On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:31 PM, Dan White <ygor@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> On Jun 5, 2012, at 7:01 PM, Greg Swift wrote:
>
>> On Tue, Jun 5, 2012 at 9:20 AM, Dan White <ygor@comcast.net> wrote:
>>> I just updated from 2.0.11-2.el5 to 2.2.2-1.el5
>>>
>>> Things burped momentarily while I swapped out mod_python and repaired the effected config files, but that took no time at all.
>>>
>>> I brought up the new Web-UI and one of the first things to catch my eye was the Resources heading with Packages and Files under it.
>>>
>>> Looking for details, I found some on the "Start Here" Wiki Page:
>>> https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Start%20Here
>>> ...under a sub-heading of "Management Classes and Resources"
>>>
>>> It describes how to add a package or file resource.
>> Which happens on the two pages Packages and Files.
>
> A link to these pages would be nice.
I meant the two pages Packages and Files that are in your Cobbler Web UI. I conceed to the lack of "this is how use use this" documentation.
> All I can find about packages is this:
> https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Package%20Management%20and%20Mirroring
> and that is more about yum mirroring
>
> BTW, here's how I am looking:
> http://www.google.com/search?q=site:github.com+cobbler+package
>
>>
>>> It implies that these resources can be grouped into a management class.
>> Which happens under the Resouces expansion when editing a management class
>
> Again, a link, please ?
I was referring to the management classes section of the Web ui specifically.
>>> It then references another wiki page: https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Built%20in%20configuration%20management
>> So I believe that is most specifically if you intent is to use Cobbler
>> as the CMS. If you are just using cobbler as an external node for
>> puppet (or whichever CM you are working with) then this page is not
>> relevant.
>>
>>> This page talks about "Template files" and "Leveraging Mod Python" (how do I leverage that which I just removed?)
>>> It contains nothing about file/package resources.
>> So the Leveraging Mod Python definitely needs to be updated. I'm not
>> sure how this is handled with wsgi. The template files is referring
>> to the same files in Resources (I believe). You have to place your
>> template file on the file system and configure it in the Resources ->
>> Files section.
>>
>>> Google-ing about produced a moderate amount of very confusing results, none that help.
>>>
>>> Where, please, do I find details on these resource types and how to use them ?
>>
>> The documentation is very much a how you use it, not here is how you
>> do X, Y, or Z with it. With that in mind, what are you trying to
>> accomplish?
>
> Definitely a chicken-and-egg dilemma.
> Unless I know what the feature is capable of, I have no expectations.
> I am trying to understand what it can do so that I can figure out how I might utilize it.
Okay. So in summary, its either a light weight CMS or the configuration repository for an external CMS.
When using an external CMS it provides a list of strings that should theoretically tie to classes (or whatever that CMS calls them). For example, I may define the following management classes in puppet: base, webserver, firewall. Note that I am not configuring anything in Packages or Files at this point. I would then configure the external CMS to access cobbler's data.
Run 'cobbler-ext-node $fqdn' to see the puppet formatted output.
This is discussed at:
Now, as a light weight CMS let me start but saying i've never used it this way. And here I agree the documentation is definitely light. What i gather is:
First lets look at packages. You can define packages that you want installed/not installed on a system along with the installer type and version, and this "set" of data is associated with the package name. (The Action and Installer fields should probably be converted to drop downs if possible). This just creates a general resource that can be referenced by a management class.
Now Files, or template files, are the next resource. Technically the file can be static by not inserting any cheetah syntax or variables, but the primary documented use case is to use the cheetah templating to create base files that will have varying configurations based on host information. (this bit is in https://github.com/cobbler/cobbler/wiki/Built%20In%20Configuration%20Management) I am a bit lost fon where you would put the template based on reading the document and clicking around in the code and web ui for a few minutes. At this point my guess would be that its created as a Kickstart Template (which if this is the case seems messed up to me). But the point stays the same. You create a file that can be added as a resource to a management class.