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Krisha Arya
Krisha Arya

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From Zero to Automation: Setting Up Puppet Master & Agent on AWS EC2

#puppet #aws #ec2 #automation

🔹 What is Puppet?

Puppet is an open-source configuration management and automation tool used to manage infrastructure at scale.
It helps you:

  • Automate software installation
  • Enforce system configuration
  • Manage thousands of servers consistently
  • Reduce manual repetitive tasks

Using Puppet, you define your server state in manifests (written in Puppet DSL), and Puppet ensures your system always stays in that state.

In this guide, we’ll set up:
✔️ Puppet Master
✔️ Puppet Agent
✔️ A demo module that installs NGINX and serves a custom webpage

All using AWS EC2 Ubuntu 22.04 instances.

Step 1: Launch Two AWS EC2 Instances

You need:

1 Puppet Master
1 Puppet Agent
Use Ubuntu 22.04 and open required ports (SSH, HTTP).

Step 2: Configure the Puppet Master (puppetmaster)

(Open your window powershell)
✔ SSH into master

ssh -i "C:\Users\User\Downloads\nagios.pem" ubuntu@15.206.178.143
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Note: "C:\Users\User\Downloads\nagios.pem" is your nagios.pem file path and "15.206.178.143" is AWS EC2 instance of puppetmaster.

✔ Set hostname

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname puppetmaster
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✔ Update /etc/hosts

sudo nano /etc/hosts
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Add:

<ip-address-of-puppetmaster-ec2-instance> puppetmaster puppet
<ip-address-of-puppetagent-ec2-instance> puppetagent
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Install Puppet Server

wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet8-release-jammy.deb
sudo dpkg -i puppet8-release-jammy.deb
sudo apt update
sudo apt install puppetserver -y
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✔ Enable + start service:

sudo systemctl enable puppetserver
sudo systemctl start puppetserver
sudo systemctl status puppetserver
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Sign Agent Certificate (Will be used later)

sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppetserver ca list
sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppetserver ca sign -all
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Step 3: Configure Puppet Agent (puppetagent)

(Open another window powershell)

✔ SSH into agent

ssh -i "C:\Users\User\Downloads\nagios.pem" ubuntu@3.108.65.97
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Note: "C:\Users\User\Downloads\nagios.pem" is your nagios.pem file path and "15.206.178.143" is AWS EC2 instance of puppetagent.

✔ Set hostname

sudo hostnamectl set-hostname puppetagent
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✔ Update /etc/hosts

sudo nano /etc/hosts
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Add:

<ip-address-of-puppetmaster-ec2-instance> puppetmaster puppet
<ip-address-of-puppetagent-ec2-instance> puppetagent
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Install Puppet Agent

wget https://apt.puppet.com/puppet8-release-jammy.deb
sudo dpkg -i puppet8-release-jammy.deb
sudo apt update
sudo apt install puppet-agent -y
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Update Puppet Configuration (puppet.conf)

sudo nano /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf
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Add:

[main]
certname = puppetagent
server = puppet
environment = production
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▶ Start Puppet Agent

sudo systemctl enable puppet
sudo systemctl start puppet
sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent -t #this command send request for certificate signup to master
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Step 4: Create a Puppet Module (sample_nginx)

sudo nano /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/modules/sample_nginx
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Folder Structure:

sample_nginx/
├── manifests
│ └── nginx.pp
└── templates
└── index.erb

nginx.pp (Manifest File)

class sample_nginx::nginx {
  package { 'nginx':
    ensure => installed,
  }

  file { '/var/www/html/index.html':
    ensure  => file,
    content => template('sample_nginx/index.erb'),
  }

  service { 'nginx':
    ensure => running,
    enable => true,
    require => Package['nginx'],
  }
}
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Step 5: Update site.pp to Apply This Class

sudo nano /etc/puppetlabs/code/environments/production/manifests/site.pp
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Add:

node default {
  include sample_nginx::nginx
}
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Step 6: Write Template File (index.erb)

<h1>Hello from Puppet NGINX!</h1>
<p>This is a custom page managed by Puppet.</p>
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Step 7: Restart Master and Run Agent

On Master

sudo systemctl restart puppetserver
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On Agent

sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent -t
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On Master

sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppetserver ca list
sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppetserver ca sign --all
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If everything is correct:

✔ NGINX will be installed
✔ Custom page will appear at /var/www/html/index.html
✔ Puppet will manage service → auto-start + running

🎉 Final Output

You can now visit:

👉 http://AGENT_PUBLIC_IP
You will see:

Hello from Puppet NGINX!
This is a custom page managed by Puppet.

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