Puppet‘s Commands

Puppet’s command line interface consists of a single puppet command with many subcommands.

Puppet’s companion utilities, Facter and Hiera, have their own command line interfaces, which differ slightly from Puppet’s.

Core Services

The following subcommands are the main applications Puppet uses to manage systems. Every user should understand what they do.

Puppet Agent

Puppet agent manages systems, with the help of a puppet master. It requests a configuration catalog from a puppet master server, then ensures that all resources in that catalog are in their desired state.

Puppet Master

Puppet master compiles and serves configuration catalogs for any number of puppet agent nodes, using Puppet modules and various other data sources.

Puppet Apply

Puppet apply manages systems without needing to contact a puppet master server. It compiles its own configuration catalog, using Puppet modules and various other data sources, then immediately applies the catalog.

Administrative Tools

Puppet Cert

Puppet cert helps manage Puppet’s built-in certificate authority (CA). It runs on the same server as the puppet master application. You can use it to sign and revoke agent certificates.

Puppet Module

Puppet module is a multi-purpose tool for working with Puppet modules. It can install and upgrade new modules from the Puppet Forge, help generate new modules, and package modules for public release.

Puppet Resource

Puppet resource lets you interactively inspect and manipulate resources on a system. It can work with any resource type Puppet knows about.

Puppet Config

Puppet config lets you view and change Puppet’s settings.

Full List of Subcommands

Puppet has other subcommands, most of which aren’t as generally useful as the ones listed above. For a complete list, see:

• List of Puppet’s Subcommands

Puppet's Commands 3.7