Simple Dockerfile based on Debian Jessie with puppet 4.2.3 installed via ruby gem.
docker pull mattriesterer/docker-puppet-debian
You'll develop on your host and use the docker container to run puppet. By doing so your own host stays clean.
In the instructions below, the prompt indicates where to run the commands.
host:~/$
refers to your own machine, the docker host. This is where you got your preferred development tools.
docker:~/$
refers to the docker container. This is where you apply your puppet configuration to.
Later on you will mount the directory you develop modules in to the docker container. Start by creating your base directory:
host:~/$ mkdir puppet-dev
host:~/$ cd puppet-dev
host:~/puppet-dev/$ puppet module generate
https://docs.puppetlabs.com/puppet/latest/reference/modules_fundamentals.html
Mount your puppet-dev base dir to a folder in the container (e.g. /root/src):
host:~/puppet-dev/$ docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/root/src mattriesterer/docker-puppet-debian
By passing -it the container keeps running and your logged in to your container now.
You should see something like
root@07e854d09c79:~#
As your puppet-dev directory is mounted to the container by passing -v, all changes
done on your host are immediately available on the container (and vice versa).
The first thing you'll probably do is to run 'r10k' which fetches required modules from source repositories. If keys are required to access source repositories, mount your personal keys to the container as well
host:~/puppet-dev/$ docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/root/src -v ~/.ssh:/root/.ssh mattriesterer/docker-puppet-debian
The container will automatically load your keys with ssh-add so on login you will
be asked for your key file password. In case your key is not in the list of default
keys loaded by ssh-add when called without arguments you can load your key manually:
docker:~/$ ssh-add .ssh/YOUR-KEY
First switch to your puppet code directory and run 'r10k' to fetch required modules
docker:~/$ cd src
docker:~/src/$ r10k puppetfile install
Now you're ready to run puppet. You got to include the modules fetched by 'r10k' by passing the 'modulepath' parameter. The location of the modules is defined by 'moduledir' in the 'Puppetfile'. Assuming it is set to 'external_modules' your command to run puppet looks like this:
docker:~/src/$ puppet apply --modulepath=external_modules site.pp
Mount hiera data in the docker container the same way you mounted the manifests and run
puppet apply --modulepath=external_modules/ --hiera_config /root/hiera.yaml site.pp
puppet-lint is provided with this image and puppet parser validate is provided by puppet. Use them.