63 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
63 lines
2.8 KiB
Markdown
[Propellor](https://propellor.branchable.com/) is a
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configuration management system using Haskell and Git.
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Each system has a list of properties, which Propellor ensures
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are satisfied.
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Propellor is configured via a git repository, which typically lives
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in `~/.propellor/` on your development machine. Propellor clones the
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repository to each host it manages, in a
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[secure](http://propellor.branchable.com/security/) way.
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To trigger propellor to run on a host, run `propellor --spin $host`.
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Or run `/usr/local/propellor/propellor` on the host. Or use the
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[runPropellor property](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor-0.4.0/docs/Propellor-Property-Cron.html)
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to have Propellor set up a cron job.
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Properties are defined using Haskell. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`
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to get started. There is fairly complete
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[API documentation](http://hackage.haskell.org/package/propellor/).
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There is no special language as used in puppet, chef, ansible, etc.. just
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the full power of Haskell. Hopefully that power can be put to good use in
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making declarative properties that are powerful, nicely idempotent, and
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easy to adapt to a system's special needs!
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If using Haskell to configure Propellor seems intimidating,
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see [configuration for the Haskell newbie](https://propellor.branchable.com/haskell_newbie/).
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## quick start
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1. Get propellor installed
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`cabal install propellor`
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or
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`apt-get install propellor`
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2. Run propellor for the first time. It will set up a `~/.propellor/` git
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repository for you.
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3. `cd ~/.propellor/`; use git to push the repository to a central
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server (github, or your own git server). Configure that central
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server as the origin remote of the repository.
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4. If you don't have a gpg private key, generate one: `gpg --gen-key`
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5. Run: `propellor --add-key $KEYID`
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6. Edit `~/.propellor/config.hs`, and add a host you want to manage.
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You can start by not adding any properties, or only a few.
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7. Pick a host and run: `propellor --spin $HOST`
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8. Now you have a simple propellor deployment, but it doesn't do
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much to the host yet, besides installing propellor.
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So, edit `~/.propellor/config.hs` to configure the host (maybe
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start with a few simple properties), and re-run step 7.
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Repeat until happy and move on to the next host. :)
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9. To move beyond manually running `propellor --spin` against hosts
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when you change their properties, add a property to your hosts
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like: `Cron.runPropellor "30 * * * *"`
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Now they'll automatically update every 30 minutes, and you can
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`git commit -S` and `git push` changes that affect any number of
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hosts.
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10. Write some neat new properties and send patches to <propellor@joeyh.name>!
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## debugging
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Set `PROPELLOR_DEBUG=1` to make propellor print out all the commands it runs
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and any other debug messages that Properties choose to emit.
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