The trifecta: package, file, and service

Package, file, service: Learn it, live it, love it. Even if this is the only Puppet you know, you can get a lot done.

package { 'openssh-server':
  ensure => installed,
}

file { '/etc/ssh/sshd_config':
  source  => 'puppet:///modules/sshd/sshd_config',
  owner   => 'root',
  group   => 'root',
  mode    => '0640',
  notify  => Service['sshd'], # sshd restarts whenever you edit this file.
  require => Package['openssh-server'],
}

service { 'sshd':
  ensure     => running,
  enable     => true,
}

package

Manages software packages.

Attribute	Description	Notes
`name`	The name of the package, as known to your packaging system.	Defaults to title.
`ensure`	Whether the package should be installed, and what version to use.	Allowed values: `present` `latest` (implies `present`) Any version string (implies `present`) `absent` `purged` `purged` ensures `absent`, and deletes configuration files and dependencies, including those that other packages depend on. Provider-dependent.
`source`	Where to obtain the package, if your system’s packaging tools don’t use a repository.
`provider`	Which packaging system to use (such as Yum or Rubygems), if a system has more than one available.

file

Manages files, directories, and symlinks.

Attribute	Description	Notes
`ensure`	Whether the file should exist, and what it should be.	Allowed values: `file` `directory` `link` (symlink) `present` (anything) `absent`
`path`	The full path to the file on disk.	Defaults to title.
`owner`	By name or UID.
`group`	By name or GID.
`mode`	Must be specified exactly. Does the right thing for directories.

For normal files:

`source`	Where to download contents for the file. Usually a `puppet:///` URL.
`content`	The file’s desired contents, as a string. Most useful when paired with templates, but you can also use the output of the `file` function.

For directories:

`source`	Where to download contents for the directory, when `recurse => true`.
`recurse`	Whether to recursively manage files in the directory.
`purge`	Whether unmanaged files in the directory should be deleted, when `recurse => true`.

For symlinks:

target The symlink target. (Required when ensure => link.)

Other notable attributes:

backup
checksum
force
ignore
links
recurselimit
replace

service

Manages services running on the node. As with packages, some platforms have better tools than others, so read the relevant documentation before you begin.

You can make services restart whenever a file changes with the subscribe or notify metaparameters. For more info, see Relationships and ordering.

Attribute	Description	Notes
`name`	The name of the service to run.	Defaults to title.
`ensure`	The desired status of the service.	Allowed values: `running` (or `true`) `stopped` (or `false`)
`enable`	Whether the service should start on boot. Doesn’t work on all systems.
`hasrestart`	Whether to use the init script’s restart command instead of stop+start.	Defaults to false.
`hasstatus`	Whether to use the init script’s status command.	Defaults to true.

Other notable attributes:

If a service has a bad init script, you can work around it and manage almost anything using the status, start, stop, restart, pattern, and binary attributes.