Book announcement - Puppet Essentials

A short description of my book debut, Puppet Essentials, available from Packt Publishing.

Update: I worked on a new edition called Puppet 4 Essentials - Second Edition

Update: Read this amazing review of the seconds edition that the illustrious John Arundel kindly wrote for me.

Yet another beginners’ guide for Puppet

Puppet Essentials cover

What’s covered?

I tried covering just those basics that you will really need, taking special care to point out possible pitfalls and poins of difficulty. Specifically, you will learn and practice the following aspects:

Writing manifests of varying complexity, with special focus on classes and defines.
Using Puppet both with the master/agent structure and standalone with puppet apply.
Creating your own Puppet modules, including facts, types and providers.
Using Hiera to separate data from your code.

…and a whole range of other useful topics. Upon finishing, you will possess the necessary skills with the tool to manage and maintain infrastructures that comprise whole data centers or clouds.

Who’s it for?

The book caters to IT professionals. The only basics that are covered are those of Puppet itself. Readers should have prior knowledge of file systems, the command line, scripting and ideally programming. A background in server operation is especially useful, but not strictly required.

Is it better than other titles on the topic?

Uhm, I wrote it, so what am I going to say, no?

Seriosly though, should I get it?

The book stands out because it…

is based on both in-depth knowledge of the software as well as years of experience
as a user
helping other users in the common fora
it does not loose much time explaining things that many newcomers know already, but concentrates on Puppet only, covering lots of ground very rapidly

You seem pretty, er, “confident” about this title

Well, what can I say - there’s a time and a place for modesty, but selling my own book on my blog is not it.

Right, so where can I get it?

Head right over to Packt and get a copy. It’s also available from Amazon and you might be able to get it through whatever other channel you prefer.

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