Chapter 2. Viewing Data in Dashboards

In the previous chapter, we found out how easy it is to make Puppet expose a rich seam of information from the hosts; however, at this point in time, we have no easy way of mining it. In the next few chapters, we are going to look at some of the ways in which we can both extract and interact with the data that Puppet provides, but in the meantime, we will spend a little time going over the tools that are already available. These tools provide a quick and easy out-of-the-box experience, and in the case of Puppet Enterprise and The Foreman, also form a central part of the management tool chain.

In this chapter, we're going to cover the following:

• A brief introduction to dashboards

• A quick tour of Puppet Dashboard and Puppet Enterprise Console

• A brief look at The Foreman

• An introduction to PuppetBoard