Preface

Puppet is a configuration management tool. It allows you to automate all your IT configurations by giving you the control of what you do to each node (Puppet agent), and also, focusing on when and how you do the configurations. In this context, Puppet is a cross-platform tool that is widely used for Unix-like and Microsoft Windows systems. However, it has been popularly used for Unix-like systems. This book provides insights into using Puppet for Windows administration tasks, such as server setup, application updates, and service management.

This book kicks off with the fundamentals of Puppet by helping you with the installation of Puppet on a Windows Server, and progresses with the introduction of the Foreman interface to manage Puppet nodes. Next, you will deal with the installation of Puppet agents on multiple clients and how to connect them to your Puppet server by grouping your nodes for easy management. Then, you will become familiar with the scripting of Puppet manifests along with an understanding of the module structure in Puppet. You will further move on to the installation of the Puppet Forge modules and their usage in Windows along with advanced topics such as facts, functions, and templates.

Moreover, you will venture into the security aspects for Windows by gaining insights into the various security settings that will make your server and clients more secure from hackers that use different attack vectors. You will also use Puppet and Chocolatey to install and update software.

Finally, you will round off by learning how to check the details of reporting and status monitoring along with the automation of installing and updating software for multiple Windows clients, arming you with ample artillery to tame Puppet for your future projects.