"

At the top of site.pp

Cheers,
Josh

No, no way to do business at all.



The 'include' function operates on class names, not file names. Unless you
have renamed the class, you should be writing "include 'oracle_java'".

In light of that, it should be clear that the issue is largely one of
instructing Puppet where to find the definition of the class you want to
declare. There are three ways to do that:

1. put the whole class definition (not just the body) in site.pp;
2. 'import' the class's manifest *file* into site.pp; or
3. correctly put the class into a module so that Puppet can find its
manifest automatically.


Why don't you want to create a module? It's the right thing to do.

The other respondents have covered 'import', which is the direct answer to
your question. But don't do that. Creating a module is very simple --
it's basically just a matter of creating a couple of directories. Putting
your class into a module is mostly a matter of putting its file in the
right place, with the right name. To create a one-class module containing
your particular class, simply move /etc/puppet/manifests/jdk.pp to
/etc/puppet/modules/oracle_java/manifests/init.pp. Done.

There's room for refinement, however. Your class references a file whose
source it assumes can be found on the master, in /etc/puppet/files/. It
can continue to do so, but it would be far better to move the source file
into the module, too, so that the whole is, um, modular. To do that, move
/etc/puppet/files/jdk-7u17-linux-x64.tar.gz to
/etc/puppet/module/oracle_java/files/jdk-7u17-linux-x64.tar.gz, and change
the line 'source => "puppet:///files/${file_name}",' to 'source =>
"puppet:///modules/oracle_java/${file_name}",'.

There are further improvements that could be considered, but they go well
beyond the scope of your question. You may need a bit more experience with
Puppet before you are prepared look into such things.


John