Provided by: puppet-common_3.4.3-1ubuntu1.3_all 
NAME
puppet-agent - The puppet agent daemon
SYNOPSIS
Retrieves the client configuration from the puppet master and applies it to the local host.
This service may be run as a daemon, run periodically using cron (or something similar), or run
interactively for testing purposes.
USAGE
puppet agent [--certname name] [-D|--daemonize|--no-daemonize] [-d|--debug] [--detailed-exitcodes]
[--digest digest] [--disable [message]] [--enable] [--fingerprint] [-h|--help] [-l|--logdest
syslog|file|console] [--no-client] [--noop] [-o|--onetime] [-t|--test] [-v|--verbose] [-V|--version]
[-w|--waitforcert seconds]
DESCRIPTION
This is the main puppet client. Its job is to retrieve the local machine´s configuration from a remote
server and apply it. In order to successfully communicate with the remote server, the client must have a
certificate signed by a certificate authority that the server trusts; the recommended method for this, at
the moment, is to run a certificate authority as part of the puppet server (which is the default). The
client will connect and request a signed certificate, and will continue connecting until it receives one.
Once the client has a signed certificate, it will retrieve its configuration and apply it.
USAGE NOTES
´puppet agent´ does its best to find a compromise between interactive use and daemon use. Run with no
arguments and no configuration, it will go into the background, attempt to get a signed certificate, and
retrieve and apply its configuration every 30 minutes.
Some flags are meant specifically for interactive use -- in particular, ´test´, ´tags´ or ´fingerprint´
are useful. ´test´ enables verbose logging, causes the daemon to stay in the foreground, exits if the
server´s configuration is invalid (this happens if, for instance, you´ve left a syntax error on the
server), and exits after running the configuration once (rather than hanging around as a long-running
process).
´tags´ allows you to specify what portions of a configuration you want to apply. Puppet elements are
tagged with all of the class or definition names that contain them, and you can use the ´tags´ flag to
specify one of these names, causing only configuration elements contained within that class or definition
to be applied. This is very useful when you are testing new configurations -- for instance, if you are
just starting to manage ´ntpd´, you would put all of the new elements into an ´ntpd´ class, and call
puppet with ´--tags ntpd´, which would only apply that small portion of the configuration during your
testing, rather than applying the whole thing.
´fingerprint´ is a one-time flag. In this mode ´puppet agent´ will run once and display on the console
(and in the log) the current certificate (or certificate request) fingerprint. Providing the ´--digest´
option allows to use a different digest algorithm to generate the fingerprint. The main use is to verify
that before signing a certificate request on the master, the certificate request the master received is
the same as the one the client sent (to prevent against man-in-the-middle attacks when signing
certificates).
OPTIONS
Note that any configuration parameter that´s valid in the configuration file is also a valid long
argument. For example, ´server´ is a valid configuration parameter, so you can specify ´--server
servername´ as an argument.
See the configuration file documentation at
http://docs.puppetlabs.com/references/stable/configuration.html for the full list of acceptable
parameters. A commented list of all configuration options can also be generated by running puppet agent
with ´--genconfig´.
--certname
Set the certname (unique ID) of the client. The master reads this unique identifying string, which
is usually set to the node´s fully-qualified domain name, to determine which configurations the
node will receive. Use this option to debug setup problems or implement unusual node
identification schemes.
--daemonize
Send the process into the background. This is the default.
--no-daemonize
Do not send the process into the background.
--debug
Enable full debugging.
--detailed-exitcodes
Provide transaction information via exit codes. If this is enabled, an exit code of ´2´ means
there were changes, an exit code of ´4´ means there were failures during the transaction, and an
exit code of ´6´ means there were both changes and failures.
--digest
Change the certificate fingerprinting digest algorithm. The default is SHA256. Valid values
depends on the version of OpenSSL installed, but will likely contain MD5, MD2, SHA1 and SHA256.
--disable
Disable working on the local system. This puts a lock file in place, causing ´puppet agent´ not to
work on the system until the lock file is removed. This is useful if you are testing a
configuration and do not want the central configuration to override the local state until
everything is tested and committed.
Disable can also take an optional message that will be reported by the ´puppet agent´ at the next
disabled run.
´puppet agent´ uses the same lock file while it is running, so no more than one ´puppet agent´
process is working at a time.
´puppet agent´ exits after executing this.
--enable
Enable working on the local system. This removes any lock file, causing ´puppet agent´ to start
managing the local system again (although it will continue to use its normal scheduling, so it
might not start for another half hour).
´puppet agent´ exits after executing this.
--fingerprint
Display the current certificate or certificate signing request fingerprint and then exit. Use the
´--digest´ option to change the digest algorithm used.
--help Print this help message
--logdest
Where to send messages. Choose between syslog, the console, and a log file. Defaults to sending
messages to syslog, or the console if debugging or verbosity is enabled.
--no-client
Do not create a config client. This will cause the daemon to start but not check configuration
unless it is triggered with puppet kick. This only makes sense when puppet agent is being run with
listen = true in puppet.conf or was started with the --listen option.
--noop Use ´noop´ mode where the daemon runs in a no-op or dry-run mode. This is useful for seeing what
changes Puppet will make without actually executing the changes.
--onetime
Run the configuration once. Runs a single (normally daemonized) Puppet run. Useful for
interactively running puppet agent when used in conjunction with the --no-daemonize option.
--test Enable the most common options used for testing. These are ´onetime´, ´verbose´, ´ignorecache´,
´no-daemonize´, ´no-usecacheonfailure´, ´detailed-exit-codes´, ´no-splay´, and ´show_diff´.
--verbose
Turn on verbose reporting.
--version
Print the puppet version number and exit.
--waitforcert
This option only matters for daemons that do not yet have certificates and it is enabled by
default, with a value of 120 (seconds). This causes ´puppet agent´ to connect to the server every
2 minutes and ask it to sign a certificate request. This is useful for the initial setup of a
puppet client. You can turn off waiting for certificates by specifying a time of 0.
EXAMPLE
$ puppet agent --server puppet.domain.com
DIAGNOSTICS
Puppet agent accepts the following signals:
SIGHUP Restart the puppet agent daemon.
SIGINT and SIGTERM
Shut down the puppet agent daemon.
SIGUSR1
Immediately retrieve and apply configurations from the puppet master.
SIGUSR2
Close file descriptors for log files and reopen them. Used with logrotate.
AUTHOR
Luke Kanies
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2011 Puppet Labs, LLC Licensed under the Apache 2.0 License
Puppet Labs, LLC January 2013 PUPPET-AGENT(8)