Quick start » OpenVox Server/agent communication

Overview

This guide walks you through the process to make sure your OpenVox Server and agents are able to communicate. This involves modifying the /etc/hosts file on your master and agents, and also opening the firewall to your master so that it is able to sign certificates from the agents.

Prerequisites: This guide assumes you’ve already installed Puppet, and have installed at least one *nix agent.

For this walk-through, log in as root or administrator on your nodes.

Modifying the /etc/hosts files

To make sure your OpenVox Server and agents communicate, update the /etc/hosts file on each so that they’re aware of each other. First, use your text editor to open /etc/hosts on your OpenVox Server. Add each of your agents by IP address and name below the existing text. It should look something like this:

	192.168.33.11    agent1.example.com

Next, add the name and IP address of your OpenVox Server to each of your OpenVox agents. Use your text editor to open /etc/hosts on your OpenVox agent and add the IP address and name of your OpenVox Server below the existing text, as well as the alias puppet. It should look similar to this:

	192.168.33.10    master.example.com puppet

Repeat this step for all of your OpenVox agents.

Congratulations! You’ve successfully made sure your OpenVox Server and agents can communicate.

Opening port 8140 on your firewall

For your OpenVox Server to sign an agent certificate, the agent needs to be able to connect to the master’s firewall through port 8140. You will learn to set full firewall rules later in the Quick Start Guide.

WARNING: These next steps open the port 8140 in your firewall. This does create a security risk, as you will need to keep port 8140 open so that the master and agents can continue to communicate.

From the command line on your OpenVox Server, run:

	iptables -I INPUT -m state --state NEW -m tcp -p tcp --dport 8140 -j ACCEPT

From the command line on each OpenVox agent, run puppet agent -t.

From your Puppet Server, run puppetserver ca list and then puppetserver ca sign --certname <AGENT NAME> to sign the certificates of your OpenVox agents.

That’s it! Your Puppet configuration is ready to go.

Next: Return to the Quick Start Guides or get started with the Hello World Guide.