Change the environment_timeout setting

The environment_timeout setting controls if and how long the primary server caches environment data. Environment caching can reduce your Puppet Server's CPU usage, but longer cache times extend the amount of time it takes for environments to reflect changes to their Puppet code.

The environment_timeout parameter accepts these values:

  • No caching: 0
  • Retain environment data caches indefinitely: unlimited
  • Cache environments for a specified length of time after their last use: Any length of time, such as 5m

By default, environment_timeout is set to 0. When you Enable Code Manager, environment_timeout is set to 5m. However, if you set code_manager_auto_configure to true in your Code Manager settings , then environment_timeout is automatically set to unlimited.

Setting environment_timeout to 0 taxes your primary server's performance but makes it easy for new users to deploy updated Puppet code. Once your code deployment process is mature (or after enabling Code Manager), we recommend changing this setting to unlimited.

Refer to the Puppet documentation for more information About environments, including Environment limitations, such as leakage and resource conflicts.

The following steps explain how to change the environment_timeout setting in pe.conf. You can also change this setting in the PE console in the PE Master node group. For instructions on changing settings in the console, refer to Configure settings in the PE console.

  1. On your primary server, open the pe.conf file in a text editor.
  2. Add the environment_timeout parameter and the desired value. For example:
    puppet_enterprise::master::environment_timeout: 0
  3. Save the file and run: puppet agent -t