policy_engine

Policy Engine

The module provides a defined resource type that generates a Facter plugin for policy tests. Each Facter run, the plugin executes a specified script, written in any language, and compares the execution result to the expected output. If the expectation matches, the test passes. If not, it fails. The test result is added as a structured fact.

The facts can be used as part of a continuous delivery pipeline to ensure individual node configurations meet relevant policy requirements before configurations are deployed to production. The facts can be queried from PuppetDB for continuous policy monitoring.

The tests follow the rspec model of declaring what you want to do and what the expected result is. If the result doesn't match the expectation, the test fails.

Each test result is a structured value in a standard format. The output format is as follows:

If the test passed

{'result' => 'pass', 'tags' => ['policy_engine','tag1','tag2']}

If the test fails

{'result' => 'fail', 'tags' => ['policy_engine','tag1','tag2'], 'expected_output' => [], 'is' => ['example','output']}

##Declaring Policy Tests Note: This module only support Puppet 4+ and Puppet Enterprise 2015.2+

Tests can be written in any language the system they run on supports. The code that performs the test can range from a single shell command to a script file. The user can specify an interpreter to use to run the code (defaults to /bin/sh).

To validate a test passes or fails, an expectation can be specified. An expectation can be the following:

• Stdout output. The output can be parsed as a string, JSON, or YAML. Strings can be matched completely or against a regular expression. An array can be specified of acceptable strings and regexes.
• Exit code. The exit code of the script execution. An array can be specified of acceptable exit codes.

Execute a command and expect no output

policy_engine::test { 'name_of_test':
  script          => 'single command to run',
  expected_output => '',
}

Execute a python script generated by an ERB and expect an empty array in JSON

policy_engine::test { 'another_test':
  script          => template('my_module/test.py.erb'),
  expected_output => [],
  interpreter     => 'python',
  output_format   => 'json',
}

Execute a ruby script from a module and expect an empty array in YAML

policy_engine::test { 'ruby_test':
  source          => 'puppet:///modules/my_module/thing',
  expected_output => [],
  interpreter     => 'ruby',
  output_format   => 'yaml',
}

##Retrieving test results

Since each test is a Facter fact, they can be retrieved using Facter or PuppetDB.

Run with Facter The Policy Engine Facter plugin is pluginsynced from the Puppet module. To run the policy test, use the -p flat with Facter

facter -p policy_name

Retrieve from PuppetDB If you're using PuppetDB, the puppet master pushes every node's facts each puppet agent run to PuppetDB. This means PuppetDB can be queried for test results. The examples directory has example PuppetDB queries. To retrieve, standard curl can be used, or any other tool that perform REST calls.

curl -X GET http://puppetdb.example.com:8080/v4/facts --data-urlencode query@./failed_tests

##Reference

###Classes

####Public classes

• policy_engine: Configures Policy Engine testing framework

###Parameters

####policy_engine

#####test_dir

The directory where the test metadata and execution scripts will be kept

###Defined Types

• policy_engine::test: A Policy Engine test

####policy_engine::test

#####Parameters

• ensure: valid values are present or absent. Defaults to present
• source: The source of a script. Follows same values as the file type
• script: A script to run in text format. This is similar to the content parameter for the file type
• interpreter: The interpreter on the system to run. Defaults to /bin/sh
• output_format: What format the stdout is in from the execution script. Valid values are string, json, and yaml. Defaults to string
• expected_output: What the expected stdout output is. Takes a string, regex, or an array of strings/regexes. Regexes must be in string format (i.e. '/my regex/')
• expected_exit_code: What the expected exit code of the execution script is. Takes an integer or an array or integers. If specified, this parameter has precedence over the expected_output parameter.
• tags: Arbitrary tags for the policy test. Every test is automatically tagged with policy_engine

##2015-01-19 Puppet Labs info@puppetlabs.com - 0.1.0

• Add support for Puppet 4 (and drop support for earlier versions)

##2014-12-03 Puppet Labs info@puppetlabs.com - 0.0.2

• Fix a bug where structured data output would always fail
• Add example PuppetDB queries to retrieve test data

##2014-11-21 Puppet Labs info@puppetlabs.com - 0.0.1

• Initial Release