Generating and signing certificates in puppet version 5

Question

I am trying to install and configure puppet 5.3.2 on two identical Linux machines running Centos 7 (one being a master and the other being an agent). I have managed to install the puppet from the official repository on both and added the following.

Master node in /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1                 <master hostname>
<master node ipaddress>   puppet, <master node hostname>
<agent node ipaddress>    <agent node hostname>

Agent node in /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1                 <agent hostname>
<master node ipaddress>   puppet, <master node hostname>
<agent node ipaddress>    <agent node hostname>

Master node in /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf

[master]
vardir = /opt/puppetlabs/server/data/puppetserver
logdir = /var/log/puppetlabs/puppetserver
rundir = /var/run/puppetlabs/puppetserver
pidfile = /var/run/puppetlabs/puppetserver/puppetserver.pid
codedir = /etc/puppetlabs/code
dns_alt_names = puppet, <master node hostname>
certname = puppet

Agent node in/etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf

server = puppet, <master node hostname>

The puppet server starts successfully. However, I still need to generate and sign the appropriate certificates for both master and agent. For this firstly, I make sure the puppetserver is stopped on the puppet master node, and then on the puppet master node I issue:

sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet cert list -a

I see a SHA256 certificate.

Now, I do not know how to proceed further. Any inputs would be highly appreciated.

Answer 1

I was able to get this working. Basically, when the puppet server is started initially, the certificate is generated and this can be viewed by

sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet cert list -a

Next on the agent node, stop the puppet agent using the below if the agent is running (this can be found by systemctl status puppet

systemctl stop puppet

Create a certificate on the puppet agent which need to be signed by the puppet master. The certificate can be generated by:

/opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent -t

On the master node, the agent certificate can be viewed by

/opt/puppetlabs/puppet cert list -a

The agent certificate should be signed now, for that

/opt/puppetlabs/puppet cert sign <puppet agent hostname>

Once the certificate is signed, this needs to be verified. However, before it is verified, the puppet agent should be up and running.

systemctl start puppet
systemctl enable puppet
/opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet agent --fingerprint #certificate verification