Posted on : 18 May, 2021, 12:29:47 PM

Top 50 Puppet Interview Questions And Answers

Top 50 Puppet Interview Questions And Answers


 

Puppet is becoming one of the most important and widely used DevOps tools worldwide. Big IT companies like Accenture, Microsoft, Cisco, Cognizant, AWS are using puppet software for configuration management.

 

Firms that come under the infrastructure as code refer to using puppet as it automates tasks with repetition, reduces downtime, deploys in less time, and supports various platforms, which raises the employment rate for puppet professionals, but there are high possibilities of asking a beginner to advanced level questions during the interview. 


So, Wissenhive decided to put together the top 50 frequently asked puppet interview questions in this blog to make a path a little easy for learners or interviewees.

 

1. What do you understand by Puppet?

The puppet tool is utilized for configuration management of both Microsoft window and UNIX-based working frameworks. The main objective of Puppet is to make a less complex process for the countless machine administration, more automation, and progressively solid. Puppet uses its own language to represent framework arrangement or framework system and automates administration system tasks.

About Puppet

2. What are the features involved in Puppet?

  • Infrastructure Automation
  • Automated Provisioning
  • Visualization & Reporting
  • Task Management
  • Code Management
  • Orchestration
  • Discovery & Insights

 

3. What are the important commands in the Puppet?

  • Puppet Parser
  • Puppet Help
  • Puppet Server
  • Puppet Apply
  • Puppet Module
  • Puppet Resource
  • Puppet Config
  • Puppet Man
  • Puppet Agent
  • Puppet Cert

 

4. What are store configs?

Storeconfigs refers to a puppet master option that stores the genuine design of the hub to the database by comparing the last aggregation aftereffect against what is inside the database, parameter per parameter, asset per asset, etc.

 

5. How to use store configs?

The main objective of store configs is to export the configs. Exported assets refer to assets, which are prefixed by @@. These assets are extraordinarily checked so they can be founded and collected on a few various hubs. Some of the examples are used for cases like 

  • Disseminate open or Share the open keys (different sorts or OpenSSL or ssh) 
  • Building specific arrangement documents that need various hosts 
  • The hosts building rundown and running a different administrations

 

6. How does Puppet work?

  • The puppet agent helps in sending the detailed facts to the puppet master. The facts referred to a key-value data pair which is represented to some of the slave aspects states, such as its up-time, IP address, virtual machine, or whether it’s an operating system. 
  • It uses the facts that work on compiling the catalogs, which will define how should configure the slave. Catalogis are nothing but documents that focus on describing the desired or ideal state for every resource managed by a puppet master on a slave. 
  • Puppet Slave records and reports back to Master, which shows the completed Configuration that is visible in the Puppet dashboard.

Puppet Work

 

7. Why does Puppet use its own programming language instead of using other programming languages?

Puppet uses its own programming language because it is easy and quickly understood and more declarative for developers compared to other programming languages.

 

8. What are some of the scenarios where Puppet enterprise could be useful?

  • Code Management
  • Provisioning Automation
  • Automation of Configuration
  • Node Management
  • Reporting & Visualization
  • Orchestration

 

9. Differentiate between Puppet and Ansible?

Scope Puppet Ansible
Setup Not Easy Setup Easy Setup
Management Not Easy Management Easy Management
Configuration Language PuppetDSL YAML(Python)
Scalability Advanced Advanced

 

10. What is Puppet architecture?

Puppet supports and follows a Master-Slave architecture. The Puppet Slave helps address and transfer the request to the Puppet Master for building a protected connection and sends master certification also with the Slave Certificate request. Then the puppet slave works on sending the slave certificate to the puppet master with a data request. The puppet master receives the requests and then shifts the configuration on the Puppet Slave.

Puppet Architecture

11. What does the Puppet module work?

Puppet modules refer to a set of data and manifest such as facts, templates, and files. Puppet modules also have a defined structure of the directory, and it also refers to an ideal instrument for organizing the puppet code into various puppet manifests.

Puppet Module Work

12. What are the different plug-ins included in the module?

  • External facts (Static data or executable scripts)
  • Custom fact is written in Ruby programming language
  • Custom resource types and providers
  • Custom Augeas lenses
  • Custom functions are written in the Puppet programming language
  • Custom functions are written in the Ruby programming language
  • Miscellaneous utilization of Ruby code used by different plug-ins

 

13. What is the process of installing modules from the Puppet Forge?

For the installation of modules, use the module install command of puppet with the module's full name that you want. The Forge module's full name is formatted as a username-module name. Such as for the installation of puppetlabs-apache: use "puppet module install puppetlabs-apache."

 

14. What is a Facter in puppet?

In puppet, facter refers to a library that identifies, classifies, and reports about facts that are relevant to every agent in the puppet master. These facts include hardware details, SSH keys, Network settings, Mac addresses, Os type, and version. They were found as variables of the Puppet Master in the Manifests.

 

15. What is Puppet Catalog?

When the node is in the configuration process, Puppet Agent utilizes a document which is known as a catalog, that is downloaded from a Puppet Master. It helps describe the desired state of every resource that needs management and may specify dependency data and information for resources that require control and management in a particular order.

 

16. What are the three facts where stored data are driven in the Puppet catalog?

  • External data details
  • Data provided by the puppet agent
  • Details related to Puppet manifests

 

17. What are the three main sources that puppet uses for compiling the catalog?

  • External data
  • Agent-provided data
  • Puppet manifests

 

18. Differentiate between DevOps from Agile Methodology?

DevOps is a culture that supports the growth, development, and operation teams to work unitedly, which leads to the result in constant evolution, integration, testing, monitoring, and deployment of the software during the life cycle.

Differentiate DevOps from Agile Methodology

 

Agile refers to a methodology used for software development that focuses on incremental, iterative, rapid, and small software releases, along with the customers’ feedback. It also addresses conflicts and gaps between the developers and customers.

Differentiate between DevOps from Agile methodology

19. What is a class in Puppet?

Class is a puppet code block that stores information in modules for later on using purposes. Unless an individual or user invokes classes by name in the Puppet, they can not be applied. Users can add a class to the catalog of the node by allowing it from an ENC. 

It can also be added to the catalog by publishing it in the manifest as they are known and best for configuration of medium and large-sized functionality bits, which includes services required for the application running, all the packages, and all the config files.

 

20. Does the company size matter for working with Puppet?

It is very difficult or impossible to find the particular business size that can take maximum Puppet advantages. However, specific business sizes can take the largest benefits from the usage of Puppet. Companies or Businesses with more numerous servers could definitely obtain major gains and profits from Puppet by reducing multiple tasks that involve manual management. 

On the opposite side, companies that are having fewer servers would not be able to gain much from Puppet. Smaller companies could carry out their server maintenance without using Puppet.

 

21. What is Puppet Labs?

Puppet labs refer to an organization that shows interest in addressing the issues and problems that arise during puppet automation. This organization then modified their old name as Puppet lab as "Puppet.” 

The main objective and goal of Puppet organization are allowing support to each organization so they can improve their software in the servers for serving best to their clients.

 

22. How do Puppet masters communicate with Puppet agent nodes and vice versa?

Puppet masters communicate with Puppet agent nodes, and vice versa totally depends on HTTPS with client verification. The Puppet Master has different endpoints of the HTTP interface. Puppet agents built a request for HTTP to the endpoints for submitting and requesting to the master. In the case of client certification, it implies the requirement for an SSL certificate which helps in identity verification of the other party.

 

23. Explain Stand-Alone Architecture

Stand-alone architecture refers to a process where each managed node has a detailed copy of the info configuration, and they can also compile their catalog. This architecture includes running and management of the Puppet that applies applications on managed nodes. 

The Puppet uses the application as a scheduled duty that can be utilized for smaller configuration responsibilities. It also needs to access the various configuration data sources like the Puppet master application.

Stand Alone Architecture

 

24. What does resource meaning stand for in puppet?

Resources in puppet refer to a fundamental unit for modeling configuration systems that helps in describing the attributes of the system such as a particular package, networking, etc. 

Some examples of user declaration resources

  • home       => '/home/andrew'
  • uid           => '100',
  • gid           => '100',
  • ensure     => present,
  • shell         => '/bin/bash',

 

25. What are the different types of resources in Puppet?

There are three different types of resources included in the puppet.

  • Temporary test environments
  • Permanent test environments
  • Divided infrastructure.

 

26. Why must Puppet consider for business's cloud and servers?

The Puppet tools must consider the business's cloud and servers as the innovative tool that has the potential of defining infrastructure as code. It can manage and handle a massive number of servers in a highly dynamic and efficient manner. It is also considered as one of DevOps' best programs, which is used for enforcing the configuration system. Puppet can be used on Linux, Windows, and other platforms to simultaneously pull the series on several servers of the application.

 

27. How can you upgrade Facter and Puppet?

The operating system's package management system is one of the best approaches for installing, managing, and upgrading Facter and Puppet. Users can either use the repository of their vendor or the public repository in Puppet Lab. In cases of puppet installation from the source. 

In cases of Puppet installation from source, remove the old versions entirely before upgrading them. However, Users do not have to bother about installation processes and configuration data.

 

28. What types of businesses can utilize the Puppet?

There is no definite or particular rule relating to the Puppet application as it is one of the best open-source configuration management tools. But the entities that have a huge quantity of servers will significantly be benefited from utilizing Puppet in the organizational environment. It also makes sure to eliminate the requirement of manual management of the servers of the firm.

 

29. How do the components of the Puppet package fit together?

  • Puppet agent on every node delivers the facts about the configuration of the node, which includes an operating system,  package versions, detailing the hardware, and other detailed information to the Puppet master. In simple words, this works on kicking off the Puppet for running every n minutes (30 by default) and then reporting the changes or different adjustments to the Puppet master.
  • Puppetmaster uses the facts that are provided by the Puppet agent for compiling the detailed information or data about how every node should be configured (known as catalog) and then transferring it back to the Puppet agent.
  • Hiera refers to a hierarchical value/key that is stored for Puppet, which permits users to enable the concern separations by holding code in Puppet and data in Hiera.
  • PuppetDB is a data warehouse that stores data produced by Puppet and enables users to leverage that information with an API.

Puppet Package

 

30. What is Puppet Kick?

In the current version, Puppet kick deprecates the utility that triggers an agent from the Puppet master. As per Ubuntu manuals, it refers to a script that runs to access SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates as a root for connecting machine sets that helps in running the agent and triggering them to run the configurations. 

In addition, Puppet kick also commands for looking up in LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) for matching hosts meeting that configuration, joins with all of them, and triggers for running the configuration. For kicking work, gent should be capable of sense and identify incoming connections and should possess access to grant permission to run endpoints.

 

31. What are some of the cases where the puppets are used?

The puppet tool can be used for multiple scenarios; that's why it is considered very important in the DevOps setting. It is used for providing different configurations to each host. Continuous checking is required to make sure whether the specified and required configuration is in the right place or not. Puppet helps in minimizing the overall effort and cost that are needed to make alterations in a huge number of the system.

 

32. What is a Puppet Manifest?

All the programs of the puppet are written in Ruby programming language, stored with a .pp extension. They are designed with creating and managing intension any host machine in the target is known as a Manifest. It includes files, templates, nodes, classes, and resources.

Puppet Manifest

 

33. Why is the puppet tool currently trending?

With digitalization, Puppet is getting so much attention due to many reasons. A huge number of developers work on adding value to the sources of this management tool because it has a massive user base as more than 30,000 businesses, organizations, companies, and universities are using Puppet for the regular deployment of the tool. 

The best part about the puppet tool is that it can run on various platforms that can easily host Ruby, for example, Oracle Enterprise Linux and Microsoft Windows Server, and can be run on various deployment models such as hybrid, public and private clouds.

 

34. What are the key areas that can improve with the utilization of Puppet?

By executing Puppet in the organizational or business setting, various working areas can be enhanced, developed, and streamlined. Puppet helps and maintains businesses and organizations for strengthening their core infrastructure for maintaining pace with the industry. Puppet also increases the overall consistency and scalability of the enterprise, and the flexibility level can be improved and developed by executing Puppet in the organization's context. 

A firm will be able to efficiently and effectively meet the desired configuration for the relevant machines. The tools of Puppet will also allow organization entities to take a proper insight into infrastructural so that they can efficiently manage a vast number of servers.

 

35. What is the documentation process of manifests?

The puppet language holds a simplistic documentation syntax. Users can also discover the syntax on the Puppet manifest documentation wiki page. The puppet doc command leverages syntax for automated generation of HTML or RDoc documents for manifests and modules.

 

36. What is the functionality of MCollective in Puppet?

Marionette Collective or MCollective refers to a framework used for building automated management, arrangement, and coordination of complex infrastructure, i.e., Servers and systems identified as Orchestration. Clusters Administrative tasks of servers can be automatically executed utilizing MCollective. Their components Middleware, Servers, and Clients.

MCollective in Puppet

 

37. Which command helps in verifying certificate requests from Puppet Slave to the Puppet Master?

The command used for checking and monitoring the certificate signing request lists from Puppet Agent to the Puppet Master is known as the “Puppet cert list.” Users have to run this command on the Puppet master and sign a particular certificate by executing through the “puppet cert sign <Hostname of agent>” command, and for signing all the certificates, use the “puppet cert sign all” command.

 

38. Explain the “etckeeper-commit-pre” and  “etckeeper-commit-post” commands.

  • etckeeper-commit-pre refers to a command written in the configuration file, which performs before pushing the configuration on the agent. 
  • etckeeper-commit-post refers to a command that is written in the configuration file, which performs after pushing the configuration on the agent. 

 

39. What are the top companies that are using Puppet?

  • ANZ Bank
  • Cisco
  • KPN
  • CERN
  • Splunk
  • Google
  • NYSE
  • ICE
  • Aegon UK

 

40. What are the characters that are allowed in the module name, class name, and identifiers?

Class names could have underscores, lowercase letters, and numbers. It always should start with a lowercase letter. The Scope Resolution Operator (“::”) is used for separating namespace for class names. The characters are allowed in the matter of Class names as they are also applicable in the state to define module names.

The rules are also suitable for the definition of parameters and resource types. However, parameters and modules cannot be applied to the namespace operator. Identifiers or Variables are also subjected to specific rules for allowing characters. Variable names are case-sensitive and could cover alphanumeric characters as well as underscores.

 

41. What to expect if an individual doesn’t sign a Contributor License Agreement?

It is a compulsory situation to sign a CLA (Contributor License Agreement) for code contributors to Facter or Puppet, without which the code cannot be allowed. To get and download the Facter or Puppet code written in Ruby programming language, an individual should log in to a GitHub account and then sign an agreement.

 

42. What versions of Ruby does Puppet Support?

There are some particular Ruby versions tested, particularly for the Puppet, while some of the versions are not examined yet. Users can use and run the "ruby -version" command to check the ruby version on their system. Puppet versions after Puppet 4 don't depend on the OS Ruby version as it binds its own environment of Ruby.

But, users can install the puppet agent with Ruby's any version or any system without Ruby's installation as Puppet Enterprise doesn't depend on the Ruby OS version.

 

43. What is codedir in Puppet?

codedir is used by the Puppet master and apply command, but not by the agent. It is the core directory for code and data that works with an environment that includes modules & manifests, Hiera data & configuration, and a global module directory.

 

44. Where does codedir locate Linux and Windows?

The codedir is located at 

  • Linux: /etc/dir/PuppetLabs/code
  • Windows: C:\ProgramData\PuppetLabs\puppet\etc

 

45. What do you understand by Bolt?

Bolt automates setup, management, and coordination of the computer system and services that are related to this, which is processed previously manually and managed the whole organization's infrastructure.

 

46. What do you understand by Hiera?

Hiera refers to a key-value formatted lookup system that is ideal for the data separation in Puppet code. This code uses the system for specific parameter lookup calls for classes from the catalog and uses facts from puppets for identifying the source of data. The 5th version of Hiera supports data files in EYAML, YAML, and JSON formats.

 

47. What do you mean by Virtual Resources in Puppet?

In Puppet, Virtual resources are known as instruments that are used for the specification of a particular resource state. However, It doesn't require the implementation of the particular resource state. Users can declare and maintain virtual resources one time but can recognize them several times.

 

48. What is module-path?

Puppet with master service applies the command where manifests are locally applied, and through modules, they load their content which is installed in the module path of the Puppet from more than one directory. Module-path refers to directories ordered list which is searched by Puppet for modules. A separator character separates these directories from the module path list.

  • In Windows, it is semi-colon (;)
  • In Linux, it is colon (:)

 

49. What is the default value of the module path in Windows and Linux?

  • Windows: $codedir\modules
  • Linux: $codedir/modules:/opt/puppetlabs/puppet/modules

 

50. Where are cache directories located in Puppet?

  • In Windows, the cache directory is located in C:\programed\PuppetLabs\puppet\cache
  • In Linux, the cache directory is located in /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/cache

 

Here, we Wissenhive come to the end of the top 50 most frequently asked Puppet interview questions with this blog. We hope these interview questions will help interviewees in cracking their Puppet Interview.

 

However, if a candidate wishes to brush up on their skills and knowledge, in that case, they can learn Puppet skills from industry experts by enrolling themselves in our Puppet certification courses.


Let us know if you are left with any queries related to Puppet interview questions; mention them in the comment option, and our team will respond to you as soon as possible or call us on our official number to clear your doubts.

 

 

 

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