In the previous chapters, we looked at some of the basic steps needed to enable Puppet reporting and learned how to view some of the data that the Puppet agents produce. In this chapter, we will learn how to enable the Puppet master to process these reports and metrics using report processors. We will cover the following topics:

Report processors form the heart of Puppet reporting; so, it's important that you get a good grounding in what they are, what they can do, and how you can go about adding new ones. Once you've got a good grasp of how they are installed and configured, you will be amazed at some of the additional functionality that a good report processor can add to Puppet, not just for producing reports, but also for raising alerts and more.