Increase the log level to debug on Windows and *nix agent nodes in Puppet📍

If you need information while troubleshooting, increase the log level for the Puppet agent service.

Version and installation information

Puppet version: 4.0 to latest
OS: *nix, Windows
Installation type: Agents

Solution

Increase the log level using a method that fits your issue.

Note: Agent logs include sensitive information, including domain names and custom facts. Review logs and remove sensitive information before sending them outside of your organization.

My issue occurs on every agent run

If your issue occurs during every agent run, increase the log level for a single manual agent run.

1. Add -d to the list of options for your agent run. You can output the logs to a file to make it easier to search the output or share with others:

   puppet agent -td > PuppetDebug.log

My issue is intermittent

When the issue is intermittent, increase the log level for all Puppet runs. You can do this by editing either puppet.conf or the agent service configuration.

Editing puppet.conf:

• Works for both *nix and Windows.
• Increases the log level for all agents regardless of the invocation method.
• Adds debug level information to reports sent to the primary server (formerly called master).
• Does not require any service restarts.

Editing the agent service configuration:

• Allows you to target specific nodes.

Edit Puppet.conf

On Windows nodes, puppet.conf is located at %PROGRAMDATA%\PuppetLabs\puppet\etc (usually C:\ProgramData\PuppetLabs\puppet\etc).

On *nix nodes, puppet.conf is located at $confdir/puppet.conf (usually /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/puppet.conf).

1. On the target node, edit puppet.conf to add log_level = debug

Edit the agent service configuration

On Windows nodes

1. On the target node, restart the agent service using the following command:

   c:\>sc stop puppet && sc start puppet --debug --trace

On *nix nodes:

1. On the target node, edit the following file:

   OS	Location
   All *nix (except for Debian)	/etc/sysconfig/puppet
   Debian	/etc/default/puppet

   Add the following line to the end of the file:

   PUPPET_EXTRA_OPTS=--log_level=debug

2. Restart the agent service:

   puppet resource service puppet ensure=stopped puppet resource service puppet ensure=running

Where are my logs?

The location of the logs depends on your OS.

• On Windows platforms, they are available in Event Viewer.

  • Select Windows Logs > Application.

• On *nix platforms, the agent service logs messages to syslog:

  • On RHEL-based OS: /var/log/messages
  • On Mac OS X: /var/log/system.log
  • On Solaris: /var/adm/messages

Troubleshooting for *nix platforms

When the log level is increased to debug in *nix, it might be suppressed by the syslog process. In your logs, there is a lower level log output than expected and a message similar to the following:

Sep 26 07:05:58 puppet-agent journal: Suppressed 2367 messages from /system.slice/puppet.service

Resolve the issue by redirecting the logs to an output file.

1. On the target node, edit the following file:

   OS	Location
   All *nix (except for Debian)	/etc/sysconfig/puppet
   Debian	/etc/default/puppet

   Add the --logdest option to the PUPPET_EXTRA_OPT line, for example:

   PUPPET_EXTRA_OPTS=--logdest=/var/log/puppetlabs/agent.log --log_level=debug

2. Restart the agent service:

   puppet resource service puppet ensure=stopped puppet resource service puppet ensure=running