Windows Install

[cdenneen]

Doing the following:
include sensu
Doesn't work on windows because it won't support latest.

class { 'sensu':
  version => '0.27.0-1'
}

Complains trying to create the File['C:/opt/sensu/conf.d]' because of Package[sensu] dependency and I believe it's because of the package.pp uses sensu::package_checksum for remote_file to install and that isn't a valid parameter for the sensu class currently.

#625 opened to fix this but appears travis hasn't been updated.

How is anyone installing this on Windows with this parameter missing?

[Justin-DynamicD]

So you are actually talking about two different issues, both which I (believe, could be wrong) have been fixed but neither fixes have been published. So here's where we are at:

"latest" doesn't exist because the repos that this module is looking at are out of date. If you use this on your linux hosts it will install old versions to boot. There's a ticket on this, but I don't know that it's been fixed yet (latest agent is technically 0.28 now, this installs 0.26 on linux).

The "sensu client" issue is actually a bug as the module attempts to create a user even though Windows runs under local system in Windows and doesn't need this at all. I was actually told this was fixed, but never tested the latest master branch.

So how do we fix it? Well you can either download directly from this repo and try to see if the new fixes actually work, or you can go "plan b" route which is what I did:

create a separate class to create the sensu user. then, in the sensu class, set 'manage_user => false'. This basically tells this module you will control the creation of the account. Then use a "case" or similar statement to tell puppet to configure your sensu account with enough rights based on OS. Go ahead and give sensu "Real" rights in Linux, but on the windows boxes tell it to create a basic user and disable it. The Sensu agent doesn't even need it the account the module is just looking for it so this will pass that test. Bingo: windows agents install.

Word of warning: do that on a DC and you end up with "sensu" as a domain user. Make sure you think that one through :)

[cdenneen]

@Justin-DynamicD I'm not sure I follow. The windows package provider doesn't support "upgradeable" so latest will not work until that has been added.
As far as the wrong repo for linux I think that's a separate issue.

My concern is include sensu will not work on windows clients without a package_checksum which is required by the remote_file resource to install the package and also isn't a class parameter for sensu.

I think this needs to be addressed 2 ways:
1a. Create a package_checksum parameter that's expected (PR #625)
1b. set a default package version and checksum which will allow include sensu to work on windows
2. Find a better way to retrieve the checksum to avoid requiring defaults configured in 1b.

cc @cwjohnston

[cwjohnston]

I think this needs to be addressed 2 ways:
1a. Create a package_checksum parameter that's expected (PR #625)

#625 has been merged, thanks for that!

1b. set a default package version and checksum which will allow include sensu to work on windows

Setting a default version and checksum is probably a good idea. Depending on your point of view, this might be something that could wait until Sensu Core 1.0 ships, which we hope will be within the next few weeks.

2. Find a better way to retrieve the checksum to avoid requiring defaults configured in 1b.

I think ideally there would be an API to retrieve latest Sensu Core version, artifact URL(s), checksums, and so on, but we're not there yet. Maybe someday .... 🌴

[cdenneen]

@cwjohnston Thanks

I think the API is nice but for people who want to maintain local artifacts it's probably not ideal to make external call.
This is something that will need to be fixed as well since the repo is actually hardcoded: https://github.com/sensu/sensu-puppet/blob/master/manifests/package.pp#L55

Preferably would probably be to move to a solution like publishing these packages to a nuget repository that can be mirrored internally and then can use chocolatey provider to install.
Any plans to make that repo a nuget repo?

The other option I think might be to have the package and package_checksum.txt published... use some method to retrieve the checksum from the contents of the txt file and use that for the package_checksum.

[cwjohnston]

This is something that will need to be fixed as well since the repo is actually hardcoded: https://github.com/sensu/sensu-puppet/blob/master/manifests/package.pp#L55

Although it's intended as a workaround for now, we do have a redirect rule in place that should allow the hardcoded URL you mention to work for accessing the newer Sensu MSIs under the 2012r2 directory, e.g. http://repositories.sensuapp.org/msi/sensu-0.28.5-2.msi will be redirected to http://repositories.sensuapp.org/msi/2012r2/sensu-0.28.5-2-x64.msi.

Preferably would probably be to move to a solution like publishing these packages to a nuget repository that can be mirrored internally and then can use chocolatey provider to install.
Any plans to make that repo a nuget repo?

We don't have any specific plans around this right now, but I think it would make a lot of sense. I'll bring it up with the team.

The other option I think might be to have the package and package_checksum.txt published

We have this metadata being generated already but it's not uploaded along side the MSI. I've opened sensu/package-deployer#12 to track this as a desired improvement.

[cwjohnston]

The other option I think might be to have the package and package_checksum.txt published... use some method to retrieve the checksum from the contents of the txt file and use that for the package_checksum.

@cdenneen We've enhanced our package deployment process to include the JSON formatted metadata for MSI artifacts, e.g. http://repositories.sensuapp.org/msi/2012r2/sensu-0.28.5-2-x64.msi.metadata.json now reflects the checksum and other metadata generated by our build process.

[ghoneycutt]

@jeffmccune what's the status on this since we merged your windows work?

[jeffmccune]

@jeffmccune what's the status on this since we merged your windows work?

Looking into it now.

[jeffmccune]

@jeffmccune <https://github.com/jeffmccune> what's the status on this since we merged your windows work?

@ghoneycutt Recommend we close this as resolved. Current status as of #699 sensu::version now defaults to `installed` on all platforms. Previously, it defaulted to `latest`. Symlinks have been added to https://repositories.sensuapp.org/msi/{2008,208r2,2012,2012r2,2016}/sensu-latest-{x86,x64}.msi <https://repositories.sensuapp.org/msi/> to facilitate support of sensu::version => latest. These symlinks should be updated as new versions are released. The sensu::package class has been modified to handle `latest`. If sensu::windows_pkg_url is not specified and version is latest, the URL is computed from the os.release.major fact and the os.architecture fact. Package[sensu] is declared with ensure => installed and a source of the downloaded copy of the computed URL. NB: When new upstream versions are released, they will not be automatically installed on Windows. That is to say, ensure => latest works, but has the same behavior as ensure => installed on Windows.

[ghoneycutt]

Thanks @jeffmccune

@cdenneen please try release v2.8.0 and re-open if you have any issues.