Learning puppet using free resources.
So you want to learn puppet? Prefer to do it without breaking the bank?
( If you've not heard of Puppet, here is some background explanation. )
This posting is intended for those that have heard of Puppet, have little to no experience with it, and are uncertain where to start. Perhaps you've seen puppet, and daunted by its complexity and unique approach. Despite such first impressions, this elephant can be eaten in small bites, using the following free training resources:
1) Puppet Labs' self-paced training:
Puppet Labs provides the first 15 basic videos of their online training for free. These videos are are accessible, yet thorough. The videos come in bite size lengths of 10 minutes, and each one is followed by a small quiz. This is an ideal starting point.
2) Puppet Labs' Learning VM:
After becoming familiar with the basic background, the Puppet Labs Learning VM will give you hands-on experience. The Learning VM contains a series of hands-on exercises grouped into "quests". The included PDF manual will introduce you to the skills required to complete each quest. As an added bonus, it comes with the Puppet Enterprise Console, Hiera, and Puppetdb for you to try. You'll need Oracle Virtualbox installed in order to load the VM image.
3) Allesandro Franceschi's tutorial slides:
Allesandro Franceschi is the author of "Extending Puppet". His 120 slides provide an inventory of major puppet features, and practical examples of their use. He keeps the background short, and the examples concise. As I worked through this, I found myself copying many of his examples into another file for later reference.
4) Revisit the Learning VM.
After reviewing Allesandro's slides, consider redoing the exercises in the learning VM. The second time around, you'll race through them, but will pick up gems that you may not have appreciated the first time around.
Next steps
After working your way through these resources, you'll be able to confidently administer an existing puppet environment, or create one of your own. Nonetheless, puppet is broad and deep, and much remains to be explored. If you wish to take your puppeting to the next level, Puppet Labs provides extensive online documentation of other features not yet covered. Also consider checking out Puppet Labs' Certification Page, the Puppet Labs Style guide, or just browsing the Puppet Glossary.
Happy Puppeting!
"Experience without theory is blind, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play." - Immanuel Kant