Set up IIS node groups

Tell Puppet Enterprise (PE) your desired infrastructure configuration by grouping and classifying nodes based on their function. Before you begin, decide which of your inventory nodes you want to have IIS services.

Important: Setting up a node group does not install software or configure the individual nodes in the node group. A node group is a categorical designation for related nodes (in this case, nodes running the IIS module), and you use the node group to manage nodes in bulk. After creating a node group, you must apply a role to the group so the nodes have some specifications to inherit.

Create your classification group

A classification node group is a parent group for other node groups that contain classification data. You only need to set up the classification node group once.

The classification group distinguishes classification node groups from environment node groups.
  1. In the console, click Node groups, and click Add group.
  2. Specify options for the new node group:
    • Parent name: All Nodes
    • Group name: All Classification
    • Environment: production
    • Environment group: Do not select
  3. Click Add.
Results
You created the classification group.
What to do next
Create a node group and add it as a child of the classification group.

Create your iis node group

After creating the parent classification group, make the iis node group as a child of the classification group.

  1. In the console, click Node groups, and click Add group.
  2. Specify options for the iis node group:
    • Parent name: All Classification
    • Group name: iis
    • Environment: production
    • Environment group: Do not select
  3. Click Add.
Results
You have created a node group to categorize the nodes you want to have IIS services.Next, determine which nodes from your inventory you want to run IIS on and add them to the iis node group.
What to do next
Identify nodes from your inventory that you want to run IIS on and add them to the iis node group.

Add nodes to the iis node group

Once you determine which nodes from your inventory belong in your iis node group, pin the nodes to the group. Pinning adds nodes to a group one at a time. If you have a lot of nodes, you can create rules in the console to dynamically add nodes to a node group.

Best practices for classifying node groups can help you decide which nodes belong in your iis node group.
  1. In the console, click Node groups and select the iis node group.
  2. On the Rules tab, under Certname, enter the certname of a node you want to add to the iis node group.
  3. Click Pin node.
  4. Repeat to add more nodes to the iis group.
  5. When you are done pinning nodes, commit changes.
Results
You have added your iis nodes to the iis node group.
What to do next
Run Puppet.

Run Puppet on your IIS nodes

Run Puppet in the console to enforce your desired state on the iis node group you created.

  1. In the console, on the Jobs page, click Run Puppet.
  2. Under Run options, do not select anything.
  3. From the list of target types, select Node group.
  4. In the Chose a node group box, search for the iis node group and click Select.
  5. Click Run job.
    View the job status and a list of previous Puppet jobs on the Jobs page. To rerun the job, click Run again and choose to rerun it on all nodes or only the nodes that failed during the initial run.
Results
After running Puppet on a node group, the nodes in the group automatically check in with PE every 30 minutes to confirm that their configuration matches what you've specified for this group. PE corrects the configuration it if it doesn't match.
What to do next
You must create roles and profiles to define specific applications, services, and configurations you want the nodes in this group to receive, as explained in Organize webserver configurations with roles and profiles.
Important: Until you assign a role to a node group, the group has no defined configuration for the nodes to inherit.