I'm attempting to determine whether I'd be able to run Puppet on network devices (switches, firewalls etc.). From what I can tell after reading online documentation, Puppet Enterprise will cater such devices. Basically, I've been asked whether we can do anything with puppet within the network space. We don't have the budget to purchase the commercial product so we are hoping the open source version can help.
1 Answer
What you can do with Puppet entirely depends on your ability with programming and scripting.
On my Linux machines I use Puppet to manage configuration files, update certain software packages, keep up to date csv files of information on the server, create virtual host configurations for Apache...all sorts of tasks.
As for my network equipment, I haven't gone that route yet. I've considered it, but I still do the old school configuration of switches and such.
Check this link as an example:
http://www.scottyob.com/2012/12/08/my-experiences-of-managing-a-cisco-switch-with-puppet/
Puppet isn't actually a tool that has many limits, the limits on Puppet are your imagination and your ability.
Just about any device that can be managed through a remote connection and a CLI can be managed by Puppet.
The thing I consider when I automate tasks is How often does this need done and how much time does it take me to do manually. If you can automate it quicker than that, perfect!
puppet devicecommand so I think it will work... I'm interested in hearing from you if you try it before me!