Upgrading Puppet Enterprise

Upgrade your PE installation as new versions become available.

Upgrade paths

These are the valid upgrade paths for PE.

If you're on version... Upgrade to... Notes
2023.1 (latest) You're up to date!
2021.7.z latest Review the upgrade cautions and other information on this page.
2021.y or 2019.8.z 2021.7.z For important information about this upgrade, refer to Upgrading Puppet Enterprise in the 2021.7.z documentation.
2019.y 2019.8.12
Earlier versions Refer to Upgrade paths in the 2019.8.z documentation.

Upgrade cautions

These are the major changes to PE since the last long-term support release, 2021.7. Review these recommendations and plan accordingly before upgrading to this version.

Java 17 upgrade in PE 2023.0

PE 2023.0 includes an upgrade from Java version 11 to version 17. With this upgrade, PE uses the G1 garbage collector by default, instead of Parallel.

Thoroughly test PE 2023.0 in a non-production environment before upgrading if you customized PE Java services or you use plug-ins that include Java code.

FIPS-enabled PE 2023.0 and later can't use the default system cert store

FIPS-compliant builds running PE 2023.0 and later can't use the default system cert store, which is used automatically with some reporting services. This setting is configured by the report_include_system_store Puppet parameter that ships with PE.

Removing the puppet-cacerts file (located at /opt/puppetlabs/puppet/ssl/puppet-cacerts) can allow a report processor that eagerly loads the system store to continue with a warning that the file is missing.

If HTTP clients require external certs, we recommend using a custom cert store containing only the necessary certs. You can create this cert store by concatenating existing pem files and configuring the ssl_trust_store Puppet parameter to point to the new cert store.

Platforms removed in 2023.0

Platforms that were previously deprecated have been removed in PE 2023.0.

Before upgrading to 2023.0, remove the pe_repo::platform class for these operating systems from the PE Master node group in the console, and from your code and Hiera.

Removed platforms
Removed primary server platforms
CentOS 8
Removed agent platforms
CentOS 8
Debian 9
Fedora 32
Fedora 34
Ubuntu 16.04
Removed client tools platforms
No client tools platforms removed.
Removed patching platforms
Debian 9
Fedora 34
For information about supported platforms, go to:

Test modules before upgrading

Before upgrading, make sure your modules work with the newest PE version by using the Puppet Development Kit (PDK) to update and test your modules.

If you're already using PDK, your modules should pass validation and unit tests with your currently installed version of PDK.

Updating PDK with each new release ensures module compatibility with new versions of PE.

  1. Download and install PDK. If you already have PDK installed, this updates PDK to its latest version. For detailed instructions and download links, go to Installing PDK in the PDK documentation.
  2. If you have not previously used PDK with your modules, convert them to a PDK-compatible format. This makes changes to your module to allow validation and unit testing with PDK. For important information, go to Converting modules in the PDK documentation.
    For example, from within the module directory, run: pdk convert
  3. If your modules are already compatible with PDK, update them to the latest module template. If you converted modules in the previous step, you do not need to update the template. To learn more about updating, go to Updating modules with changes to the template in the PDK documentation.
    For example, from within the module directory, run: pdf update
  4. Validate and run unit tests for each module, specifying the version of PE you are upgrading to. When specifying a PE version, you must included at least the first two parts of the release number, such as 2023.0. For information about module validations and testing, go to Validating and testing modules in the PDK documentation.
    For example, from within the module directory, run:
    pdk validate
pdk test unit
    The pdk test unit command verifies that testing dependencies and directories are present and then runs the unit tests that you write. It does not create unit tests for your module.
  5. If your module fails validation or unit tests, make any necessary changes to your code and retest.
Results
After you've verified that your modules work with the new PE version, you can continue with your upgrade.

Upgrade PE

Upgrade PE infrastructure components to get the latest features and fixes. Follow the upgrade instructions for your installation type to ensure you upgrade components in the correct order. Coordinate upgrades to ensure all infrastructure nodes are upgraded in a timely manner, because agent runs and replication fail if infrastructure nodes are running a different agent version than the primary server.

Before you begin

Review the upgrade cautions for major changes to architecture and infrastructure components which might affect your upgrade.

Configure non-production environment for infrastructure nodes

If your infrastructure nodes are in an environment other than production, you must manually configure PE to use your chosen environment before you upgrade.

Important: Only do this procedure if your infrastructure nodes are in an environment that is not production.
In pe.conf, set both of these parameters to the environment your infrastructure nodes are in: 
pe_install::install::classification::pe_node_group_environment
puppet_enterprise::master::recover_configuration::pe_environment

Upgrade a standard installation

To upgrade a standard installation, run the PE installer on your primary server, and then upgrade any additional components.

Before you begin

Back up your PE installation.

If you're upgrading a replica, ensure you have a valid admin RBAC token.

In Hiera, pe.conf, or the console (in the PE Master node group), remove any agent_version parameters you set in the pe_repo class that matches your infrastructure nodes. This ensures the upgrade isn't blocked by attempting to download non-default agent versions for your infrastructure OS and architecture.

  1. Download the tarball for your operating system and architecture. Optionally, you can Verify the installation package.
  2. Run tar -xf <TARBALL> to unpack the installation tarball.
    You need about 1 GB of space to untar the installer.
  3. From the installer directory on your primary server, run sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer to start the installer, and then follow the CLI instructions to complete your server upgrade.
    To specify a different pe.conf file than the existing file, use the -c flag as shown here:
    sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer -c <FULL_PATH_TO_pe.conf>
    This flag tells the installer to backup the previous pe.conf file to /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/<TIMESTAMP>.conf and create a new pe.conf file at /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/pe.conf.
  4. Upgrade the following additional PE infrastructure components:
    • Agents
    • PE client tools: On unmanaged nodes, you must re-install the client tools version that matches the PE version you upgraded to. On managed nodes and infrastructure nodes, client tools are automatically updated when you upgrade PE.
  5. In disaster recovery installations, upgrade your replica.
    The replica is temporarily unavailable to serve as backup during this step, so time upgrading your replica to minimize risk.
    1. On your primary server logged in as root, run: 
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade replica <REPLICA_FQDN>
      If you want to specify an authentication token other than the default, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade replica <REPLICA_FQDN> --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN>
    2. After the replica upgrade successfully completes, verify that primary and replica services are operational. On your primary server, run: 
      sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet-infra status
    3. If your replica reports errors, reinitialize the replica. On your replica, run: 
      sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet-infra reinitialize replica -y
  6. Optional: Remove previous PE packages from all infrastructure nodes. On your primary server, run: puppet infrastructure run remove_old_pe_packages
    All packages earlier than the current version are removed by default. To remove specific versions, append pe_version=<VERSION_NUMBER> to the command.

Upgrade a large installation

To upgrade a large installation, run the PE installer on your primary server, and then upgrade compilers and any additional components.

Before you begin

Back up your PE installation.

Ensure you have a valid admin RBAC token in order to upgrade compilers or a replica.

In Hiera, pe.conf, or the console (in the PE Master node group), remove any agent_version parameters you set in the pe_repo class that matches your infrastructure nodes. This ensures the upgrade isn't blocked by attempting to download non-default agent versions for your infrastructure OS and architecture.

  1. Download the tarball for your operating system and architecture. Optionally, you can Verify the installation package.
  2. Run tar -xf <TARBALL> to unpack the installation tarball.
    You need about 1 GB of space to untar the installer.
  3. From the installer directory on your primary server, run sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer to start the installer, and then follow the CLI instructions to complete your server upgrade.
    To specify a different pe.conf file than the existing file, use the -c flag as shown here:
    sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer -c <FULL_PATH_TO_pe.conf>
    This flag tells the installer to backup the previous pe.conf file to /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/<TIMESTAMP>.conf and create a new pe.conf file at /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/pe.conf.
  4. To upgrade compilers, log in to your primary server as root and run one of these commands:
    • To upgrade specific compilers, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN-1>,<COMPILER_FQDN-2>
    • To upgrade all compilers simultaneously, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler --all
    • To specify an authentication token location other than the default location, include --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN> in the command as shown here:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN> --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN>
  5. Upgrade the following additional PE infrastructure components:
    • Agents
    • PE client tools: On unmanaged nodes, you must re-install the client tools version that matches the PE version you upgraded to. On managed nodes and infrastructure nodes, client tools are automatically updated when you upgrade PE.
  6. In disaster recovery installations, upgrade your replica.
    The replica is temporarily unavailable to serve as backup during this step, so time upgrading your replica to minimize risk.
    1. On your primary server logged in as root, run: 
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade replica <REPLICA_FQDN>
      If you want to specify an authentication token other than the default, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade replica <REPLICA_FQDN> --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN>
    2. After the replica upgrade successfully completes, verify that primary and replica services are operational. On your primary server, run: 
      sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet-infra status
    3. If your replica reports errors, reinitialize the replica. On your replica, run: 
      sudo /opt/puppetlabs/bin/puppet-infra reinitialize replica -y
  7. Optional: Remove previous PE packages from all infrastructure nodes. On your primary server, run: puppet infrastructure run remove_old_pe_packages
    All packages earlier than the current version are removed by default. To remove specific versions, append pe_version=<VERSION_NUMBER> to the command.
What to do next

Optionally convert legacy compilers to the new style compiler running the PuppetDB service.

Upgrade an extra-large installation

You can use the PEADM module to upgrade extra-large installations. Contact your technical account manager for additional support.

Upgrade a standalone PE-PostgreSQL installation

To upgrade a large installation with standalone PE-PostgreSQL, run the PE installer first on your PE-PostgreSQL node, then on your primary server, and then upgrade any additional components.

Before you begin

Back up your PE installation.

Ensure you have a valid admin RBAC token in order to upgrade compilers.

In Hiera, pe.conf, or the console (in the PE Master node group), remove any agent_version parameters you set in the pe_repo class that matches your infrastructure nodes. This ensures the upgrade isn't blocked by attempting to download non-default agent versions for your infrastructure OS and architecture.

  1. Download the tarball for your operating system and architecture. Optionally, you can Verify the installation package.
  2. Run tar -xf <TARBALL> to unpack the installation tarball.
    You need about 1 GB of space to untar the installer.
  3. Upgrade your PostgreSQL node.
    1. Ensure that the user_data.conf file on your PostgreSQL node is up to date by running puppet infrastructure recover_configuration on your primary server, and then copying /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d to the PostgreSQL node.
    2. Copy the installation tarball to the PostgreSQL node, and from the installer directory, run the installer: sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer
  4. From the installer directory on your primary server, run sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer to start the installer, and then follow the CLI instructions to complete your server upgrade.
    To specify a different pe.conf file than the existing file, use the -c flag as shown here:
    sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer -c <FULL_PATH_TO_pe.conf>
    This flag tells the installer to backup the previous pe.conf file to /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/<TIMESTAMP>.conf and create a new pe.conf file at /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/pe.conf.
  5. To upgrade compilers, log in to your primary server as root and run one of these commands:
    • To upgrade specific compilers, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN-1>,<COMPILER_FQDN-2>
    • To upgrade all compilers simultaneously, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler --all
    • To specify an authentication token location other than the default location, include --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN> in the command as shown here:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN> --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN>
  6. Upgrade the following additional PE infrastructure components:
    • Agents
    • PE client tools: On unmanaged nodes, you must re-install the client tools version that matches the PE version you upgraded to. On managed nodes and infrastructure nodes, client tools are automatically updated when you upgrade PE.
  7. Optional: Remove previous PE packages from all infrastructure nodes. On your primary server, run: puppet infrastructure run remove_old_pe_packages
    All packages earlier than the current version are removed by default. To remove specific versions, append pe_version=<VERSION_NUMBER> to the command.
What to do next

Optionally convert legacy compilers to the new style compiler running the PuppetDB service.

Upgrade an unmanaged PostgreSQL installation

You can upgrade a Puppet Enterprise (PE) installation that relies on an unmanaged PostgreSQL database.

Restriction: These steps assume you are upgrading to PE 2023.0 from PE 2021.7.z. Due to a significant PostgreSQL upgrade in PE 2021.6, if you want to upgrade from 2021.6 or earlier, you must follow the instructions linked in the Upgrade paths topic to upgrade from 2021.6 or earlier to 2021.7.z before continuing to 2023.0.
  1. Download the tarball for your operating system and architecture. Optionally, you can Verify the installation package.
  2. Run tar -xf <TARBALL> to unpack the installation tarball.
    You need about 1 GB of space to untar the installer.
  3. From the installer directory on your primary server, run sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer -s to start the installer, and then follow the CLI instructions to complete your server upgrade.
    • The -s flag tells the installer to skip database checks.
    • To specify a different pe.conf file than the existing file, use the -c flag as shown here:
      sudo ./puppet-enterprise-installer -c <FULL_PATH_TO_pe.conf>

      The -c flag tells the installer to back up the previous pe.conf file to /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/<TIMESTAMP>.conf and create a pe.conf file at /etc/puppetlabs/enterprise/conf.d/pe.conf.

  4. To upgrade compilers, log in to your primary server as root and run one of these commands:
    • To upgrade specific compilers, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN-1>,<COMPILER_FQDN-2>
    • To upgrade all compilers simultaneously, run:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler --all
    • To specify an authentication token location other than the default location, include --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN> in the command as shown here:
      sudo puppet infrastructure upgrade compiler <COMPILER_FQDN> --token-file <PATH_TO_TOKEN>
  5. Upgrade the following additional PE infrastructure components:
    • Agents
    • PE client tools: On unmanaged nodes, you must re-install the client tools version that matches the PE version you upgraded to. On managed nodes and infrastructure nodes, client tools are automatically updated when you upgrade PE.
  6. Optional: Remove previous PE packages from all infrastructure nodes. On your primary server, run: puppet infrastructure run remove_old_pe_packages
    All packages earlier than the current version are removed by default. To remove specific versions, append pe_version=<VERSION_NUMBER> to the command.
What to do next

Optionally, convert existing compilers to the new style compiler running the PuppetDB service.

CAUTION: Don't use CONCURRENTLY with PostgreSQL 14.0 through 14.3. However, if you do, ensure that you REINDEX without using CONCURRENTLY.

Migrate PE

As an alternative to upgrading, you can migrate your PE installation. Migrating results in little or no downtime, but it requires additional system resources because you must configure a new primary server.

Restriction: Currently, we only recommend migration for standard installations without disaster recovery.

For standard installations with disaster recovery, follow the steps to Upgrade a standard installation.

For large installations with or without disaster recovery, follow the steps to Upgrade a large installation.

For all extra-large installations or any size installation where either upgrading or migrating is not possible, contact your technical account manager.

Migrate a standard installation

Migrate a standard installation by standing up a new primary server, restoring it with your existing installation, upgrading it, and then pointing agents at the new primary.

Before you begin

Review the upgrade cautions for major changes to architecture and infrastructure components which might affect your upgrade.

  1. Install your current PE version on a new primary server node.
  2. Back up your existing installation.
  3. Restore your installation on the new primary server using the backup you created.
  4. Upgrade your new primary server to the latest PE version.
  5. Update the server setting in your nodes' puppet.conf file to your new primary server's hostname by running: 
    sudo puppet config set server <PRIMARY_HOSTNAME>