This week, I am pleased to get some time with Luke Kanies, the developer of Puppet, an open source, automated, systems management language and toolset. Luke was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to let us in on the secrets of his vision for Puppet.
Chuck Talk: Hi Luke, before we begin, I was wondering if you could tell us a little bit about your background, and how you came to the decision to develop Puppet?
Luke Kanies: I spent a long time as a Unix sysadmin, gradually adopting and writing more and more automation. Eventually, I ended up as a consultant focused on cfengine, and I found that I couldn’t really build a business around cfengine because it was too difficult to get new functionality into the product and it was not maintained with a focus on stability. After trying a few other options, I decided to create a product out of the prototype I’d written a while back.
That prototype was based heavily on the modules I’d written for cfengine and ISconf, and the ideas behind it had been kicking around for a long time. There are some tricks in the language I’d also been thinking about, and I got some ideas from the configuration management workshops at LISA for the compiler that would make configurations easier to maintain. ( Permalink: Straight Talk: Luke Kanies of Puppet Submitted by Chuck Talk Wed Jun 20, 2007 )| Enterprise Audit Shell | | Sarbanes-Oxley has forced many companies to start taking UNIX security seriously. Not a big deal. We all know how to secure a UNIX server: disable unnecessary network daemons; remove unnecessary software packages like compilers and debuggers; institute strict password and account parameters; and search and destroy world-writable files. The only thing that eludes us is how to secure and audit shell access. This is where Enterprise Audit Shell (EAS) comes in. ( Permalink: Enterprise Audit Shell Submitted by Douglas Hanks Thu May 25, 2006 )| Podcasting Hacks review | I recently read this book and found it to not only be a good read but also a valuable resource to some other projects I am working on. Hope you enjoy the review.
"Podcasting Hacks is a great book for anyone who wants to create a podcast and a great book for anyone who is already recording but wants to improve their podcast. I enjoyed reading it from cover to cover but as all hacks are cross referenced I will also be using it as a reference book to improve my podcasting and audio skills. Without any reservations I would recommend this book to anyone involved with podcasting."
( Permalink: Podcasting Hacks review Submitted by Noel Mon Oct 31, 2005 )| Jumping Through Loops | | This is a short article on how to use loops from the command line to save time and effort. The examples given use a for loop. ( Permalink: Jumping Through Loops Submitted by Noel Wed Oct 19, 2005 )| Expect and SSH | | An article over on Linux Journal made me think about all the different ways I have done similar things. While still overcome by the memories I dug out some expect code that I used a few years ago to automate feeding a SSH pass phrase to scp multiple times and wrote a little bit about it. Hope you find it useful.
( Permalink: Expect and SSH Submitted by Noel Fri Oct 7, 2005 )| Slackware 10.2 Tips | | Long-time and neophyte users should appreciate this 10.2 tips article, which covers bash techniques to wireless anonymity. dual_parallel and bland_inquisitor have written this guide for slackware. ( Permalink: Slackware 10.2 Tips Submitted by Disposable Mon Sep 26, 2005 )| Review: Podcasting: Do-It-Yourself Guide | | Looking for a good overview on creating a Podcast? In the following article we review the new Podcasting book by Todd Cochrane: Podcasting: Do-It-Yourself Guide. ( Permalink: Review: Podcasting: Do-It-Yourself Guide Submitted by Noel Mon Aug 15, 2005 )| Remote Backups With Rsync | | This tutorial describes how to set up a nightly backup from remote client machines to a centralized server using rsync. It includes example shell scripts and crontab files. ( Permalink: Remote Backups With Rsync Submitted by Noel Mon Aug 8, 2005 )| Book Review: Essential CVS | | CVS (Concurrent Versions System) is a popular open source version control system used to manage changes to files including: source code, web content, documentation, and configuration files.
RootPrompt.org presents a review of Essential CVS, a well written tutorial and reference to using and administering CVS. ( Permalink: Book Review: Essential CVS Submitted by Noel Wed Jul 27, 2005 )| Review: Spring Into Technical Writing | | Spring Into Technical Writing for Engineers and Scientists published by Addison Wesley Professional is a great tutorial and reference for anyone who currently writes technical documents or needs to learn how.
The author Barry Rosenberg is a technical writer and instructor for Technology Exchange Company. He is the author of more than 30 programming manuals, including Addison-Wesley's Client/Server Computing for Technical Professionals: Concepts and Solutions and KornShell Programming Tutorial. ( Permalink: Review: Spring Into Technical Writing Submitted by Noel Tue Jul 19, 2005 )| Trusted Matters: An Interview with Chad Hanson | | Chuck Talk was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Chad Hanson, Manager of the Trusted Operating Systems Lab at Trusted Computer Solutions in Urbana, Illinois. Chad has a long history in working with Trusted Operating Systems. He came to Trusted Computer Solutions from Argus Systems, where he led the development of PitBull, itself a Trusted Operating System. Chad's experience also includes leading the design and development of new components to NSA SE Linux that are leading to greater security in the Linux kernel. ( Permalink: Trusted Matters: An Interview with Chad Hanson Submitted by Chuck Talk Tue Jun 7, 2005 )| DenyHosts, an SSH Server Attack Denial Tool | | Every once in a great while I run across a very useful tool whose simplicity amazes me. One of those tools recently hit my radar after I noticed several failed SSH login attempts to my machine. Apparently someone had plenty of time to try to login, and was not deterred by repeated login failure. That set me on a course to find a solution that was simple, effective and enough of a barrier to the attacker that they would move on out of frustration, or simply be denied enough that they would find easier targets. ( Permalink: DenyHosts, an SSH Server Attack Denial Tool Submitted by Chuck Talk Mon Jun 6, 2005 )| Interview: Danny McPherson, Arbor Networks | | OrangeCrate is pleased to announce an interview with Danny McPherson of Arbor Networks, the driving force behind the cyber attack Fingerprint Sharing Alliance initiative. This important initiative seeks to address the problems of ISPs sharing of information to mitigate the propagation of viruses, worms, DDoS attacks and other malware. ( Permalink: Interview: Danny McPherson, Arbor Networks Submitted by Chuck Talk Wed Apr 27, 2005 )| Interview: Curt Craig, SafeDesk Solutions | | Orange Crate is pleased to announce an interview with Curt Craig of Safe Desk Solutions through email. I found this to be a fun one - Curt's self-effacing sense of humor is rather refreshing. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did, and that you learn a little more about the new businesses and opportunities that entrepenuers are finding in the new Linux channels available to them. No matter what the pundits are saying, there are plenty of trained solution providers out there, and their numbers are growing. ( Permalink: Interview: Curt Craig, SafeDesk Solutions Submitted by Chuck Talk Mon Apr 25, 2005 )| Self-Serving Funded Studies to Be Believed? | | Not a day goes by where I don't see yet another "funded" studied making conclusions that favor the companies that paid for the study. The simple fact is, as we all know, if a company pays Analyst Company X to study something and reach a conclusion, Analyst Company X had better come to the conclusion that favors that company, or they won't be getting money from that company anymore. The fact that companies feel the need to create phony reports in order to "win" at any cost should tell you one thing: they are in it for your money, period. ( Permalink: Self-Serving Funded Studies to Be Believed? Submitted by Chuck Talk Thu Mar 24, 2005 ) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
