Automatically Generating AMIs using Puppet

Installing the module

puppet module install ccaum-autoami

Use (pluginsync|http://docs.puppetlabs.com/guides/plugins_in_modules.html#enabling-pluginsync) to sync the report processor on the Puppet master.

Set up

AutoAMI requires a MySQL database. The autoami module can use the puppetlabs-mysql module to manage the database for you. You can also use the puppetlabs-mysql module to install a mysql server on the host you plan to use AutoAMI on. For example:

class { 'mysql::server':
  config_hash { 'root_password' => 'mysql_root_password' },
} ->

class { 'autoami':
  manage_db   => true,
  db_user     => 'autoami',
  db_password => 'autoamipassword',
  db_name     => 'autoami',
}

The above code will install a mysql server on the host this code is declared on, and install an autoami database.

Using your own DB

Alternatively, you can set up your own database. Just don't declare the mysql::server class and set manage_db to false. The db_host and db_port parameters in the autoami class are available.

Allowing for certificate signing

When AutoAMI creates new instances, it needs to be able to sign their certificates on the Puppet master. This requires modifying the auth.conf file in your puppet configuration directory. (You can get your configuration directory by using puppet --configprint confdir)

Ensure these lines are one of the first:

path /certificate_status
method save
auth yes
allow {certname_of_node_with_autoami}

Adding the report processor

In order for AutoAMI to work, the Puppet master(s) must have the autoami report processor activated. You can add the report processor to the Puppet master configuration by modifying the puppet.conf file. Make sure you have autoami in the list of the reports parameter

[master]
  ...
  reports = https, autoami
  ...

Multiple Puppet Masters

Each Puppet master needs to have AutoAMI configured and the autoami report processor available. Each Puppet master also must have access to the MySQL database you're using to store AutoAMI data.

Using

To get a list of available commands, use puppet help autoami. You can get more information on each subcommand by typing puppet help autoami <subcommand>

Setting up a group

To get a list of all required information, use puppet help autoami new_group.

To create a new group, use

puppet autoami new_group --enc-user <enc_user_password> \
  --enc-pass <enc_user_password> \
  --image <ami> \
  --keyfile </path/to/ec2/rsa/key/file> \
  --keyname <ec2_keyname> \
  --login <user_to_login_to_ami_instance_as> \
  --node-group <group_in_console_to_add_instance_to> \
  --server <puppet_master> \
  --type <ec2_type> <name_of_group>

This may seem like a lot of parameters, but you won't have to specify them again.

Running

To run an instance of all defined groups and check for necessary updates, use the puppet autoami run command. This will create an instance of each group, check if puppet changed something, and if so update the AMI.