Basic cdist usage

Get cdist and installation

You can easily get the code for cdist from github:

If you want the man pages run:

The man pages are now generated in the docs/ directory.

Or get the latest man pages here.

To run cdist on the source host (the one who configures the target host) the following software is required:

• Python >= 3.2
• SSH client
• Asciidoc and xsltproc (for building the manpages)

On the target host only ssh is required
Also it is recommended to use ssh over ssh-key authentication.
Other hints you can find in the man7/cdist-best-practice

For shortly testing cdist, run:

And for seeing the usage, run:

Files and directories

Important directories are the installation directory and the $HOME/.cdist/ directory.

In the installation directory you can find the cdist binary, standard provided cdist types and other important files for cdist.

The $HOME/.cdist/ directory is for your locally needed configuration and has the following directory tree:

• $HOME/.cdist/
  • manifest/
    • Your manifests (standard: init)
  • type/
    • Your own made types (always: __your_type)

Creating a sample manifest

Create a new manifest with the following command:

This manifest will use the _file for creating the file /tmp/hello_world.
For more information about the __file type see installation_dir/cdist/conf/type/_file/man.text

First run of cdist

For running your first own made cdist manifest on localhost use the following command:

More information

If you have trouble or want more information visit the github page or write us!