Installing RT via Puppet

RT Users
1

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

2

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Surely it’s just a matter of having the puppet manifest install an appropriate RT_SiteConfig.pm, and any local customisations hierarchy?

Assuming you’re just talking about configuring the web front end, that is. Having it automatically set up the database as well probably isn’t something I’d do.

We use cfengine here rather than puppet, but I don’t configure RT with it. My RT runs in a virtual machine, and if I want new copies of it for testing or whatever, I just clone the VM.

Tim

The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is operated by Genome Research
Limited, a charity registered in England with number 1021457 and a
company registered in England with number 2742969, whose registered
office is 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE.

3

Hi, hope you dont mind me asking is there a good reference to some one who is starting

Thanks and Regards

I’m not 100% sure what you mean - do you mean starting to use Request Tracker, or starting to use Puppet??

Thanks

4

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Surely it’s just a matter of having the puppet manifest install an appropriate RT_SiteConfig.pm, and any local customisations hierarchy?

Assuming you’re just talking about configuring the web front end, that is. Having it automatically set up the database as well probably isn’t something I’d do.

We use cfengine here rather than puppet, but I don’t configure RT with it. My RT runs in a virtual machine, and if I want new copies of it for testing or whatever, I just clone the VM.

Tim

Good Afternoon Tim,

Thanks for your reply. I want to configure everything - I would much rather it be a community effort, rather than just me one guy, and then I end up having to maintain it. I mean, I don’t mind, it’s just that I want the knowledge to be shared beyond one person.

cfengine? Hmm… that word is blasphemy in the Puppet World!

Everyone Else - Would anyone like to join me in creating a Puppet Module for installing Request Tracker? - I can be found on Google Plus, (misteritguru@gmail.com)

5

You’ll need modules for the various components like apache, database,
and finally request-tracker itself. Deployment will certainly be much
easier if you’re installing RT from packages rather than source since
dependencies, user and group creation, are taken care of.

I haven’t written a module yet but it’s on my very large todo list.
There is a module on GitHub,
GitHub - lurdan/puppet-requesttracker, which is Debian
specific and after a quick review of the init.pp it’s incomplete, IMO.
That might be a good starting point for you.On 08/27/2012 08:27 PM, Mr IT Guru wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first.
Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state
management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For
those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t
any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of
looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

Darin Perusich
Email: Darin.Perusich@ctg.com
Office: 716-888-3690
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to which
it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any
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in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the
intended recipient is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient of this
message, please contact the sender and delete this material from this computer.

6

Thanks Darin!!!

It’s been on my massive todo list for over a year! - I have to start ticking boxes, and getting things done!

I will take a look at the link you provided me. I use Google Plus (misteritguru@gmail.com), so anyone with any comments please feel free to look me up, (note, I am yet to add my gmx.com email to my Google+). It would be nice to collaborate with the community again. (Plain old email also works)

Darin, I’m sure your a pretty busy - But I’ll post updates and maybe you can take a look.

If there is anyone else interested please feel free to get in touch. I hope the list admins do not feel that this is off topic - My clients just will not tolerate downtime that can be measured in minutes, so I’d like to know that I can spin up my favourite stacks with minimal effort and downtime - I’m sure other system admins will agree.

ThanksOn 28 Aug 2012, at 13:23, Darin Perusich Darin.Perusich@ctg.com wrote:

You’ll need modules for the various components like apache, database,
and finally request-tracker itself. Deployment will certainly be much
easier if you’re installing RT from packages rather than source since
dependencies, user and group creation, are taken care of.

I haven’t written a module yet but it’s on my very large todo list.
There is a module on GitHub,
GitHub - lurdan/puppet-requesttracker, which is Debian
specific and after a quick review of the init.pp it’s incomplete, IMO.
That might be a good starting point for you.

On 08/27/2012 08:27 PM, Mr IT Guru wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first.
Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state
management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For
those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t
any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of
looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

7

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

Thanks
RobertOn Aug 27, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

8

WOOHOO!

I was planning on starting a github repo - Is there any other way to work as a community! :slight_smile:

It would be nice if we could have some more contributors.

Your very welcome to help out Robert, your contributions would be nice!

Thanks,On 28 Aug 2012, at 13:47, Robert Blackwell robert@robertblackwell.com wrote:

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

Thanks
Robert

On Aug 27, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

9

I just made a new organization called rtcommunity and put up the first
repo for puppet.

My hope is more things will land there then just the puppet manifest.

RobertOn Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 8:49 AM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

WOOHOO!

I was planning on starting a github repo - Is there any other way to work as a community! :slight_smile:

It would be nice if we could have some more contributors.

Your very welcome to help out Robert, your contributions would be nice!

Thanks,

On 28 Aug 2012, at 13:47, Robert Blackwell robert@robertblackwell.com wrote:

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

Thanks
Robert

On Aug 27, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

10

Hi all,On 28.08.2012 14:41, Mr IT Guru wrote:

Darin, I’m sure your a pretty busy - But I’ll post updates and maybe you can take a look.

If there is anyone else interested please feel free to get in touch. I hope the list admins do not feel that this is off topic - My clients just will not tolerate downtime that can be measured in minutes, so I’d like to know that I can spin up my favourite stacks with minimal effort and downtime - I’m sure other system admins will agree.

Thanks
I think it’s a good topic. Important IMHO is to take the multiple
scenarios into account in which RT can be found.
I’ll observe the progress and might also start contributing as puppet is
a hot topic at ours atm.

Greetings,
LR

11

Hi all,

Darin, I’m sure your a pretty busy - But I’ll post updates and maybe you can take a look.

If there is anyone else interested please feel free to get in touch. I hope the list admins do not feel that this is off topic - My clients just will not tolerate downtime that can be measured in minutes, so I’d like to know that I can spin up my favourite stacks with minimal effort and downtime - I’m sure other system admins will agree.

Thanks
I think it’s a good topic. Important IMHO is to take the multiple scenarios into account in which RT can be found.
I’ll observe the progress and might also start contributing as puppet is a hot topic at ours atm.

Greetings,
LR

The more the merrier - Thank you for speaking up Lars. I don’t want to make any promises with dates and stuff like that, until I get some code on paper, and shared out to others. I’ve only personally considered the most basic install, but it would be nice to have some other goals as well.

Thanks,

12

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1On 8/28/12 8:47 AM, Robert Blackwell wrote:

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we
can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

I’m the person who wrote the puppet code that Robert is referring to
that manages RT on CentOS. It has been on my list to publish this once
it’s ready. At the moment, it will probably be considered ugly,
un-idiomatic, incomplete and not sufficiently generic… however, it
is currently capable of building a relocatable RT instance from a
recent RT repository tag and installing some RT extensions.

I need to clean it up to:

  • remove some company-specific code/details
  • cope better with perl module dependencies that I currently deal with
    by having a local, company specific yum repo.
  • correct the documentation
  • use puppet forge conventions for publishing modules

And I need to publish another puppet module that I have written that
is a dependency: pgsiserver. But it’s coming and hopefully sooner
rather than later.

Duncan Hutty
http://www.allgoodbits.org

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13

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we
can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

I’m the person who wrote the puppet code that Robert is referring to
that manages RT on CentOS. It has been on my list to publish this once
it’s ready. At the moment, it will probably be considered ugly,
un-idiomatic, incomplete and not sufficiently generic… however, it
is currently capable of building a relocatable RT instance from a
recent RT repository tag and installing some RT extensions.

I need to clean it up to:

  • remove some company-specific code/details
  • cope better with perl module dependencies that I currently deal with
    by having a local, company specific yum repo.
  • correct the documentation
  • use puppet forge conventions for publishing modules

And I need to publish another puppet module that I have written that
is a dependency: pgsiserver. But it’s coming and hopefully sooner
rather than later.

Duncan Hutty
http://www.allgoodbits.org

Good Evening Duncan!

Thanks for dropping a line on the list. It would be great to have some discussions off list, I guess along with any other interested parties, on what angle you took to solve this tas. My thinking is that the more eyes that look at a problem, and the more different ways employed to solve it should have the net effect of making everyone a bit smarter in the long run.

I hadn’t even though about installing extensions via puppet, but of course, it makes sense!

I also think that it could be a good community thing if we could collaboratively build something that benefits all, so I do look forward to getting something out there.

Thanks

14

Thanks for dropping a line on the list. It would be great to have
some discussions off list, I guess along with any other interested
parties, on what angle you took to solve this tas.

rt-devel would be a perfectly fine place for discussing this project.

rt-users isn’t the wrong place, but I suspect you’ll soon get to
implementation details that most folks don’t care for. :wink:

15

Good Evening Robert,

Thanks for the repo! - I think I’ll have to make get a copy of that, and get this party started!

Mr Guru
Google+ – misteritguru@gmail.comOn 28 Aug 2012, at 13:53, Robert Blackwell robert@robertblackwell.com wrote:

I just made a new organization called rtcommunity and put up the first
repo for puppet.

GitHub - rtcommunity/puppet: Puppet manifest to manage Best Practical's Request Tracker

My hope is more things will land there then just the puppet manifest.

Robert

On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 8:49 AM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

WOOHOO!

I was planning on starting a github repo - Is there any other way to work as a community! :slight_smile:

It would be nice if we could have some more contributors.

Your very welcome to help out Robert, your contributions would be nice!

Thanks,

On 28 Aug 2012, at 13:47, Robert Blackwell robert@robertblackwell.com wrote:

We use puppet to configure RT in a CentOS world. I will see what we can contribute to this create idea.

Do you want to start a github repo for it?

I really look forward to having this done in the community.

Puppet managed RT++

Thanks
Robert

On Aug 27, 2012, at 8:27 PM, Mr IT Guru misteritguru@gmx.com wrote:

Good Morning All,

I don’t want to reinvent the wheel, so I though tI’d ask here first. Has anyone here installed RT via Puppet?

For those that don’t know, Puppet, is a pretty awesome state management tool. Google is your friend, you can do the rest. For those that do, would you mind sharing your code? Or if there isn’t any code, would you guys like to join me writing some?

That way I can spend 5 minutes installing new boxes instead of looking up my notes, etc.

Anyone interested?

Thanks,

– Mr Guru

16

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1On 8/28/12 11:35 AM, Duncan Hutty wrote:

And I need to publish another puppet module that I have written
that is a dependency: pgsiserver. But it’s coming and hopefully
sooner rather than later.
Ok, done that. [dhutty-psgiserver] 1 is able
to deploy perl application servers that use PSGI. I think it’s
probably inelegant, un-idiomatic, incomplete and not sufficiently
generic, but I am currently using it to deploy dancer apps on CentOS
servers. Any [contributions welcome] 2.

Duncan Hutty
http://www.allgoodbits.org

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17

Just to update those that may be interested.

I ran through a basic install of RT 3.8 on Ubuntu, making notes of
requirements and file edits to get it up and running, I made a note of
it online[1] to serve a sort of template/reference

There is a github repo for developing the module, with some basic code
in there[2], it would be nice if some people can take a look. There’s
already been some contributions. (Technically). If you have a github
account, just take a peek, it can’t hurt.

So far we have the basic packages required to install RT, now I’m going
to begin working on configuration of the install. I’m open to
suggestions and comments, good or bad :slight_smile:

The aim is to get this working on RPM and DEB platforms. Any feedback
and input is welcome. In a few days, when some more progress has been made,
I’ll spread the word on the devel lists

I appreciate that most people would prefer to keep their code to
themselves, or just wait for someone else to do it - I’ve been guilty of
that for years, but I think this will help everyone to learn.

Thanks

[1] The Solo System Admin: Installing Request Tracker in Ubuntu Lucid (10.04)
[2] https://github.com/misteritguru/puppet-rt/

18

So far we have the basic packages required to install RT, now I’m going
to begin working on configuration of the install. I’m open to
suggestions and comments, good or bad :slight_smile:

The aim is to get this working on RPM and DEB platforms. Any feedback
and input is welcome. In a few days, when some more progress has been made,
I’ll spread the word on the devel lists

I think you’ll find it easier to achieve cross-platform installation if
you abandon dist-specific packages of RT and install RT itself from
source (via puppet, of course).

I’d also suggest starting with version 4 not 3.8; 3.8 is approaching end
of life. [1]

[1] Release Scheduling — Best Practical Solutions

19

So far we have the basic packages required to install RT, now I’m going
to begin working on configuration of the install. I’m open to
suggestions and comments, good or bad :slight_smile:

The aim is to get this working on RPM and DEB platforms. Any feedback
and input is welcome. In a few days, when some more progress has been made,
I’ll spread the word on the devel lists

I think you’ll find it easier to achieve cross-platform installation if
you abandon dist-specific packages of RT and install RT itself from
source (via puppet, of course).

I’d also suggest starting with version 4 not 3.8; 3.8 is approaching end
of life. [1]

[1] Release Scheduling — Best Practical Solutions

Darn!! Well, it still is good advice - My Puppet-Fu is about to be
stretched! - I’ll make a note on github, and start thinking about how
best to accomplish this - as always, advice and comments are welcome.

20

Darn!! Well, it still is good advice - My Puppet-Fu is about to be
stretched! - I’ll make a note on github, and start thinking about
how best to accomplish this - as always, advice and comments are
welcome.

A bit of soapbox, FYI:

All of the request-tracker3.8 packages in Ubuntu are old enough to
be missing security fixes [1]. (The Debian packages of the same name
are patched thanks very much to the RT maintainer for Debian.)

If you’d like this not to continue to be the case, visiting the bug
report [2] and marking it as affecting you (green link near the top left)
might help.

[1] Ubuntu – Package Search Results -- request-tracker3.8
[2] Bug #1004834 “Multiple security vulnerabilities in request-track...” : Bugs : request-tracker3.8 package : Ubuntu