Puppet: Class Ordering / Containment - always wrong order - puppet

Question

I read a lot about ordering puppet classes with containment (iam using Puppet 6). But it still does not work for me in one case. Maybe my english is not good enough and i miss something. Maybe somebody know what iam doing wrong.
I have a profile to installing a puppetserver (profile::puppetserver). This profile has three sub-classes which I contain within the profile::puppetserver
class profile::puppetserver(
) {
contain profile::puppetserver::install
contain profile::puppetserver::config
contain profile::puppetserver::firewall
}
That works fine for me. Now I want to expand this profile and install PuppetDB. For this, i use the puppetdb module from puppet forge:
So what i do is add profile::puppetserver::puppetdb and the contain to the profile::puppetserver
class profile::puppetserver::puppetdb(
) {
# Configure puppetdb and its underlying database
class { 'puppetdb': }
# Configure the Puppet master to use puppetdb
class { 'puppetdb::master::config': }
}
When i provision my puppetserver first and add the profile::puppetserver::puppetdb after it, puppetdb installs and everything works fine.
If I add it directly with contain, and provisioning everything at once, it crashes. It's because the puppetdb module is installed randomly during my master server installs (and also the postgresql server and so on). That ends in my puppetserver is not running and my puppetdb generate no local ssl certificates and the service doesn't comes up.
What i try first:
I installed the puppetdb Package in my profile::puppetserver::puppetdb directly and use the required flag. It works when i provision all at once.
class profile::puppetserver::puppetdb (
) {
Package { 'puppetdb':
ensure => installed,
require => Class['profile::puppetserver::config']
}
}
So i think i could do the same in the code above:
class profile::puppetserver::puppetdb(
) {
# Configure puppetdb and its underlying database
class { 'puppetdb':
require => Class['profile::puppetserver::config']
}
# Configure the Puppet master to use puppetdb
class { 'puppetdb::master::config':
require => Class['profile::puppetserver::config']
}
}
But this does not work...
So i read about puppet class containment and ordering by chains. So i did this in my profile::puppetserver
class profile::puppetserver(
) {
contain profile::puppetserver::install
contain profile::puppetserver::config
contain profile::puppetserver::firewall
contain profile::puppetserver::puppetdb
Class['profile::puppetserver::install'] ->
Class['profile::puppetserver::config'] ->
Class['profile::puppetserver::firewall'] ->
Class['profile::puppetserver::puppetdb']
}
But it still does not have any effect... he still starts to install postgresql and the puppetdb package during my "puppetserver provisioning" in the install, config, firewall steps.
How i must write the ordering, that all things from the puppetdb module, which i call in profile::puppetserver::puppetdb, only starts when the rest of the provisioning steps are finished?
I really don't understand it. I think maybe it haves something to do with the fact, that i declare classes from the puppetdb module inside of profile::puppetserver::puppetdb and not the directly Resource Type. Because when i use the Package Resource Type with the Require Flag, it seems to work. But i really don't know how to handle this. I think there must be a way or?

Answer 1

I think maybe it haves something to do with the fact, that i declare
classes from the puppetdb module inside of
profile::puppetserver::puppetdb and not the directly Resource Type.
Because when i use the Package Resource Type with the Require Flag, it
seems to work.
Exactly so.
Resources are ordered with the class or defined-type instance that directly declares them, as well as according to ordering parameters and instructions applying to them directly.
Because classes can be declared multiple times, in different places, ordering is more complicated for them. Resource-like class declarations such as you demonstrate (and which you really ought to avoid as much as possible) do not imply any particular ordering of the declared class. Neither do declarations via the include function.
Class declarations via the require function place a single-ended ordering constraint on the declared class relative to the declaring class or defined type, and declarations via the contain function place a double-ended ordering constraint similar to that applying to all resource declarations. The chaining arrows and ordering metaparameters can place additional ordering constraints on classes.
But i really dont know how to handle this. I think there must be a way or?
Your last example shows a viable way to enforce ordering at the level of profile::puppetserver, but its effectiveness is contingent on each of its contained classes taking the same approach for any classes they themselves declare, at least where those third-level classes must be constrained by the order of the second-level classes. This appears to be where you are falling down.
Note also that although there is definitely a need to order some things relative to some others, it is not necessary or much useful to try to enforce an explicit total order over all resources. Work with the lightest hand possible, placing only those ordering constraints that serve a good purpose.