Ralph Luch's presentation on "Certifiable Puppet Professional: Puppet's new Education Certification Curriculum" at Puppet Camp Ghent 2013.

1. Certifiable Puppet Professional
Puppet's new Education Certification Curriculum
Ralph Luchs // Puppet Education
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 1

2. Overview
• Puppet Education and Certification around the world
• Why Puppet Education
• Why Puppet Certification
• What is available
• Making users Certifiable
• Puppet Certifications
• Testing and rewarding your knowledge
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 2

3. Puppet Education
Training Presence around the world
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 3

4. Why invest in Education?
The only thing worse
than paying to train employees
and having them leave,
is not training them
and having them stay!
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 4

5. Why Puppet Education?
Going hands-on with Puppet
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 5

6. Why Invest in Certification?
Defining the Miracle
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 6

7. Why Puppet Certification
• Puppet Professional
• By Sys Admins for Sys Admins
• JTA "What does Sys Admin need to be successful with Puppet?"
• SMEs Sys Admins, Professional Services, Operations
• Puppet Developer
• By Developers for Developers
• JTA "What does Developer need to know to develop for Puppet?"
• SMEs Development Engineers, Senior Services Engineers
• Knowledge Sources
• Puppet Documentation
• Puppet Pro & Puppet Types & Developers
• Puppet Source Code
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 7

8. Puppet Certification
Certification Candidates across the world
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 8

9. Puppet Labs
Education and Certification
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 9

10. Sys Admin Job Task Analysis
• Installation and Configuration
• Describe install and config of Puppet Enterprise, Master and Agent
• Puppet Components
• Describe a Puppet Agent run
• Describe how resource relationships work
• Resources
• Demonstrate knowledge of Puppet resource types
• Describe a node, class, and defined type
• Puppet Language
• Describe how to use a function
• Describe variables, variable scope, and logic constructs
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 10

11. Sys Admin JTA cont'd
• Modules
• Describe a Puppet module and how to manage it
• Classification
• Identify what classifies a node
• Puppet Data Library
• Identify the report life cycle
• Live Management
• Describe how to gather inventory info with Live Management
• Maintenance and Troubleshooting
• Demonstrate knowledge of how to optimize Puppet for performance
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 11

12. Developer Job Task Analysis
• Facts
• Identify the role of a custom fact
• Describe the facter API
• Functions
• Identify the operation of a function and how scope affects custom functions
• Types and Providers
• Describe type and provider interaction and how providers are declarative
• Describe the use cases of special type & provider methods
• Report Processors
• Describe the development of a report handler
• Identify the Puppet::Transaction::Report data object
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 12

13. Developer JTA cont'd
• Faces
• Describe how to interact with and develop Puppet Faces
• Ruby Testing
• Describe stubbing and expects
• Identify RSpec testing patterns
• Puppet Integration
• Identify how to document Puppet plugins
• Identify the purpose of Puppet indirection
• MCollective
• Identify the components used by MCollective
• Demonstrate knowledge of how to write an MCollective plugin
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 13

14. Advanced Puppet Course Topics
• Classification
• Code Compression & Common Patterns
• Data Separation with Hiera
• Virtual Resources
• Exported Resources
• Reporting and Auditing
• Troubleshooting
• MCollective
• Scalability
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 14

15. Puppet Labs
Education and Certification
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 15

16. Puppet Certification Benefits
Candidates
• Differentiation in a market clamoring for skilled Puppet professionals
• Increased employability
• A clear professional development path which leads to increased job satisfaction
• Industry credibility
• Respect for your technical expertise by peers and employers
• Entrance into an engaged community of Puppet users
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 16

17. Puppet Certification Benefits
Organizations
• Reduction in time to deploy new applications
• Reduction in support costs
• Competitive advantage and profit potential
• Reduced downtime
• Maximized investment in Puppet software
• Increased customer confidence
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 17

18. Puppet Certification Steps
1. Preparation
2. Registration
3. Expectations
4. Agreements & Policies
5. Success!!
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 18

19. Puppet Certification Preparation
• Required:
• Hands-on experience using all Puppet software
• Hands-on experience developing with Ruby (for Puppet Developer Exam)
• Recommended:
• Puppet Fundamentals course
• Puppet Developer course (for Puppet Developer Exam)
• Practice Exams
• Puppet Enterprise Users Guide 2.X
• Learning Puppet VM
• Pro Puppet by James Turnbull and Jeff McCune
• Puppet Types and Providers by Dan Bode and Nan Liu (for Developer Exam only)
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 19

20. Puppet Certification
Registration, Expectations, & Agreements
• Registration
• PearsonVUE partnership
• 5,000 testing centers in 175 countries
• Fully proctored testing centers
• Agreements & Policies
• Confidentiality & Indemnity
• Taking the exam
• Two forms ID
• Not open book
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 20

21. Puppet Certification Credentials
System Administrators
• Credential awarded: Puppet Professional 2013 Certification
• Individual recognition: Puppet Certified Professional
• Certification code: PCP
Developers
• Credential awarded: Puppet Developer 2013 Certification
• Individual recognition: Puppet Certified Developer
• Certification code: PCD
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 21

22. Puppet Certifications
Puppet Professional Exam
• Exam name: Puppet 201 – System Administration Using Puppet
• Exam format: Computer-based exam composed of 60 multiple-choice questions
• Exam time: 90 minutes
• Exam cost: $200 USD
• Exam code: PPT-201
• Version: Puppet Open Source 2.7.12 and later, and Puppet Enterprise 2.5 and later
• Products/technologies tested: Puppet Enterprise and Puppet Open Source
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 22

23. Puppet Certifications
Puppet Developer Beta Exam
• Exam name: Puppet 301 Beta – Developing for Puppet Using Ruby
• Exam format: Computer-based exam composed of approximately 195 multiple-
choice questions
• Exam time: 4.5 hours
• Exam code: PPT-301
• Exam cost: $200 USD (waived during beta test)
• Version: Puppet Open Source 2.7.12 and later, and Puppet Enterprise 2.5 and later
• Products/technologies tested: Puppet Enterprise, Puppet Open Source, Ruby v1.8.7
as it pertains to Puppet, and MCollective
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 23

24. Puppet Developer Beta Testing
• Why Beta?
• 195 questions vs 60
• 4.5 hours vs 1.5
• Exam opportunity paid by Puppet Labs
• Comment opportunity for each question
• Waiting for ~100 exam reviews
• Next Steps
• perform analysis on performance of each question
• throw away up to 75 questions
• create two equally balanced exams of 60 questions each
• create practice exam
• launch live exam(s) (targeted January 2013)
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 24

25. Success!!
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 25

26. Puppet Certification
Online Resources
www.puppetlabs.com/services/certification
• Step-by-step guide on becoming Puppet certified
• Sign up for Puppet Certification notifications
• Details on Puppet Professional Certification
• Details on Puppet Developer Certification
• Access to Practice Exams
• Puppet Certification Sign up
• Frequently Asked Questions
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 26

27. Questions & Next Steps
Still Learning:
• Learning Puppet Tutorials - http://docs.puppetlabs.com/learning/
• Download the Learning Puppet VM
• http://info.puppetlabs.com/download-learning-puppet-VM.html
Extending Puppet:
• Download Puppet Enterprise - manage 10 nodes for free
• http://info.puppetlabs.com/download-pe.html
• Puppet Docs - http://docs.puppetlabs.com/
• Puppet Forge - http://forge.puppetlabs.com/
• Puppet Training - http://puppetlabs.com/category/events/upcoming/
Notes:
Need more technical detail or product drill down?
Schedule a follow-up call with a Puppet Labs Professional Services Engineer.
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 27

28. Puppet Education
Training Website
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 28

29. Online Course Topics
• Puppet
• Puppet Enterprise
• Components
• MCollective
• PuppetDB
• Hiera
• …
• Forge & Modules
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 29

30. Current Online content
• Learning Puppet VM
• Learning Puppet VM Tutorial
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 30

31. ???
Questions
???
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 31

32. Thank you for attending
Puppet Education and Certification © 2013 Puppet Labs 32