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Packer VS Puppet Enterprise

Compare Packer VS Puppet Enterprise and see what are their differences

Packer logo Packer

Packer is an open-source software for creating identical machine images from a single source configuration.

Puppet Enterprise logo Puppet Enterprise

Get started with Puppet Enterprise, or upgrade or expand.
  • Packer Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-15
  • Puppet Enterprise Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-24

Packer features and specs

  • Multi-Provider Support
    Packer supports a wide variety of providers such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, VMware, and more. This allows for flexibility and the ability to create machine images across different environments.
  • Automation
    Packer automates the creation of machine images, eliminating the need for manual image configuration and reducing the potential for human error.
  • Script Reusability
    Packer allows for the reuse of scripts and configuration files, enabling a consistent and repeatable process for image creation.
  • Parallel Builds
    Packer can build multiple images in parallel, which can significantly speed up the provisioning process.
  • Idempotency
    Packer ensures that the output machine image is always an identical result given the same input configuration, reducing the risk of inconsistencies.

Possible disadvantages of Packer

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The variety of features and flexibility that Packer offers can make it complex and challenging to learn, especially for beginners.
  • Limited Debugging Tools
    Packer's debugging tools are not as mature or as integrated as those found in some other DevOps tools, making troubleshooting more difficult.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Complex configurations with multiple builders and provisioners can become hard to manage and maintain, leading to potential errors.
  • No State Management
    Unlike Terraform, Packer does not manage state, which means users need to handle state management separately if required.
  • Dependency on External Tools
    Packer often relies on external scripts and tools for provisioning, which can introduce additional dependencies and complexities.

Puppet Enterprise features and specs

  • Scalability
    Puppet Enterprise is designed to manage thousands of nodes efficiently, making it a good fit for large-scale IT environments.
  • Automation
    It offers powerful automation capabilities, which help streamline repetitive tasks and reduce human error.
  • Compliance
    Puppet Enterprise includes strong compliance features, ensuring that the IT infrastructure adheres to various regulatory standards.
  • Pre-built Modules
    A wide array of pre-built modules is available, which can be used to quickly deploy and configure applications and services.
  • Reporting and Visibility
    Provides detailed reporting and dashboards, which offer insights into the status and performance of your infrastructure.
  • Integrations
    Seamless integration with various third-party tools and platforms, enhancing its functionality and adaptability to different environments.
  • Enhanced Security
    Supports role-based access control (RBAC) and other security features to protect sensitive infrastructure configurations.
  • Expert Support
    Access to professional support and services from the Puppet team, ensuring that issues can be resolved quickly and efficiently.

Possible disadvantages of Puppet Enterprise

  • Cost
    Puppet Enterprise can be expensive, especially for smaller organizations or startups with limited budgets.
  • Complexity
    The platform can be complex to set up and manage, requiring a learning curve for new users or administrators.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Puppet Enterprise can consume significant system resources, which might impact the performance of smaller infrastructure.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Once you have integrated Puppet into your infrastructure, migrating to another tool can be difficult and time-consuming.
  • Customization
    While there are many pre-built modules, creating custom modules can be complex and time-consuming, requiring extensive knowledge of Puppet's DSL.
  • Initial Setup
    The initial setup of Puppet Enterprise can be time-consuming and may require expert knowledge to configure correctly.
  • Documentation
    While there is extensive documentation available, it can sometimes be overwhelming or unclear for new users.

Packer videos

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Puppet Enterprise videos

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More videos:

  • Review - Muppet Whatnot Workshop Puppet Review...(Kinda)
  • Demo - How Puppet works

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Packer and Puppet Enterprise)
DevOps Tools
34 34%
66% 66
Continuous Integration And Delivery
Other Infrastructure Tools
Developer Tools
38 38%
62% 62

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Packer and Puppet Enterprise

Packer Reviews

Introduction to Top Open Source Virtualization Tools
Packer is notably light, high performing, and operates on every major operating system. It assembles and configures all the necessary components for a virtual machine then creates images that run on multiple platforms. Packer doesn’t replace configuration management tools like Puppet or Chef; as a matter of fact, when creating images, Packer can utilize tools like Puppet or...

Puppet Enterprise Reviews

5 Best DevSecOps Tools in 2023
There are multiple providers for Infrastructure as Code such as AWS CloudFormation, RedHat Ansible, HashiCorp Terraform, Puppet, Chef, and others. It is advised to research each to determine what is best for any given situation since each has pros and cons. Some of these also are not completely free while others are. There are also some that are specific to a particular...
What Are The Best Alternatives To Ansible? | Attune, Jenkins &, etc.
Puppet is a DevOps configuration management tool that is available for both open-source and enterprise versions. Puppet is an application developed by Puppet Labs and used to centralize and automate the procedure of configuration management.
Top 5 Ansible Alternatives in 2022: Server Automation Solutions by Alexander Fashakin on the 19th Aug 2021 facebook Linked In Twitter
Puppet uses a server/client architecture, requiring a longer installation process than Ansible, as an agentless system that only needs installation on the master node. In addition, Ansible uses YAML for configuration management while Puppet uses PuppetDSL with YAML datastore. The configuration management language style in Ansible is procedural, and that of Puppet is...
35+ Of The Best CI/CD Tools: Organized By Category
For those who are unfamiliar, Puppet Enterprise is the commercial version of Puppet, an open-source software management tool. It specializes in the automation of not just the configuration process but can also be used for patching, provisioning, and deployment.
Chef vs Puppet vs Ansible
Puppet follows a master-agent or master-slave architecture. In the case of Puppet’s architecture, the master machine serves as the platform for running the Puppet server. The client machines provide the platforms for running Puppet clients as agents. In addition, the requirement of signing a certificate between the master machine and the agent adds complexity. Therefore,...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Packer should be more popular than Puppet Enterprise. It has been mentiond 9 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Packer mentions (9)

  • Failed to connect to the host via SSH on Ubuntu 22.04
    If you have just upgraded to Ubuntu 22.04, and you suddenly experience either errors when trying to ssh into hosts, or when running ansible or again when running the ansible provisioner building a packer image, this is probably going to be useful for you. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Create a minimalist OS using Docker Containers and Hashicorp Packer
    I am already using Hashicorp Packer at work and for personal projects and I wanted to test This idea out by wrapping it a single Packer Template file. This reduces the level of maintaining a lot of small scripts, Dockerfiles and configurations and the user can simply trigger a couple of Commands to get a minimalist OS at the end of the process. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • After self-hosting my email for twenty-three years I have thrown in the towel. The oligopoly has won.
    And while it is a slight increase in complexity, it can be an overall net gain in functionality, configurability and reliability. Much like Packer is far more reliable and practical than manually making VM images sitting in front of a terminal, even though making the initial configuration takes some time. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Customized Ubuntu Images using Packer + QEMU + Cloud-Init & UEFI bootloading
    Hashicorp Packer provides a nice wrapper / abstraction over the QEMU in order to boot the image and use it to set it up on first-boot. Instead of writing really long commands in order to boot up the image using QEMU, Packer provided a nice Configuration Template in a more Readable fashion. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • The journey of sharing a wired USB printer over the network
    Packer seemed like the perfect tool for the job. I have never used it before and wanted to get familiar with the tool. It doesn't come with ARM support out of the box, but there are two community projects to fill that niche. - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
View more

Puppet Enterprise mentions (1)

  • Installing Puppet Enterprise 2021
    Now that the system requirements have been verified we need to download the Puppet Enterprise installer. To download the installer, go to the Puppet website to access the free 10 node trial (https://puppet.com/try-puppet/puppet-enterprise). - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Packer and Puppet Enterprise, you can also consider the following products

Terraform - Tool for building, changing, and versioning infrastructure safely and efficiently.

Rancher - Open Source Platform for Running a Private Container Service

Ansible - Radically simple configuration-management, application deployment, task-execution, and multi-node orchestration engine

HHVM - HHVM is an open-source virtual machine designed for executing programs written in Hack and PHP.

RunDeck - RunDeck is an open source automation service with a web console, command line tools and a WebAPI.

Red Hat OpenShift - Application and Data, Application Hosting, and Platform as a Service