Merge pull request #2551 from DougAnsonAustinTX/puppet_LP_review

updates and fixes for this LP

Author: jasonrandrews

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/puppet-on-gcp/baseline.md

@@ -12,11 +12,31 @@ In this guide, you will perform baseline testing of Puppet on a GCP SUSE Arm64 V
 ### Verify Puppet Installation
 Verify that Puppet and Facter are correctly installed and respond to version checks:
 
+Version Check:
 ```console
 puppet --version
+```
+Output:
+```output
+8.10.0
+```
+Version Check:
+```console
 facter --version
+```
+Output:
+```output
+4.10.0
+```
+Version Check:
+```console
 ruby -v
 ```
+Output:
+```output
+ruby 3.1.4p223 (2023-03-30 revision 957bb7cb81) [aarch64-linux]
+```
+
 ### Run a Simple Puppet Command
 Check that Puppet responds to commands by running puppet help. If the help menu appears, Puppet is working correctly.
 
@@ -65,6 +85,7 @@ Puppet v8.10.0
 Create and run a basic Puppet script to make sure Puppet can apply configurations. If it successfully creates the test file, your Puppet agent functions as expected.
 
 ```bash
+cd ~
 cat <<EOF > test.pp
 file { '/tmp/puppet_test.txt':
   ensure  => file,
@@ -78,7 +99,8 @@ puppet apply test.pp
 
 You should see an output similar to:
 ```output
-Notice: Compiled catalog for lpprojectsusearm64.c.imperial-time-463411-q5.internal in environment production in 0.01 seconds
+Notice: Compiled catalog for danson-puppet-2.c.arm-deveco-stedvsl-prd.internal in environment production in 0.01 seconds
+Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/File[/tmp/puppet_test.txt]/ensure: defined content as '{sha256}bcf972b61979afe69626549b3f3f30798aeb50b359e76603a36e96b2abbe73c0'
 Notice: Applied catalog in 0.01 seconds
 ```
 
@@ -98,12 +120,10 @@ Hello from Puppet on SUSE ARM64!
 ### Check Facter Integration
 Run `facter` commands to verify that it collects accurate system details like OS and CPU type. This ensures Puppet can gather the facts it needs for automation decisions.
 
+OS Check:
 ```console
 facter os
-facter architecture
-facter processors
 ```
-
 Output:
 ```output
 {
@@ -130,9 +150,21 @@ Output:
     enabled => false
   }
 }
-$ facter architecture
+```
+Architecture Check:
+```console
+facter architecture
+```
+Output:
+```output
 aarch64
-$facter processors
+```
+Processors Check:
+```console
+facter processors
+```
+Output:
+```output
 {
   cores => 4,
   count => 4,
@@ -147,5 +179,4 @@ $facter processors
   threads => 1
 }
 ```
-
 With these checks complete, proceed to the Puppet benchmarking section to run workload‑focused tests on the GCP SUSE VMs.

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/puppet-on-gcp/benchmarking.md

@@ -19,11 +19,16 @@ Ensure that Puppet is installed and functioning correctly:
 ```console
 puppet --version
 ```
+Output:
+```output
+8.10.0
+```
 
 ### Create a Benchmark Manifest
 Create a directory and a simple manifest file:
 
 ```console
+cd ~
 mkdir -p ~/puppet-benchmark
 cd ~/puppet-benchmark
 vi benchmark.pp
@@ -51,16 +56,16 @@ This executes the manifest locally and outputs timing statistics.
 
 You should see an output similar to:
 ```output
-Notice: Compiled catalog for ########arm64.c.imperial-time-463411-q5.internal in environment production in 0.01 seconds
+Notice: Compiled catalog for danson-puppet-2.c.arm-deveco-stedvsl-prd.internal in environment production in 0.01 seconds
 Info: Using environment 'production'
-Info: Applying configuration version '1762160712'
+Info: Applying configuration version '1763407825'
 Notice: Running Puppet standalone benchmark.
 Notice: /Stage[main]/Main/Notify[Benchmark Test]/message: defined 'message' as 'Running Puppet standalone benchmark.'
 Notice: Applied catalog in 0.01 seconds
 
-real    0m1.175s
-user    0m0.779s
-sys     0m0.385s
+real    0m1.054s
+user    0m0.676s
+sys     0m0.367s
 ```
 
 ### Benchmark Metrics Explanation
@@ -71,34 +76,22 @@ sys     0m0.385s
 - **user** → CPU time spent in user-space.  
 - **sys** → CPU time spent in system calls.  
 
-### Benchmark summary on x86_64
-To compare the benchmark results, the following results were collected by running the same benchmark on a `x86 - c4-standard-4` (4 vCPUs, 15 GB Memory) x86_64 VM in GCP, running SUSE:
-
-| Metric | Result |
-|---------|---------|
-| Compiled catalog | 0.01 seconds |
-| Environment | production |
-| Applied catalog | 0.01 seconds |
-| real | 0m1.072s |
-| user | 0m0.834s |
-| sys | 0m0.213s |
-
-### Benchmark summary on Arm64
-Results from the earlier run on the `c4a-standard-4` (4 vCPU, 16 GB memory) Arm64 VM in GCP (SUSE):
+### Benchmark results
+The above results were executed on a `c4a-standard-4` (4 vCPU, 16 GB memory) Axiom Arm64 VM in GCP running SuSE:
 
 | **Metric / Log** | **Output** |
 |-------------------|------------|
 | Compiled catalog | 0.01 seconds |
 | Environment | production |
 | Applied catalog | 0.01 seconds |
-| real | 0m1.175s |
-| user | 0m0.779s |
-| sys | 0m0.385s |
+| real | 0m1.054s |
+| user | 0m0.676s |
+| sys | 0m0.367s |
 
-### Puppet benchmarking comparison on Arm64 and x86_64
+### Puppet benchmarking summary
 
 - **Catalog compilation:** Completed in just **0.01 seconds**, showing excellent processing speed on **Arm64**.
 - **Environment:** Executed smoothly under the **production** environment.
-- **Configuration version:** Recorded as **1762160712**, confirming successful version tracking.
+- **Configuration version:** Recorded as **1763407825**, confirming successful version tracking.
 - **Catalog application:** Finished in **0.01 seconds**, demonstrating very low execution latency.
-- **Real time:** Total runtime of **1.175 seconds**, reflecting efficient end.
+- **Real time:** Total runtime of **1.054 seconds**, reflecting efficient end.

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/puppet-on-gcp/images/gcp-shell.png

@@ -12,9 +12,21 @@ This guide walks you through installing Puppet on a **Google Cloud Platform (GCP
 ### Install build dependencies and Ruby from source
 Installs all required tools and builds Ruby 3.1.4 from source to ensure compatibility with Puppet.
 
+First we install the prerequisites for ruby:
 ```console
-sudo zypper install -y gcc make openssl-devel libyaml-devel zlib-devel readline-devel gdbm-devel ncurses-devel
-cd /usr/local/src
+sudo zypper install git curl gcc make patch libyaml-devel libffi-devel libopenssl-devel readline-devel zlib-devel gdbm-devel bzip2 bzip2-devel
+```
+
+NOTE:
+```note
+Due to changing version dependencies, you may receive a message in the "zypper" 
+command above that ncurses-devel is not the correct version. If so, please select the 
+option that permits downgrading of the installed ncurses-devel package to the required 
+version (normally "Solution 1"), followed by confirmation with "y".
+```
+Then, we will install ruby itself:
+```console
+cd ~
 sudo wget https://cache.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/3.1/ruby-3.1.4.tar.gz
 sudo tar -xzf ruby-3.1.4.tar.gz
 cd ruby-3.1.4
@@ -43,8 +55,9 @@ Installs essential Puppet libraries (`semantic_puppet, facter, hiera`) needed fo
 - **hiera** – Key-value lookup tool that manages configuration data outside of Puppet manifests for flexible data separation.
 
 ```console
-wget https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/archive/refs/tags/8.10.0.tar.gz
-tar -xvf 8.10.0.tar.gz
+cd ~
+sudo wget https://github.com/puppetlabs/puppet/archive/refs/tags/8.10.0.tar.gz
+sudo tar -xvf 8.10.0.tar.gz
 cd ~/puppet-8.10.0
 sudo /usr/local/bin/gem install semantic_puppet -v "~> 1.0"
 sudo gem install facter -v "~> 4.0"

content/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/puppet-on-gcp/images/gcp-ssh.png

@@ -26,6 +26,18 @@ To create a virtual machine based on the C4A instance type:
 
    ![Create a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine in the Google Cloud Console with c4a-standard-4 selected alt-text#center](images/gcp-vm.png "Creating a Google Axion C4A Arm virtual machine in Google Cloud Console")
 
-- Under **OS and Storage**, select **Change**, then choose an Arm64-based OS image. For this Learning Path, use **SUSE Linux Enterprise Server**. Pick the preferred version for your Operating System. Ensure you select the **Arm image** variant. Click **Select**.
+
+- Under **OS and Storage**, select **Change**, then choose an Arm64-based OS image. For this Learning Path, use **SUSE Linux Enterprise Server**. 
+- If using use **SUSE Linux Enterprise Server**. Select "Pay As You Go" for the license type. 
+- Once appropriately selected, please Click **Select**. 
 - Under **Networking**, enable **Allow HTTP traffic**.
 - Click **Create** to launch the instance.
+- Once created, you should see a "SSH" option to the right in your list of VM instances.  Click on this to launch a SSH shell into your VM instance:
+
+![Invoke a SSH session via your browser alt-text#center](images/gcp-ssh.png "Invoke a SSH session into your running VM instance")
+
+- A window from your browser should come up and you should now see a shell into your VM instance:
+
+![Terminal Shell in your VM instance alt-text#center](images/gcp-shell.png "Terminal shell in your VM instance")
+
+Next, let's install puppet!