Using the web interface at http://forge.puppetlabs.com is very straightforward. By filling the search form with the name of the software, system, or service you need to manage, you will usually get a list of very fitting modules often with just your search term as their name. In fact, for common terms, the number of available modules can be overwhelming.
You can get immediate feedback about the maturity and popularity of each module. A module is being actively used and maintained if:
- It has a score close to 5
- It has a version number that indicates releases past 1.0.0 (or even 0.1.0)
- Its most recent release was not too long ago, perhaps less than half a year
- It has a significant number of downloads
The latter three numbers can vary a lot though, depending on the number of features that the module implements and how widespread its subject is. Even...