By thomas, Fri, 04/03/2009 - 00:18
Augeas is a redhat project, it is a configuration API. It is a method for manipulating configuration files safely. It may be found at augeas.net.

Augeas manipulates files through a system of lenses. Lenses abstract configuration files into configuration parameters that can be manipulated using get and set commands in augeas. The first example I like to work with is /etc/hosts. First we'll install augeas on client15 then we'll make a new entry in /etc/hosts on client15.

[root@client15 ~]# yum install augeas
Loading "installonlyn" plugin
Loading "rhnplugin" plugin
Setting up Install Process
Setting up repositories
Local                     100% |=========================| 1.1 kB    00:00     
Reading repository metadata in from local files
...
Installed: augeas.x86_64 0:0.5.1-1.el5
Complete!
[root@client15 ~]# cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1		localhost.localdomain localhost
::1		localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6
192.168.0.31		client15.example.com client15
[root@client15 ~]# augtool -b
augtool> ls /files/etc/hosts
#comment[1] = Do not remove the following line, or various programs
#comment[2] = that require network functionality will fail.
1/ = (none)
2/ = (none)
3/ = (none)
augtool> ls /files/etc/hosts/1/
ipaddr = 127.0.0.1
canonical = localhost.localdomain
alias = localhost
augtool> ls /files/etc/hosts/2/
ipaddr = ::1
canonical = localhost6.localdomain6
alias = localhost6
augtool> ls /files/etc/hosts/3/
ipaddr = 192.168.0.31
canonical = client15.example.com
alias = client15

augtool> set /files/etc/hosts/4/ipaddr 192.168.0.1
augtool> set /files/etc/hosts/4/canonical server0.example.com
augtool> set /files/etc/hosts/4/alias[1] server0
augtool> set /files/etc/hosts/4/alias[2] puppet.example.com
augtool> save
Saved 1 file(s)
augtool> quit
[root@client15 ~]# cat /etc/hosts
# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
127.0.0.1		localhost.localdomain localhost
::1		localhost6.localdomain6 localhost6
192.168.0.31		client15.example.com client15
192.168.0.1	server0.example.com server0 puppet.example.com
[root@client15 ~]# 

There are several lenses provided with augeas for manipulating different types of configuration files. The best way to work with augeas is to provide yourself a testing area and use the environment variable AUGEAS_ROOT to specify your "sandbox" to play in. It is important that the directory structure remain the same in your sandbox as it would be in /etc, file locations are used by augeas to apply the correct lens.

[root@client15 ~]# mkdir augeas-play
[root@client15 ~]# export AUGEAS_ROOT=/root/augeas-play
[root@client15 ~]# cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config augeas-play/
[root@client15 ~]# augtool -b
augtool> ls /files/sshd_config
augtool> quit
[root@client15 ~]# cd augeas-play/
[root@client15 augeas-play]# mkdir -p etc/ssh
[root@client15 augeas-play]# mv sshd_config etc/ssh/
[root@client15 augeas-play]# augtool -b
augtool> ls /files/etc/ssh/sshd_config
#comment[1] = $OpenBSD: sshd_config,v 1.73 2005/12/06 22:38:28 reyk Exp $
#comment[2] = This is the sshd server system-wide configuration file.  See
#comment[3] = sshd_config(5) for more information.
#comment[4] = This sshd was compiled with PATH=/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/bin
#comment[5] = The strategy used for options in the default sshd_config shipped with
#comment[6] = OpenSSH is to specify options with their default value where
#comment[7] = possible, but leave them commented.  Uncommented options change a
#comment[8] = default value.
#comment[9] = Port 22
#comment[10] = Protocol 2,1
Protocol = 2
#comment[11] = AddressFamily any
#comment[12] = ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
...
Subsystem/ = (none)
augtool> quit
After familiarizing yourself with augeas and making some changes to files in the sandbox, it's time to incorporate those changes into puppet using puppet's augeas plugin.