---
title: "PuppetDB overview"
layout: default
---

[exported]: {{puppet}}/lang_exported.html
[connect]: ./connect_puppet_master.html
[apply]: ./connect_puppet_apply.html
[install_via_module]: ./install_via_module.html
[install_from_packages]: ./install_from_packages.html
[install_advanced]: ./install_from_source.html
[scaling]: ./scaling_recommendations.html
[facts]: {{puppet}}/lang_facts_and_builtin_vars.html
[catalog]: {{puppet}}/lang_summary.html#compilation-and-catalogs
[releasenotes]: ./release_notes.html
[github]: https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppetdb
[tracker]: https://tickets.puppetlabs.com/browse/PDB
[apt_pgdg]: https://apt.postgresql.org
[yum_pgdg]: https://yum.postgresql.org

PuppetDB collects data generated by Puppet. It enables advanced Puppet features
like [exported resources][exported], and can be the foundation for other
applications that use Puppet's data.

Install it now
-----

To start using PuppetDB today:

* Review [the system requirements below](#system-requirements) (and optionally,
  [our scaling recommendations][scaling]).
* Choose your installation method:
    * [Easy install][install_via_module] using the PuppetDB puppet module on our
      recommended platforms
    * [Install from packages][install_from_packages] on our recommended
      platforms
    * [Advanced install][install_advanced] on any other \*nix

Version note
-----

This manual covers PuppetDB 5, which adds several new features and
contains some breaking changes since PuppetDB 4.

[See the release notes][releasenotes] for information on all
changes.


What data?
-----

PuppetDB stores:

* The most recent [facts][] from every node
* The most recent [catalog][] for every node
* Optionally, 14 days (configurable) of event reports for every node

Together, these give you a huge inventory of metadata about every node in your
infrastructure and a searchable database of **every single resource** being
managed on any node.

Puppet itself can search a subset of this data using
[exported resources][exported], which allow nodes to manage resources on other
nodes. This is similar to the capabilities of the legacy ActiveRecord
`storeconfigs` interface, but much, much faster. The remaining data is available
through PuppetDB's query APIs (see the navigation sidebar for details).

System requirements
-----

### \*nix server with JVM 1.8+

#### Standard install: RHEL, CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu

Puppet provides PuppetDB packages and a module which simplify the
setup of its SSL certificates and init scripts. The packages are
available for the following operating systems:

* Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.6+ and 7
* Fedora 25 and 26
* SuSE Enterprise Linux 11 and 12
* Debian 7 (Wheezy), 8 (Jessie), and 9 (Stretch)
* 14.04 (Trusty) LTS and 16.04 (Xenial) LTS

[See here for instructions for installing via the PuppetDB module.][install_via_module]

[See here for instructions for installing from OS packages.][install_from_packages]

#### Custom install: Any Unix-like OS

If you're willing to do some manual configuration, PuppetDB can run on
any Unix-like OS with JVM 8 or newer, including:

* Recent MacOS X versions (using built-in support)
* Nearly any Linux distribution using OpenJDK 8 or Oracle JDK 8
* Nearly any \*nix distribution using OpenJDK 8 or Oracle JDK 8

[See here for advanced installation instructions.][install_advanced]

### Puppet 6.0.0

Your site's Puppet masters must be running Puppet Server 6.0.0 or later.
[You will need to connect your Puppet masters to PuppetDB after installing it][connect].
If you wish to use PuppetDB with
[standalone nodes that are running puppet apply][apply], every node
must be running 6.0.0 or later.

### PostgreSQL 9.6

PuppetDB requires PostgreSQL 9.6 or later. If not provided by your
distribution, compatible versions of Postgres can be installed from the PGDG
(PostgreSQL Global Development Group) repositories. See
[apt.postgresql.org][apt_pgdg] or [yum.postgresql.org][yum_pgdg] for more
information.

You can also install a compatible version of Postgres using the
[puppetlabs-puppetdb module][install_via_module].

### Robust Hardware

PuppetDB will be a critical component of your Puppet deployment and should be
run on a robust and reliable server.

However, it can do a lot with fairly modest hardware. In benchmarks using
real-world catalogs from a customer, a single 2012 laptop (16 GB of RAM,
consumer-grade SSD, and quad-core processor) running PuppetDB and PostgreSQL was
able to keep up with sustained input from 8,000 simulated Puppet nodes checking
in every 30 minutes. Powerful server-grade hardware will perform even better.

The actual requirements will vary wildly depending on your site's size and
characteristics. At smallish sites, you may even be able to run PuppetDB on your
Puppet master server.

For more on fitting PuppetDB to your site, [see our scaling recommendations.][scaling]

Open Source
-----

PuppetDB is developed openly, and is released under the
[Apache 2.0 license](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html). You can
get the source --- and contribute to it! --- at
[the PuppetDB GitHub repo][github]. Bug reports and feature requests are welcome
at [the Puppet Labs issue tracker][tracker].
